Session 2: Using our Work in Reading Characters to help us Read Ourselves and Others
Connection
Writers, I’ve been looking over your reading notebooks and marveling at the complicated, nuanced
ideas you have been growing about characters. I was reading them over and over thinking to myself
about what wise, insightful things you have to say about the characters in your stories. You’re not just
coming up with ideas--you’re digging into the roots of these characters and being moved by them.
You’re reading differently because of these ideas.
I was thinking, writers, that we could try out some of the same work we do in reading to grow ideas
about characters in this new unit. Just like we read differently and live differently because we get to
know and understand and be moved by characters, we could live differently if we grew ideas and had
new insights about people we know and ourselves. Today I want to teach you that we can use all of the
strategies that have been so successful in helping us grow ideas about our characters to grow ideas
about others and ourselves. Just as we know that there are certain places in our books that are extra
worthy of digging and re-digging into to find hidden ideas, we can find times in our lives that are
significant and especially worthy of our digging into them. Like times that we have made choices. We
can pay attention to times we have made choices and see them as windows into what kind of people we
are.
Teach
Let me show you what I mean. I know that there are certain moments in texts that always seem to have
all these hidden ideas and issues in them. One of those types of moments is when a character makes a
choice. I know if I think about what the character could have done but chose to do instead, I can get
ideas about what kind of person the character is. So, if I want to grow ideas about myself or others, I can
look at a time of choice.
So…let me think of a choice I made lately…Hmmm...I remember last week I had to do a lot of work over
the weekend. I had lessons I was writing and I had to finish writing thank you cards and I had to pay all
these bills. My friend called me and asked me if I wanted to take a walk in the park. I had a choice to
make. I could finish the work or go for a walk and leave it unfinished. I decided to stay and finish my
work. So I could jot that down. (Teacher models writing “moment I chose to stay and finish working
instead of walking in the park.)
Do you see how I’ve come up with a moment of choice? Now writers, if I ask myself some questions
about that moment, I know I can start to grow some ideas. So—What does this show about me?
Hmmm…well, let me see…I could have gone off and enjoyed myself in the park and left my work
unfinished but instead I chose to stick with it and get it done… What does that show about me? Well, it
shows that I need to get my work done before I can go off and play. What kind of a person would act in
this way? Well, someone who was responsible but also I think…someone who needs to feel on top of
work and who gets nervous if things aren’t finished. I think I’ll write that idea down (Teacher models
writing “This moment shows that I’m the kind of person who needs to feel on top of things and gets
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nervous if things aren’t finished. In other words, I can’t relax if I have something to do hanging over my
head…) Writers, did you see the way I came up with a moment of choice, asked myself some questions
about that moment to grow an idea quickly then jotted the idea down and started to write long about
it?
I could keep going with that entry. I could write fast and furiously for a whole page or more all about my
idea about how I need to feel on top of everything and get nervous if I didn’t do something. I’ll do that
later. Right now I want you to try this out.
Active Involvement
Right now I want you to think of a choice you have made recently. Try to think of a choice that mattered
like whether to do something or whether not to do something. Put a thumbs up when you’ve thought of
a moment.
Okay, Partner 2 you are going to tell your moment of choice to your partner and Partner 1 you are going
to ask Partner 2 questions about the moment like I asked myself to help Partner 2 grow an idea about
himself/herself. (Teacher points to yesterday’s chart with possible questions to ask.)
Okay, turn and talk.
Writers, I’m hearing that you are all starting to come to such interesting and insightful ideas about
yourself. Karen told Mark that when she had to choose to go to her grandma’s house for dinner or her
friend’s sleepover, she chose to go to her grandma’s and that made her realize that she is the kind of
person who values her time with family. And Jesse said that he had to choose to go to his dad’s for the
weekend or to a soccer game his friend invited him to. And he said he chose to go to his dad’s but he
was angry about it which made him think that he is the kind of person who doesn’t want to hurt his dad
but has trouble telling him what he really wants. Wow. I am blown away by the ideas you are already
starting to grow about yourselves.
Link
Remember, just like we want to be the kinds of readers who think and care deeply about characters to
gain insights, we want to be the kinds of people who look at what we and others do and have nuanced,
complex ideas about these actions. We want to be the kind of people who can read others and who
know ourselves well.
We’re going to do everything we know about growing ideas to help us. Remembering a moment of
choice and thinking about that choice as a window into what kind of person someone is can help you
grow ideas. You have lots of other strategies as well. Think of ones you’ve used to grow ideas about
characters that were successful for you and try out that strategy to come up with material that will lead
you to this new kind of writing. I’ll even put up our chart “Ways we Grow Ideas about Characters” so we
can use that if it’s helpful.
Conferring/Small Group Work
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-growing ideas about our emotional settings
-Start with an idea and move to small moments
Mid-workshop teaching point- Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Our Objects and Possessions can Reveal
our Character
We know that objects and possessions of characters in stories can reveal what kind of people they are.
Today I want to remind you that the objects and possessions that we keep and that other people keep
can also reveal our characters, our personalities and who we truly are.
You are working so hard to grow ideas, writers. I see many of you using the strategies from our old
charts and I want to compliment you on making use of all you know about growing ideas. Today will you
try out a different strategy on a chart that you haven’t used yet or will you pay attention to see if there
are new strategies that you are using that are not on our charts? What is working best for you?
Teaching Share
Writers, I want to share with you some work that Karen has done. She has said that she knows paying
attention to the minor characters in stories and looking at how they influence the major character
always pays off to grow ideas. So she’s been looking at her relationships with different people in her life
and asking herself what that says about who she is. What a great strategy! I’ll add that to our chart. Will
you think now about what strategies you’ve been using to grow ideas? What have been the most
successful for you? Have you tried new ones? Turn and talk to a partner.
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