Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Content Objective: I can use multimedia to write narratives about real or imagined events.
Language Objective: I will analyze effective character introductions and rewrite a short piece of fiction to highlight characterization. 

Agenda:
1. Writing Prompt: Write for 10 minutes.

2. What is your favorite fictional character? How are they first introduced? What about this introduction makes them especially memorable? 

3. What's the difference between implicit and explicit characterization?

4. Watch/Read along with the following character introductions. Open a new GoogleDoc, title it "Character Introductions".  Take notes about what these introductions tell us about these characters. 

• What elements of these character introductions are explicit and implicit?
• Are these introductions effective? 

1.  Sherlock Holmes (BBC adaptation) 
2. Nick (Sarah Rees Brennan - THE DEMON'S LEXICON) 
3. A (David Levithan - EVERY DAY) 
4. Alexia Tarabotti (Gail Carriger - SOULLESS)

5. Let's create a list of Dos and Don'ts for great character introductions: Write your thoughts on how to write a great character introductions on the Padlet that corresponds with your class: 

• Character Dos and Don'ts 1B
• Character Dos and Don'ts 3B

6. List of character introduction basics:

• introduce a character doing something that is unique to them
• one interesting detail of appearance
• one element of conflict or tension
• What are the stakes? What happens if this character fails?
• Why should we care?

What are these elements in "The Voice Imitator"?

7. Rewrite "The Voice Imitator" starting with the most interesting detail of the story. Make up anything that you don't know and focus on characterization in your rewrite. 

8. Share your rewrite with two partners: How are your characters and your approaches to these characters different? 

Assignments: 

• Writing Prompt
• implicit vs. explicit characterization
• Character intro analysis
• Dos and Don'ts
• "The Voice Imitator" rewrite