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.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

After hearing and discussing an excerpt from Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons, students will plan to create a unique description of a character that uses memorable actions that “show” a person’s character. They will brainstorm verbs that might prove or “show” two personality traits. Students will then turn their brainstorm into an original character sketch that shows the reader both personality traits, borrowing techniques from Creech's novel. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

Students will focus on the trait of idea development, in particular using vivid and memorable detail. Author Sharon Creech does a great job of using specific details to show (and not just tell) us her characters. Word choice is a secondary trait focus, modled after Creech's use of strong verbs to describe what her character does and doesn’t do. Creech paints a compelling picture with her choice of words to describe her character.