Student Teacher: Sydney Laughlin
Date of Lesson: 11/12/2013
Lesson Title/Description: Comparing and Contrasting Characters
Lesson # 4 of 10
Time Allotted for this Lesson: 40 minutes
Goals: Compare and contrast story elements
using evidence from the text
CCSS RL.5.3
Objective 2.3
After reading a book aloud to the class the students will
compare and contrast the traits of two or more characters
in a Venn diagram.
Pre-Requisite Knowledge and/or Skills:
Students will need to have basic knowledge of what a comparison is.
Students will need to have basic knowledge of what a contrast is.
Students will need to know how to read and write English.
Materials/Equipment/Supplies/Technology/Preparation:
Paper
Pencil
Document Camera
Book “Pink and Say” by Patricia Polacco
Sentence frames
Procedure: Teacher Does……….
5
min
10
min
Procedure: Students Do……..
Motivation/Hook:
Teacher will review previous
lessons, asking students to recall
what they learned about character
traits.
Motivation/Hook:
Students will answer the guided questions on
what they learned about character traits.
Teaching:
Teacher will reintroduce compare
and contrast to students using
examples of sentence frames from
lesson on point of view.
Teaching:
Students will discuss what compare and
contrast mean in a narrative story.
Answers may include: Compare- similarities,
Contrast-differences.
Contrast:
“___________is _____________ whereas
___________is ______________.”
Compare:
“ __________and ___________are
both_________ because they both _____.”
Teacher will reintroduce the Venn
diagram. Discussing the three parts.
1.Character 1
2. Character 2
3. Similarities
1
10
min
Group Application:
Group Application:
Teacher will give one example of a
comparison trait between pink and
say, one contrastive trait between
pink and say using the sentence
frames as a guide.
Compare:
Soldiers (both)
Contrast:
brave (pink)/afraid (Say)
Students will ask clarifying questions.
Teacher will fill out one trait for
both Pink and Say from character
traits list, (same as trait chosen for
sentence frames).
10
min
Teacher will ask students to fill out
the rest of the Venn diagram.
Independent Application:
Teacher will have the students find
three more examples of a
comparative trait and a contrastive
trait that the characters Pink and
Say have.
Independent Application:
Students will work with partners to find three
more examples of a comparative trait and a
contrastive trait that the characters Pink and
Say have. Answers may include:
1. brave (pink)/afraid (Say)
2. literate (pink)/illiterate (Say)
3. Free (Say)/Slave (Pink)
4. Soldiers (both)
5
min
Closure:
Closure:
The teacher will regroup the class
having them share their traits. The
Students will share traits, adding to the
class will fill out a chart to keep up in classroom chart.
the class for reference.
Meeting Varying Needs of Students:
Students will be read a book aloud, for those that need more sensory learning. The
vocabulary words will be placed up in the room for the students to reference. The students
will also be working and discussing in table partners for those students that need peer
interaction to keep on track. Students will be given character maps to track character traits.
The teacher will also keep the anchor charts of character traits up in the room for the
students to reference. The students will be given sentence frames for comparing and
2
contrasting to help ELL students structure their responses.
Extension: Students will work in assigned pairs, choose a fiction text and create a character
interview for one of the main characters. One student will be the reporter and the other will
be the character being interviewed. Both students must dress up or create props. The
interview should be no more than 5 minutes but no less than 3. The interviewer/interviewee
will create the questions and will practice the interview before hand.
If there is more than two students: one student will be the reporter and two will have to be
chosen characters from the text.
While students are watching the interviews they must be writing down traits from at least
three other characters and comparing them to together/to self.
Assessment
1. Evidence collected from this lesson: Students will turn in their reading journals and I
will check their Venn diagrams for completion and understanding.
2. The Character interviews will be taped and reviewed by the teacher after their
completion.
Reflection:
The students really knew their comparing and their contrasting characteristics. I was able to
put more of the facilitation of this lesson onto the students and they were able to keep the momentum
up as a class discussion/activity. There was a substitute who sat in for my mentor teacher during this
lesson and she said that my lesson was one of the best she has ever seen a (blend) fifth grade class do.
The character interviews took up the majority of the afternoon and I was unable to teach the
beginning of my new lesson. There was only one partner group that was unable to perform since one
member was very ill. The rest of the students came into class dressed up and excite to go. There were
news anchors with microphones and mustaches, Disney princesses, cat, soldiers, famous football stars,
and even Captain Underpants. The students took this activity and ran with it. I would recommend
doing this again maybe with a little more detail oriented focus.
3