Lesson plan



|ELA Lesson: Characters |Grade Level: 10 |

|Lesson Summary: For pre-assessment, the teacher will ask the students to recall memorable characters from other stories and state what about their personalities |

|made them unique. The teacher will assign the students to bring in an appropriate photograph from a magazine or newspaper of either a famous person or an unknown |

|model. The teacher will also assign the students to write an appropriate line of dialogue as a caption or in a sound balloon that captures what they perceive to be|

|the subject’s personality. The teacher will then distribute copies of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” and explain the radical nature of the “bob cut”|

|in the 1920s. Gifted readers will read the roles of the characters. The teacher will guide analysis of how dialogue reveals character in the story. For Guided |

|Practice, students will write the scene in which Bernice bobs her hair and develop character through dialogue. Advanced students will read the entire story and |

|note how dialogue reveals character, while Struggling Learners will analyze their own stories. |

|Lesson Objectives: |

| |

|The students will know… |

|the importance of character to narrative. |

|how dialogue develops character. |

| |

|The students will be able to… |

|analyze character in terms of dialogue. |

|identify characteristics of dialogue. |

|Learning Styles Targeted: |

| |

|x |

|Visual |

|x |

|Auditory |

|x |

|Kinesthetic/Tactile |

| |

|Pre-Assessment: Ask students to name memorable characters that they have read in other stories or seen in movies or TV and state what about their personalities |

|makes them unique. |

|Whole-Class Instruction |

|Materials Needed: 1 Copy of excerpt from “Bernice Bobs her Hair”* per student; notebooks; pens and pencils. |

|Procedure: |

|Ask students to bring in a photograph of a headshot from a magazine or newspaper. The shot could be of someone known, as found in a news story, or unknown, as |

|found in an advertisement. Ask students to write a caption of one line of dialogue that they think expresses the character of the person in the photograph. Even if|

|the person is known, the line must still be invented. Ask students to show their photographs, read their captions, and explain why they think the caption captures |

|what they imagine to be the person’s character. |

| |

|Explain to students that the “bob cut” was a women’s hairdo that was popular in the 1920s. Explain that it began during World War I when women cut their hair short|

|to participate in war work. By the 1920s, it was extremely fashionable. However, many people still found it scandalous, even immoral, that a woman would cut her |

|hair so that it resembled a man’s. |

| |

|Assign roles of Bernice, Charley, G. Reece, and the narrator. Have students read the story out loud. |

| |

|Ask students’ reaction to Bernice’s last line in the story: ”You’ve either got to amuse people or feed ‘em or shock ‘em.” Ask what this reveals about Bernice’s |

|character. Elicit that she is always conscious of her audience and how to play them if not manipulate them. |

| |

|Ask what other lines of dialogue express Bernice’s character. Point students to Bernice’s line that to bob her hair “It’s such a sure and easy way of attracting |

|attention you see.” Point to her line that she will sell seats at the barber shop and her comment that she wants to be a society vampire. |

| |

|Ask what lines of dialogue indicate the character of Charley and G. Reese. Point to G. Reece’s statement that he will take a box seat when Bernice gets her hair |

|cut. Elicit that he is attracted to Bernice. His comment “Do you believe in bobbed hair?” Shows that he thinks of it as something exotic. Point out that while |

|Charley says very little, the narrator says that he is flattered by Bernice’s attention. |

| |

|Point out that dialogue reveals and develops character. Pay attention to how dialogue reveals the uniqueness of a character, and exchanges between characters |

|disclose how they change within a story. |

| |

|For independent practice, challenge students to write a scene in which they imagine what happens when Bernice bobs her hair. Have them use dialogue comparable to |

|what they have seen the characters use thus far to show their feelings and personalities. |

|Advanced Learner |

|Materials Needed: 1 copy of entire story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”* per student; notebooks; pens and pencils. |

|Procedure: |

|1) Have students read the entire story and summarize what happens. Challenge them to show how dialogue reveals character throughout the story. |

|Struggling Learner |

|Materials Needed: 1 copy of excerpt from “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”* per student; notebooks; pens and pencils. |

|Procedure: |

|1) Have students return to the scene that they wrote in step 8 and write a paragraph explaining how the dialogue they used developed the characters. |

*see supplemental resources

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