Students will really get into character when they read short stories and analyze the hows and whys of character behaviors.

Students get the inside scoop on a story when they create interview questions and answers for characters in the books they read.

After reading a work of literature as a class, students will brainstorm "crimes" committed by characters from that text. Groups of students will work together to act as the prosecution or defense for the selected characters, while also acting as the jury for other groups. Students will use several sources to research for their case, including the novel and internet resources. All the while, students will be writing a persuasive piece to complement their trial work.

While this lesson uses Shakespeare's The Tempest, there are several other text options. Handouts (except for the model case handout) are generic so that they can be used with any text.

Using the character of Edward Cullen from the Twilight series, this lesson introduces the Byronic hero and asks students to compare the Byronic hero to the traditional hero and villain.

Students analyze the Gwendolyn Brooks poem "We Real Cool" and then write about how the character's pool hall days might influence who the character becomes fifty years in the future.

Students work on a guided characterization project, using a graphic map to illustrate the ways a character from a book series grows and evolves over the course of the story.

This resource was created by Janice Nichols, in collaboration with Lynn Bowder, as part of ESU2's Mastering the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education and experiential learning.

This activity, inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper and the stories of Raymond Carver, challenges students to get inside contemporary life and characters through the creation of monologues.

Students really get into character in this lesson as they act out the parts of a script and analyze character motivations and dialogue.

Working as career counselors for a literary character, students find a job for the character, prepare a resume, and design questions and answers to prepare them for a job interview.

Students read Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, demonstrate comprehension of the story by involving themselves in discussions, and analyze the characters in preparation for a class "press conference."

A short quiz on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3, featuring a passage from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The passage has a Dale-Chall text difficulty level of 7-8, and a Flesch-Kincaid level of 7.0. (However, these metrics are not designed for poetry.)

A short quiz on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3, featuring a passage from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The passage has a Dale-Chall text difficulty level of 7-8, and a Flesch-Kincaid level of 7.0. (However, these metrics are not designed for poetry.)

A short quiz on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3, featuring a passage from Ken Kesey's book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Dale-Chall text difficulty level of the pasage is 5-6, the Flesch-Kincaid level is 5.1.

A short quiz on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3 featuring a passage from Suzanne Collins's book, The Hunger Games. The passage has a Dale-Chall text difficulty level of 4, and a Flesch-Kincaid level of 3.7.

Students analyze personal homepages, as well as a character in a book they have read, and then create a homepage for the character.

This resource was created by Kim Francis, in collaboration with Lynn Bowder, as part of ESU2's Mastering the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education and experiential learning.

Everyone knows that "Star Wars" character Darth Vader is a villain. This lesson asks students to explore how they know such things about heroes and villains they encounter in texts. After examining how moviemakers communicate the villainy of Darth Vader, students examine a passage from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that describes the villain Voldemort, noting how Rowling communicates details about the character. Students then read novels in small groups, with each group member tracking a character in a reading log. When they finish their novels, students design posters and present details on their novels to the class. After the presentations, students make observations on how authors develop character and write journal entries reflecting on what they learned.

Students read and discuss picture book biographies of women [and men] in history. With their teacher, they build a data chart of information about each woman, highlighting her historical setting, accomplishments, and character traits. Finally students apply what they learn to several writing projects focused on historical context and social change. While the focus of biography is on individuals, students will see they did not, and could not, succeed alone but were supported along the way by others.