Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun
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Dismondy, M. (2008). Spaghetti on a hot dog bun: Having the courage to be who you are. Michigan: Cardinal Rule Press.
GRADE LEVEL(S) OF LESSON:
Grades 3 & 4
INTRODUCE THE TOPIC:
Teacher introduces the concept of characterization. Understanding characterization is to understand the character or characters in a story and what each character’s individual traits are as related in the story. Characters are people or animals who are involved in the story and have many personality traits.
SHARE EXAMPLES:
Teacher gives an example that if someone has the character trait of being persevering, he doesn’t give up when things get hard. Another example is that a girl can be thoughtful, since she seems to think a lot about her future. As a reference the teacher will provide a non-example to show what character traits are not, such as: The old lady had gray hair. Gray hair is not a character trait since it only describes physical appearance. Teacher has students tell her what character traits they already know. Teacher will use a chart labeled “Thinking About Characters” with the word “Traits” underneath and write down the traits that students share.
Teacher reads the literary text, Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun. The teacher asks students to pay attention to what each character might say or do to give them clues about their character.
PROVIDE INFORMATION:
Teacher shares that when looking at characterization, we see how the character is developed in the story by what they do (their actions in the story) and by what they say in thoughts or dialogue. The teacher will explain character traits as who the character is on the inside – their personality. These traits show through by what they say or do. Next the teacher will ask students to think about what the characters were like in the beginning of the book, then what they were like in the middle of the book, and then what they were like at the end of the book. The teacher will ask thinking questions like: Who were Lucy and Papa Gino? What does Papa Gino say to make you see his character? How was Ralph mean to Lucy? What did Lucy do when Ralph was mean to her? Did she do something to make Ralph stop?
SUPERVISE PRACTICE:
Teacher has students work with a partner on graphic organizers for the characters Lucy and Ralph. The character name would be in the middle. With a section in top left that has traits (at least three examples like: courageous, kind, helpful, friendly, forgiving or mean, disrespectful, angry, unkind) in the top right is a section with evidence showing actions. The bottom left section is dialogue to support the traits and actions and in the bottom right would be feelings that are shown in the story like: happy, sad, worried. The teacher will list questions on the board to facilitate thinking like: How does the character change in the story? How are the characters different in what they do? How do you think the character feels about_____?
The students that need a challenge could do an extra characterization paper on Papa Gino. Those who struggle would list one to two traits instead of three or just do two sections of the organizer instead of four.
ASSESS LEARNING:
To help deepen their connection to character traits, have students look at the list of Character Traits made earlier. Then have them make a list of 10 words that best describes themselves. They may also use other words for themselves that are not yet on the chart. On a different sheet of paper have them write a paragraph that uses five of the ten words chosen and explain and give evidence with what they say or do that supports each of their five words.
Resources:
Dismondy, M. (2008). Spaghetti on a hot dog bun: Having the courage to be who you are.
Michigan: Cardinal Rule Press.
Identifying character traits, lesson plan. (2015, July 22). Retrieved October 20, 2017, from
https://www.education.co/lesson-plan/...
Teaching character traits in reader’s workshop. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2017, from
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/b... -character-traits-readers-workshop/