Reading Into Writing: On Character Development

In my reading and writing workshop this summer, I had my students pick books they want to read. I have four middle grade students and I meet them separately. In our meetings, we read, discuss and write our responses to their chosen book. We read aloud together. We think aloud together and in some cases, we argue. In the end, we learn together.

One of our favorite activities is the character map. We make a chart or a map of the character's journey. We use the Beginning-Middle-Ending framework as a final map but, in between reading of the chapters, we take note and become more aware of events, words and langauge that struck us while reading.

Here is a character map of "Lu" on Alvin, the main character in the middle grade novel, The Land Without Color by Benjamin Ellefson.

The simple character map was made over a period of six weeks. Lu and I discussed what Alvin is like with friends, with family and with strange people he met in the Land of Color. The discussion was done after reading the first parts of the novel. In one sentence, I asked Lu to write Alvin's remarkable characteristics.

Towards the middle part of the novel, after several slides and notes on our responses to the story, we took a pause and sorted out the exciting adventures Alvin was having at the Land of Color. I then aske Lu to write 2-3 sentences of the changes he observed of Alvin when interacting with other characters and in making decisions. A few days ago, we finished the book and as one of the closing or culminating activity, I asked Lu to describe what became of Alvin in the end. 

After making the character map, I challenged Lu to write one paragraph that shows the character development of Alvin. Using the sentences he wrote on the graphic organizer, he was able to write a description of Alvin.

My next activity for Lu is to improve the paragraph he has written.