EMBEDDED ASSESSMENT #2
UNIT 3
WRITING A CHARACTER ANALYSIS of
STANLEY YELNATS
This will be completed as a TIMED writing TEST. After
directions are given, you will plan, and write a rough draft.
You will have 60 minutes to complete your rough draft. Revise
and Edit. Write a final copy. You will be given 60 minutes
during the next class period to complete the essay.
• Persuasive Writing
• Expository writing
character
Developing Character via courage
PAGE
267
PG. 267
PG. 268
YOUR TURN!
• CHOOSE CHARACTER TRAITS
• STANLEY AT THE BEGINNING (3) STANLEY AT END, HOW
ZERO HELPS STANLEY CHANGE
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ORGANIZE QUOTES: character chart
PLAN: Introduction and Conclusion
WRITE ROUGH DRAFT
REVISE
EDIT
WRITE FINAL DRAFT
CHARACTER
TRAITS
CHOOSE AT LEAST 3 TRAITS ABOUT
STANLEY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
THE STORY.
CHOOSE 3 TRAITS THAT DESCRIBES
STANLEY AT THE END OF THE STORY
AFTER ALL OF HIS CHANGES.
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Honest
Light-hearted
Leader
Expert
Brave
Conceited
Mischievous
Demanding
Thoughtful
Distrustful
Simple
Disagreeable
Keen
Happy
Plain
Excited
Studious
Inventive
Creative
Thrilling
Independent
Intelligent
Compassionate
Ruthless
Impulsive
Greedy
Gentle
Proud
Wild
Messy
Neat
Joyful
Strong
Bright
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Cowardly
Cruel
Courageous
Serious
Funny
Humorous
Sad
Poor
Rich
Selfish
Unselfish
Self-confident
Respectful
Disrespectful
Considerate
Inconsiderate
Imaginative
Busy
Successful
Unsuccessful
Lazy
Dreamer
Helpful
Simple minded
Humble
Friendly
Adventurous
Hard working
Timid
Shy
Bold
Loud
Daring
Dainty
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Pitiful
Loveable
Cooperative
Curious
Ambitious
Bossy
Fighter
Tireless or
energetic
Cheerful
Smart
Loyal
Jealous
Dishonest
Suspicious
Quiet
Egotistical
Nervous
Mysterious
Evil
Mean
Careless
Clever
Grouchy
Hopeful
Fearless
Fierce
Foolish
Lucky
Silly
Inconsiderate
Loving
Efficient
Hateful
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Fair
Frustrated
Giving
Gloomy
Talented
Secretive
Picky
Reliable
Dull
Eager
Angry
Others:
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CHART
USE THIS CHART TO HELP ORGANIZE
QUOTES, EVENTS AND CHARACTER
ACTIONS THAT ILLUSTRATE THE
CHARACTER TRAITS.
PG. 268
• Drafting
• 4. Begin your essay with an introduction that includes a thesis
statement.
• Your thesis statement should clearly state that Stanley Yelnats has
• experienced some significant changes throughout the course of the novel
• and indicate what may have contributed to those changes. Remember
• that one way to begin your introduction is with a quotation from the
• novel, as you practiced Activity 3.24, “Hector Zeroni.”
• 5. Begin the first body paragraph with a topic sentence describing
Stanley
• at the beginning of the novel. Use at least three details or examples from
• the beginning of the novel. Then provide commentary on how the details
• support your topic sentence. Use transitions to show when or why things
• happened.
PLAN
PLAN YOUR INTRODUCTION/THESIS,
THE SEQUENCE OF YOUR PAPER AND
YOUR CONCLUSION
o PLANNING PAGE
STEPS- USER FRIENDLY!
On hand out and in Spring Board Book
1. Begin your essay with an introduction that includes a thesis
statement. Your thesis statement should clearly state that Stanley
Yelnats has experienced some significant changes throughout the
course of the novel and indicate what may have contributed to
those changes. Remember that one way to begin your introduction
is with a quotation from the novel, as you practiced Activity 3.24,
“Hector Zeroni.”
