This module has been written with the intent of implementation at the beginning of the school year. This module has been designed with four purposes in mind:
1. Describe a character's traits in the novel Because of Winn Dixie using actions. thoughts, and words.
2. Support that description with evidence from the text.
3. Write a character analysis essay for Johnson's Literacy Journal
4. Address ELA grade level specific standards.
During this module students will focus on Reading Standard 4.3., which is to describe in depth a character drawing on specific details in the text (characters, thoughts, words and actions). Students will participate in a variety of mini tasks of reading and writing activities including character analysis by other students, reading responses, power points, and videos as well as reading/writing activities to support them in mastering the skill of describing character. They will determine what a characters traits are based on how they think, what they say and how they act. They will use their knowledge of character traits to write a character analysis essay describing a character from the novel Because of Winn Dixie.
*It should be noted that Because of Winn Dixie has a Lexile Level of 660, which is slightly below fourth grade level. I chose this book to use with my class because it is listed in the units of exemplary text for fourth grade students. Students will read the majority of the book independently and apply what they have learned in class from mini-lessons focusing on instructional reading to assist students in their ability to determine information of a character from what they say, act and think. Most of the mini-lessons for reading were taken from LearnZillion (recommended on the common core standards resource page for CCSS-English Language Arts. RL4.3. I am also including other readings within this unit using different reading formats (student analysis, video clips and other books).
During this module students will have available a variety graphic organizers with characters, their thoughts, words, and actions. Students will use these graphic organizers to organize each character and their development with textual evidence to help them address their writing prompt. These graphic organizers will be used as their prewriting tool to assist them in writing their informational piece.
Students will further develop their writing by being taught mini tasks on the use of the writing process including a introductory paragraph with body and ending, and features that are involved in reading a character analysis. Also, students will write a short summary for their audience who haven't read the book Because of Winn Dixie.
