Assignment 4

The Talking Eggs – 4^th Grade

Objective: 

Students will listen to the story The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci  and will identify and list characteristics of one of the main characters in the story. Students will use the text to find the words in the story that “show”, or support, each of the character traits listed. Students will collaborate and present their character trait analysis in a visual format to the rest of the class.

Procedure: 

Students will listen to the teacher read The Talking Eggs aloud two times.  The first time, students will listen to the story and will choose a character to look at a little closer. During the second read aloud, students will identify and list character traits of their character.

After the second read aloud, students will use the text to find words or actions in the story that support each character trait listed.

Finally, students will join with a partner or small group who chose the same character to collaborate with and create a visual representation of their character and character traits analysis.  Each group will present to the rest of the class.

Differentiation:

This format of whole group, individual, partner/small group work lends itself nicely to all levels of learners in the classroom.  It provides struggling or reluctant learners an atmosphere in which they are held accountable for their own learning, but are also supported by others.  High achievers could complete a character analysis of two or more of the characters in the story.

Adapting:

This lesson could be adapted to any grade level.  It could be used with novels for older students where students analyze a character from beginning to end.  A whole class could analyze character traits of one of the main characters in a novel and look for new character traits that may evolve as the plot develops.  It could be used to compare and contrast two or more characters.  It provides a basic foundation for character analysis.