Activity for Major Theme

RL.9-10.3 - Analyze how complex characters develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Directions:

Students work in teams to examine how characters’ multiple traits, personalities, and conflicting motivations develop the theme throughout the novel. Each team will focus on one character (Quan, Justyce, Martel, SJ or Doc) and become an expert on that character through completing a character analysis. Students will examine how characters react and interact with each other and how their actions propel the story forward or contribute to the theme. To provide more of an in-depth analysis, each group will create a presentation in the digital format of their choice and present their character analysis to the class.

Students can use the timeline activity (Post-Reading Activities), detailing the most important events that they created as a class while reading the novel. This will assist them throughout their character analysis activity.

Using the Character Analysis Activity table, students will analyze their character.

In the first column, the group will put their characters’ name.

In the second column, the students list ways the character changes and develops over the course of the text.

In the third column, students describe how the character interacts with other characters.

In the last column, students explain how the character contributes to or develops the theme.

The last row provides students with a space to show text evidence.

References:

NCDPI. (2017). Highlighted Standards. A vertical view of the NC standard course of study for English Language Arts, K-12. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from website https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SSoAAWhAawtVEEGSNM1ak8f01_p9GM2i/edit