March
We are "Cooperative" like Clark in Clark the Shark.
This month we will be discussing the meaning of cooperative, featuring authors whose stories provide us glimpses of how to (and how not to) demonstrate this desired behavior.
Explore our virtual library below to discover more books of the month about being cooperative and navigating emotions.
Cooperative like Clark
This Month's Featured Text:
Clark the Shark
Story by Bruce Hale and Illustrations by Guy Francis
“I can explain how character motivations impact the plot of a text.”
Character Motivations
Analyzing a Character:
When we analyze a character in a story we look at several things to determine what kind of attitude and personality a character has:
What does the character say in the Dialogue?
How does a character respond to others with action?
What feelings does the character reveal through thoughts, dialogue, or action (or maybe expression in the illustrations)?
Now that we have noticed details about the character, we need to dig one step deeper and make an inference about what motivates them to behave that way.
Character Motivations:
Why is the character acting like this?
What do they want?
What do they need?
How do they feel?
How does this affect the other characters or the story?
As we read Clark the Shark and Noah Noasaurus, we will discuss the behavior of the characters. We will infer their motiviation for their behaviors, then we will discuss how it affect the other characters in the story. Do they need to change their behavior? Do they need to find a different motivation in order to do that?
Why is Character Motivation important to understand?
It helps us connect with a character
It helps us recognize how a character changes
Character Motivation often drives the plot of the story.
