This Lesson's Title:

Actions Speak Louder than Words

creating a character sketch inspired by an interesting verbs and actions that show

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant
Heather Eckart at an
AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 18 of this book.

Check out Walk Two Moons at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :

Pre-step…before sharing the published model: “Actions speak louder then words”. Discuss this idea with students. What we do, how we do it… these say a lot about what kind of person we are.

Model a character trait like “generous” on the board. Brainstorm: “What would a ‘generous’ person do or not do to show us this trait?” Ex: share a toy, buy a gift, give away something special, not be stingy with… These actions demonstrate, prove or “show” us the trait of generosity.

Tell students they are going to read an example of how an author used specific details, actions, likes and dislikes to "show" a character in a story.

Step one (sharing the published model):  Walk Two Moons is the story of a 13-year-old girl (Sal) who is on a road trip with her grandparents in search of her mother who has left the family. She entertains her grandparents with stories about her friends. All the while she struggles with the loss of her mother and how this has impacted their family.

In Chapter 18, Sal pauses to tell us more about her father. Read the first part of chapter 18--“The Good Man”--which is found on pages 107-109 of my copy. Discuss how the author focuses on showing (not just telling) us about the character. She describes the father using a few traits: kind, simple, honest and good. After each trait, she shows us with a number of specific examples that flesh out that trait.

Tell students they will be composing character sketches today that--similar to Creech's style--show us at least two character traits of an original character.

To demonstrate how they will fill out this assignment's graphic organizer that will help them create an original character sketch, model filling out one in front of them for the father character from the passage that has been read. The second page of the graphic organizer shows what the model might look like. Notice how verb phrases are what are brainstormed; these are the actions that speak louder than words.

Step two (introducing student models of writing):  In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson.  The groups will certainly talk about the idea development, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might also have your students talk about the word choice in the writing too.

• A sixth grader--Dallen--shares his character sketch.
• Two eighth graders--Christine & Grant--share their character sketches.
• We're looking for student samples for other grade levels for this prompt!  Help us get some, and we'll send you a free resource for your classroom!  See this lesson's student samples page for details.

Step three (thinking, talking and pre-writing): Students first need to pick a character to write a character about: a favorite person, a family member, or a fictional character. Ideas for interesting characters can be discovered if your students can use the interactive buttons on the Student Instructions Page. If you cannot get your students to a computer, then they can certainly come up with ideas on their own.

Students will brainstorm three or four traits, and then pick two traits for their graphic organizer, brainstorming actions, likes or dislikes that would show those two traits to a reader. Have students who are working on different characters share ideas with a partner as they complete their graphic organizers so that they can hear one another's thinking about choosing quality and realistic actions.

Read the passage from Walk Two Moons once more before students begin composing a rough draft, instructing students to listen carefully to Creech's style and showing ability. Tell students you want them to try out some of Creech's techniques when they write about an original character.

When students are ready to begin creating a rough draft, consider using this Drafting worksheet with an Idea Development checklist. It is designed to remind students to think about the focus trait before, during, and after composing.

Step four (revising with specific trait language):   To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts.  Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5."   Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings.  For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.

• Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes
• Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes

Step five (editing for conventions):  After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor.   If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers.  With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it.  The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.

Step six (publishing for the portfolio):   When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block.  Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here.  Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.

Interested in publishing student work on-line?  We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers.  This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.

Learn more about author Sharon Creech by clicking here.