2. Begin the first body paragraph with a topic sentence describing
Stanley at the beginning of the novel. Use at least three details or
examples from the beginning of the novel. Then provide
commentary on how the details support your topic sentence. Use
transitions to show when or why things happened.
STEPS 3 and 4
• 3. Begin your next paragraph with a topic sentence stating how
Zero affects Stanley’s change. Ask yourself, “How does Stanley’s
friendship with Zero make him a better person?” In the rest of
this paragraph, provide textual support for your opinion. Use at
least three details you have noted in your graphic organizer
about the relationship between Stanley and Zero in Activity 3.19,
“Stanley and Zero.” Explain the importance of the details with
commentary. Include transitions that show cause and effect.
• 4. Next, start your last body paragraph with a topic sentence
stating how Stanley’s character has changed by the end of the
novel. Then, complete the paragraph using at least three details
and examples from the novel, and include commentary on how
these details support your topic sentence.
STEP 5 +
• In your conclusion, restate your thesis. You can also
think ahead to Stanley’s future, or you can connect
the book to real life or to a universal idea such as
“friendship” in a way that supports your thesis.
IN SHORT, A CONCLUSION
o Restates the subject of your essay.
o Summarize how these traits support your point
of view.
o Conclude with a summary of your opinion.
*****Concluding sentence goes beyond a simple summary.
THESIS: PARAGRAPH 1
Begin your essay with a thesis statement. Use
the following as a model:
• In the beginning of the novel Holes, by Louis
Sachar, Stanley Yelnats is ______________ ,
but by the end of the novel, partly because of
his friendship with Hector Zeroni, Stanley is
___________________,
__________________ and
____________________.
SAMPLE TOPIC SENTENCE 1:
• Throughout the book Holes, by Louis Sachar,
the main character Stanley goes through many
changes. At the beginning of the story, he is
_______________, ______________ and
__________________but by the end of the
story with the help of his friend Zero, Stanley
is _______________, _________________
and ___________________.
SAMPLE TOPIC SENTENCE 2:
• “As long as Zero could keep going, he could
keep going too.” (page 162, paragraph 15) In
the book Holes, Stanley made dramatic
changes with the help of his friend Zero. He
went from being ______________,
____________ and ____________at the
beginning of the story to ______________,
_________________ and ________________.
SAMPLE TOPIC SENTENCE 3:
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“Higher and higher they climbed. His strength came
from somewhere deep inside himself…” (page 170,
paragraph ____) Stanley found that in the face of near
death, he discovered things about himself that turned
his life around. At the beginning of the novel Holes, he
was _________________, _____________________
and ________________. With the help of his
friendship with Zero, by the end of the story he was
____________________, ___________________ and
______________________.
SAMPLE TOPIC SENTENCE 4:
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No friends and always being made fun of. Stanley had
been miserable for many years. On page 7, paragraph
___, “He didn’t have any friends at home. He was
overweight…” At the beginning of the novel Holes, he
was _________________, _____________________
and ________________. With the help of his
friendship with Zero, by the end of the story he was
____________________, ___________________ and
______________________.
PG. 269
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6. Begin your next paragraph with a topic sentence stating how Zero affects
Stanley’s change. Ask yourself, “How does Stanley’s friendship with Zero
make him a better person?” In the rest of this paragraph, provide textual
support for your opinion. Use at least three details you have noted in
your graphic organizer about the relationship between Stanley and Zero
in Activity 3.19, “Stanley and Zero.” Explain the importance of the details
with commentary. Include transitions that show cause and effect.
7. Next, start your last body paragraph with a topic sentence stating how
Stanley’s character has changed by the end of the novel. Then, complete
the paragraph using at least three details and examples from the novel,
and include commentary on how these details support your topic
sentence.
8. In your conclusion, restate your thesis. You can also think ahead to
Stanley’s future, or you can connect the book to real life or to a universal
idea such as “friendship” in a way that supports your thesis.
PG. 269
PG. 270
• 12. Summarize your ideas about how Stanley has changed
through the course of the novel.
• 13. Summarize your ideas about how Zero influenced the
changes in Stanley.
