What's your "it"? This lesson incorporates Tony Dungy's You Can Do It! into some hands-on activities that help students learn about different character traits.
Students will be able to identify character traits and find portions of textual evidence to support them.
The adjustment to the whole group lesson is a modification to differentiate for children who are English learners.
EL adjustments
Introduction
(5 minutes)
Introduce the class to the concept of a character trait. Explain that a character trait describes the behavior or attitude of a person, and that one could be used to describe anyone in the classroom.
Give an example: If someone has a character trait of being persevering,he doesn't give up when things get hard.
Provide a non-example to help students understand what character traits are not: Black hair is not a character trait, since it only describes physical appearance. Character traits describe behavior and attitude.
Beginning: Provide a visual from a recent story to help describe the physical traits and character traits of the character.
Allow them to restate the difference between physical traits and character traits in their home language (L1) or new language (L2).
Intermediate: Provide definitions for behavior, motivations, and attitude.
Allow ELs to repeat the definitions in their new or home language.
Ask if they can come up with any non examples or examples of character traits from a recent read aloud.