KS3 English Lesson Plan:
Characterization
Lesson by David Butcher, Redhill School
Background:
This is part of a series of lessons focusing on creative writing and having spent
a few lessons on planning the story the focus is then on developing believable
characters. My aim is for students to move from the simplistic style of plain
description to a more thoughtful approach. The majority of students do not
have a grasp of why they are using description and lack any concept of relating
the physical to the personality of the character. The use of dialogue is not seen
as important and many of the stories contain needless speech with scant regard
to characterization.
Aim:
My intentions with this lesson plan are to get the student to be more selective
in their use of description and to focus on the message they want to convey.
The Activity:
I ask the student to write a few notes
describing the 3 or 4 main characters
of their story and to concentrate on
appearance and personality. A few
notes are made, usually along the
lines of ‘tall’, ‘blue eyes’, ‘brown hair’,
‘shy’, ‘confident’ etc. I then ask the
seemingly rather bizarre question
‘Why?’ Invariably, the response is:
‘Because that is what they look like!’
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Free sample material:
Characterization, Slide 2
I then turn to the Boardworks slide on ‘Characterization’ from the Year 7
Creative Writing presentation, which offers a thorough description on what
makes a good character and how can we make it believable. The discussion
on this is usually brief as the student lacks ideas at this stage.
Boardworks Ltd, The Gallery, 54 Marston Street, Oxford, OX4 1LF
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KS3 English Lesson Plan:
Characterization
Lesson continued...
We then turn to techniques we could use.
The next 3 slides are based on ‘A Christmas
Carol’ and offer examples of meaningful
physical description, dialogue and actions.
As we look at each aspect I constantly refer
to the students’ own notes on character and
contrast it with Dickens’ approach. I then
try to elicit some material they might use in
describing their characters.
Taking it further:
The next sessions are an opportunity to
revisit the initial notes and then write
some more meaningful description. This is
followed by creating some effective dialogue
to reinforce the personality of the characters.
The whole story is then written over the next
few weeks but the final notes on dialogue
and description are constantly referred to.
Outcomes:
Without exception I find that each student
improves their creative writing technique
and grow in confidence after this lesson
– giving a great deal more thought to this
aspect of English. They are able to appreciate
the shallowness of their initial descriptions
and begin using the online thesaurus for
synonyms to vary their work. They realise
that dialogue should be used as a tool rather
than a meaningless list of speeches.
Students also respond well to the example
texts in Boardworks, helping to generate an
interest in the works of Dickens.
Free sample material:
Characterization, Slide 3
Free sample material:
Characterization, Slide 4
Free sample material:
Characterization, Slide 5
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