Explaining Character in Shakespeare

Strategies/Activities

Using Familiar Story

Most Navajo children grew up listening to their parents, grandparents, and the Navajo Culture Teacher tell stories from Navajo Oral myths, especially about the mischief of Coyote.  In most oral myths, the antics of Coyote are used to teach morals. I specifically chose oral myths as an opener to my lesson plan because children are familiar with the characteristic traits of Coyote. Most stories about Coyote also have many plot twists and turns to develop the story using conflicts, building climax, and character action that resolves the conflict. When I am teaching my unit, I will keep referring back to the story of Bear Maiden to help guide students and help them develop their comprehension skills through understanding of character traits and motivation, and plot events.

Character Traits and Motivation

Using familiar stories is practical for discussing character traits and motivations. Fourth Grade ELL learners are expected to describe the characters’ traits and their motivations in a fictional text.  The strategy is to use a Character Trait and Motivation chart to help students understand what a character is like, together with his or her thoughts and actions. I will explain that a reader can tell what kind of person a character is by thinking about his or her traits. Traits show what a character is like. The motivation of a character is defined as the reasons the character acts in a certain way. Students need to understand that sometimes authors or storytellers state a character’s motivation, but sometimes the reader or listener must determine motivation using what the character says, does, and thinks as clues.

As a whole class, I will guide the students to determine character traits and motivation when considering Tingling Woman and the Coyote. After we read the first section of Tingling Woman, I will guide students through a think aloud about the traits of Tingling Woman. I will ask students guiding questions that specifically focus on what Tingling Woman is like, why she says no to marriage, and how she reacts to Coyote. In pairs, students will discuss character traits and motivation of Tingling Woman. I will walk around the classroom to guide them by asking about Tingling Woman’s action, and what her action says about her trait, and about her motivation. As the discussion progresses, I will help students fill in character traits and motivations. Throughout the unit, the students will practice determining character traits of Coyote from the Bear Maiden story, Iago from Othello, and Kate and Bianca from Taming of the Shrew.

Comparing and contrasting two or more characters within a fictional text is another skill that Fourth Grade ELL students are expected to acquire. This demand requires students to use higher level thinking in coming to understand the following characters: Tingling Woman, Bianca, and Kate. The guiding questions for this part are: How is Tingling Woman like Kate? How is she like Bianca? Is Tingling Woman more like Kate or Bianca at the beginning of the story? Students will reread parts of the Taming of the Shrew and Bear Maiden. Students will also use the Character Traits and Motivations charts from the previous lessons. With the charts side by side, students will use think aloud to discuss the similarities and differences between the characters; first between Tingling Woman and Kate, and then between Tingling Woman and Bianca. Then, the students will determine whether or not Tingling Woman is more like Kate or Bianca. Students will have to support their conclusion with details from the text or from the chart.

Plots

Another Fourth Grade ELL Proficiency Standard is to help students analyze text to identify and describe the plot (specific events, problems and solutions) from a fictional text. Using oral myths is especially useful for teaching plot twists. The story of Bear Maiden involves many plot twists. In this lesson, I will use Character, Setting, and Plot graphic organizer and plot outline. I will explain to students that characters are people or animals in a story, and setting describes when and where a story takes place. Knowing who the characters are in a story and where the story takes place will help students understand events in a plot.  I will define the plot as the series of events in a story. I will explain that the characters, the setting, and the plot work together to tell a story. Sometimes, the setting, and especially the characters affect the plot events.

The plot outline is a five part structure. The first part is the introduction, where the main characters, the setting, and relationships are established. The introduction is followed by rising action. The rising action refers to an event or action that enables the plot to develop. The main character is faced with a seemingly tricky situation which worsens as the story develops because the character has yet to cultivate skills to deal with the problem. This leads to the climax. The climax is a plot event that defines the main tension in the story. The climax is the turning point of the story and is meant to be the moment of highest interest and excitement. This is when characters define themselves with a new sense of who they really are. The falling action is where the character’s action leads to events that point to an ending. Finally, the resolution is the how the story’s conflict is brought to an end.

In this lesson, the students will use the plot outline to determine the plot of all the stories in the unit with guidance from me. I will guide students to certain events in the story to help them determine where they belong on the plot outline. For example, in Othello, who are the main characters, which of them are creating the conflict, why are they creating the conflict? How does it affect the plot? What are the events that lead up to the climax? What is the climax in the story? What was the resolution? As the students discuss these questions through buddy talk and think aloud, I will write down the information they offer on the plot outline.

To develop higher level thinking in the students, we will expand the lesson on plot events in the stories for the unit. For example, I would expand the lesson on plot events for Othello by asking the students questions about specific events in the story: Suppose Iago had been promoted to lieutenant? Suppose Iago hadn’t made Cassio drunk? Suppose Iago hadn’t obtained the handkerchief? How would these altered circumstances have changed the outcome of the story? With guidance, students will rewrite the plot outline. This will help students understand that character choices help determine the events of the plots.

Rewrite the Ending

In this activity, students will rewrite the ending of Taming of the Shrew so it will have a similar ending to that of Maiden Bear. In Maiden Bear, the maiden took revenge on her brothers after her husband was killed. The youngest brother was the one who stopped his sister. First, using the plot outline from Bear Maiden, students will develop a story board for Maiden Bear from the time her husband was killed to her demise. Students will be guided to determine the main points. The rising action and conflict would be the steps she takes to find out about her missing husband. The characters she chooses to kill in revenge would be part of the rising action. The climax would be finding her youngest brother and her intent to kill him. The falling action and resolution would be how the youngest brother persevered by outsmarting and killing his sister. The students will be guided by the following question as they rewrite the ending for Taming of the Shrew: How would Kate react if Petruchio were killed? Whom would she take revenge on? Using the Bear Maiden storyboard as a guide, students will create a new ending for Kate’s story, supposing that Patruchio is killed. What would the rising action look like? Which characters would Kate kill off? What would be the climax of the new ending? Who will be the hero that saves the family? Would it be Bianca? Where would Bianca hide? How would she outwit her sister?  From this lesson I want students to use what they learned about character traits and actions, and then plot events so as to determine the plot for the new ending.