• 14. What do you consider to be the strongest part of your
essay? Why?
• 15. Read your character analysis essay softly to yourself,
correcting mistakes that you notice along the way. Make sure
your essay sounds right.
PG. 270
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16. Compare the draft of your essay to the graphic organizers you completed
and the outline of an essay provided for you. You might use colored pencils to
underline the different parts of the outline to make sure they are all addressed in
your essay. You might have changed your mind about some of your ideas once you
got started writing, but be sure to check to see if you left out any important
elements of a character analysis essay. If any elements are missing or need more
development, revise accordingly.
17. Mark your draft as follows to determine where you may still need
revision:
– A. Highlight the following elements in your essay (you may want to use
different colors). If you have a small amount of highlighting, you probably
want to revise: transitions (words or phrases) to help your reader follow your
essay
b. descriptive details with precise adjectives and action verbs
b. R evisit the Assignment and the Scoring Guide and ask youself how
successful you have been in meeting the criteria of the assignment.
Make notes, either in the margin or by using sticky notes, of any
additional changes you want to make.
YOUR TURN!
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Rough
revise
Edit
Write final
proofread
Revising video
PG. 273-274
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REVISE
GO BACK AND READ/REREAD YOUR
ESSAY BEFORE WRITING FINAL
ADDING OR ELABORATING
o Make sure you have your quotations, page,
paragraph, commentary and details.
o Find a key (important) sentence- Add 2 more
sentences of elaboration. (more details)
o Add similes, metaphors and other descriptive
language.
Revising is different from editing.
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REPLACING
o Look for overused words like “then”, “and”, “I”
etc. Try replacing them with synonyms. (a
thesaurus can help)
o Look for inaccurate facts or quotations/dialogue
and replace with accurate information.
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DELETING
o Look for any statements that are off topic or not
necessary and take them out of the story.
When you revise your job is to make
sure all your information is written in
a clear and interesting way.
REVISE
GO BACK AND READ/REREAD YOUR
ESSAY BEFORE WRITING FINAL
EMBEDDED ASSESSMENT 2
LEVEL 1, UNIT 3
WRITING A CHARACTER ANALYSIS ESSAY
• Directions: Check off each task that you
complete during your revision process.
 My introduction paragraph uses parallel
sentence structure. I began with an
attention getter, than wrote a topic
sentence.
 My introduction paragraph uses powerful
adjectives to describe Stanley at the
beginning of the story and at the end of
the story. (actions, personality,
appearance)
 I have completed my graphic organizer
(character chart) to record the lines from
the text to support my thesis statement.
 I have gathered the evidence to describe
and discuss Stanley and Zero’s friendship.
REVISE
GO BACK AND READ/REREAD YOUR
ESSAY BEFORE WRITING FINAL
 In the second paragraph I used at least three
adjectives to describe Stanley and gave
examples for each. I added personal
commentary and used at least one line or
quotation from the novel to support my
opinion. (Page, Paragraph)
 In the third paragraph I used at least three
examples to describe how Zero helped Stanley
change. I added personal commentary and used
at least one line or quotation from the novel to
support my opinion. (Page, Paragraph, Quote,
Commentary.)
 In the fourth paragraph I used at least three
adjectives to describe Stanley at the end of the
story and gave examples for each. I added
personal commentary and used at least one line
or quotation from the novel to support my
opinion. (page, paragraph)
 My concluding paragraph refers back to my
introduction.
REVISE
GO BACK AND READ/REREAD YOUR
ESSAY BEFORE WRITING FINAL
I have revised my work to
reflect super-strong
thinking.
I have attached my rough
draft, my character chart, my
plan, a revision and editing
checklist to the back of my
final draft.
I have graded myself on the
rubric and attached it to the
paper.
EDIT
EDITING CHECKLIST
• Did I use words that are capitalized correctly?
• Did I check that ALL my words are spelled
correctly?
• Have I indented all my paragraphs?
• Have I put quotation marks around any lines
from the story?
• Have I written complete sentences?
• Is my name on all my papers?
Title