• During the lesson, emphasize the importance of analyzing characters’ feelings and actions in literary fiction. Observe students to determine if they understand how to interpret characters’ feelings and can cite evidence to support their interpretations. Also, determine if students can analyze how the story would be different if the author chose different events or character reactions.
• Informally, assess if students are able to summarize the text by using your anecdotal observation and notes.
• Use the following checklist to evaluate students’ understanding:
  • Student demonstrates the ability to identify a character’s feelings at different points in the story.
  • Student accurately cites evidence from the text.
  • Student articulates how the text would be different if the author chose to have the characters react in a different way to the events.
• Collect and use the Events, Feelings, Actions Charts to assess students’ understanding. Provide specific feedback to each student.

Focus Question:  How does an author use key ideas and details to develop characters and events in fiction text?

Part 1

Write the following sentences on the board/interactive whiteboard or on index cards to be given to pairs of students:

• “You are the best student in class!”
• “This is the worst book report I have ever read.”
• The librarian said, “Your books are your responsibility.”
• A friend says, “You can’t be friends with me if you are friends with her.”

Have students analyze these statements and discuss how they would feel if these sentences were said to them. Ask, “What would you do or how would you react if these things were said to you?” Have students discuss their reactions.

Ask students to think about the elements of a fictional story. Have students name the elements (character, setting, problem/solution). Write them on the board/interactive whiteboard. Discuss the role of characters in a story. Say, “As we read a story, we follow what a character does and how he or she feels. This keeps the story sequence moving along.”

Say, “Today we will analyze literary fiction and identify the main character’s feelings. We will also analyze a character’s feelings and identify evidence from the text to prove that the character is feeling a particular way.”

Ask, “How often do you have to be asked to clean up your room? Do you do it right away?” Allow students to share their stories either as a whole group or with an elbow buddy (a person sitting right next to them). Show students the cover of the book Pigsty. Have them predict what the story might be about. Ask students to identify the genre of the text (literary fiction) and explain why they think so. (It looks like the pigs are talking [personification]. The cover looks like a cartoon.)

Before reading, remind students that they are listening to the story to verify their prediction and to analyze how the main character feels at various points in the story. Read aloud the story. During the reading, think aloud and model various reading strategies, such as the following:

• Predicting: “Do you think Wendell will clean his room?”
• Inferring: “What do you think Wendell thought when he found the pig in his room?”
• Visualizing: “On Friday, what sounds do you hear in Wendell’s room?”

Use the first few pages to model how to analyze the character’s feelings and cite evidence to support the identification. (Example: Wendell’s mother is upset. The evidence that supports this is that she throws her hands in the air and tells Wendell that he can go ahead and live in a pigsty.)

After reading, discuss the story structure and ask students to identify the problem in the story. (Wendell has a messy room, and it gets messier throughout the story as more and more pigs come in.) Ask students to identify how the problem is resolved. (Wendell finally gets tired of the mess and has the pigs help him clean up his room.) Ask, “Now think about your original prediction about the book. Was it correct?”

Provide each student with a copy of the Events, Feelings, Actions Chart (L-4-1_Events, Feelings, Actions Chart.doc). Model how to complete the chart. Ask, “What are the main events in the story?” (Wendell doesn’t clean his room, and his mother gets upset. Wendell and the pigs have fun at night. More pigs come in. The pigs ruin Wendell’s toys. Wendell and the pigs clean up the room.) Have students fill in the events on their charts.

Go back to each event and have students determine how the characters felt during that event. Ask, “How does Wendell feel when his mother tells him to go ahead and live in a pigsty?” (relieved, happy) “How do you know?” Have students cite evidence from the text to support their answers. (He doesn’t clean his room, and he doesn’t mind the additional pigs.) Continue to prompt for each event in the book.

Ask, “How would the story change if Wendell became upset about his messy room early in the story?” Allow students to share their analysis. Guide students to understand how Wendell’s feelings and actions impact the events in the story.

Part 2

Review the importance of identifying characters and characters’ feelings.

Say, “Now you will show that you can analyze how a character feels and prove it by using evidence from the text.” Give each student or pair of students another copy of the Events, Feelings, Actions Chart and copies of a literary fiction text.

Say, “You will now read the book I gave you and fill in the chart. Determine the main events in the story and how the main character feels during those events. Write the events in the left column. Write the character’s feelings in the middle column. Write the character’s actions, or your evidence, in the right column.” Allow students time to read the text, discuss with a partner, and fill in their charts.

Extension:

• If additional practice is needed, have small groups retell favorite fairy tales and identify the characters’ feelings (Examples: the pigs’ feelings at different times in “The Three Little Pigs” or the girl’s feelings at different times in “Little Red Riding Hood”).