CLASSROOM LESSON 1:
Analyzing Character Traits Through Comic Strips

BOOK TITLE: Black Water
AUTHOR: D.J. MacHale
LESSON PLAN AUTHOR : Jeff Sudbury

GRADE LEVEL: 6-8
LESSON DURATION: 60 Minutes

OBJECTIVE

• Analyze character traits and setting related to events and characters in the book Black Water in the Pendragon Series.

• Write responses to literature that demonstrate understanding and insight.

MATERIALS

• Copies of the Comic Strip Planning Sheet: Download PDF

• Copies of the Comic Strip Rubric: Download PDF

• Comic Strip Model for Black Water: Download PDF

• Overhead projector with transparencies

• Computer and projector

• Comic Creator Student Interactive Program

MOTIVATION

• Have students choose a character from Black Water in the Pendragon Series and write a diary entry based on the point of view of that character.   Students will respond to a question that you have provided.

• Example diary questions:  From the point of view of the character choose a value that is important to the character—honesty, courage, faithfulness, and so on.  Define the value, and explore how it relates to the character’s life.  Why is this ideal important to the character? 

• Students may continue to write diary entries as they read the book.  Diary entries could be written in a writing journal or literature response log.

NEW INFORMATION

• Today you will be analyzing a character and scene in Black Water in the Pendragon Series by creating a comic strip that demonstrates the character’s actions, thoughts or beliefs.

• There are many elements of characterization that will help develop the theme of your comic strip:
  Authors use the following methods to create character:
• appearance (what does the character look like)
• speech (what does the character say, and how does he say it)
• what others think of the character
• character's thoughts
• actions (how the character reacts in certain situations)

• Generally, there is a protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist is the main character in the story. The protagonist is not necessarily a likeable person, but usually the reader empathizes with the protagonist in some way.  The antagonist can take many forms—another person, a force of nature, a situation or fate.

• Share with students the Comic Strip Model from a scene in Black Water.  Using this example from the book, begin a discussion of the character traits of the protagonist—Pendragon.  Relate this discussion to the key elements for the first three sections of the Comic Planning Sheet—Scene and Actions that Occur, Character Present, and Landscape and Props. 

• Brainstorming  Student Ideas:
  • List some possible scenes from Black Water that might be good for making a comic strip and discuss why. 
  • Discuss important characters and character traits
  • Why are these characters important? 
  • What do their actions reveal about their character traits

• Once you feel that students understand the activity, demonstrate the Comic Creator Student Interactive and discuss its relationship to the Comic Strip Planning Sheet.

• Go through the options for characters and dialogue bubbles to show students the range of options.

PRACTICE/APPLICATION

• Have students work in pairs to complete the first three columns—Characters Present and Scenes and Actions, and Landscape and Props—of the Comic Strip Planning Sheet.

• Encourage students to interact with one another to share ideas about their planners. 

• Explain to students that the planners will be used to create comic strips that will be shared with the class once completed and could possibly be placed around the school for others to view.

EVALUATION OF STUDENT LEARNING

• Informally assess students as they complete their Comic Strip Planning Sheet. The comic strip rubric will be used in the following day 2 to evaluate the final comic strip for formal assessment. 

CLOSURE

• Have students pair with a partner and share and discuss their diary entries that were written at the beginning of the lesson.

• Then have each pair of students share with the class their thoughts from their diary entries.

• Review the key elements of characterization.   
  

• Remind students that characterization is revealed through a character’s speech, actions, thoughts, appearance, and what others think.

• Remind students that the class will create a comic strip using the Interactive Comic Creator program during day two of the lesson.

NCTE STANDARD 3

Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

NCTE STANDARD 4

Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

SOURCES

Fink, L. S.  (n.d.).  Book Report Alternative: Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips. Retrieved February 28, 2008 from, Website

Gardner, T. (n.d.).  Book Report Alternative:  Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares. Retrieved February 28, 2008 from, Website

Comic Strip Creator