“Everything is so linear, but this makes me think diagonally!” ~ a student describing Byrdseed.TV

Arizona ELA Standard: 5.RL.3

Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

Comparing Characters

Comparing Characters

Your young students will compare how two characters have changed in a story.

St. Patrick and Other Legends

St. Patrick and Other Legends

How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?

Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms

Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms

What item’s in a character’s bedroom would reflect their deepest desires? And what if they toured a similar character’s room?

A Character’s Playlist

A Character’s Playlist

What playlist of songs best goes with a character’s change over time?

Think Like An Author: Hemingway vs Dickens

Think Like An Author: Hemingway vs Dickens

What if your students rewrote Dickens in the style of Hemingway and vice versa?

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions

Have you ever noticed that some stories have awfully similar problems? What if we looked for the most unusual way of solving a repeating problem?

Introducing Universal Theme of Conflict

Introducing Universal Theme of Conflict

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Conflict? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

Analyze Characters Using Philosophy

Analyze Characters Using Philosophy

What is the Brick Pig’s philosophy? How would he apply it to the characters in Harry Potter?

Characters Dressed as Other Characters for Halloween

Characters Dressed as Other Characters for Halloween

What if one character dressed up as another for Halloween? Would the Cat in the Hat pick Captain Jack Sparrow, because they’re both chaotic yet good-natured people? Would Elsa dress up as The Ice King since they are both lonely?

Virtue or Vice?

Virtue or Vice?

Aristotle noted that positive traits and negative traits are often the same thing, but just in different amounts. The right amount is a virtue, but too much or too little and it’s a vice.

Writing Sample: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Writing Sample: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

A passage from “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

The Personalities of Rocks

The Personalities of Rocks

What would an igneous rock be like? Would it get along with a sedimentary rock? Could they handle the hot personality of a metamorphic rock?

More Specific than “Smart”

More Specific than “Smart”

When students are told that they’re “smart”, what does this word actually mean to them? (Psst. It isn’t what we intended.)

Upgrading Compare and Contrast Writing

Upgrading Compare and Contrast Writing

Upgrade compare and contrast writing with just a couple of key words.

Content Imperatives: Parallel

Content Imperatives: Parallel

Get students thinking broadly by exploring similarities across multiple topics. Combine with Depth and Complexity for bonus points!

Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity

Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity

Anyone can say a character changed. Your students will prove it: four details from the beginning, four from the end, and the two traits those details point to.

Elements of The Fantasy Genre

Elements of The Fantasy Genre

Every fantasy story has patterns hiding underneath the magic. Once your students see the elements, they’ll spot them everywhere — and use them in their own writing.

Literary Technique: Juxtaposition

Literary Technique: Juxtaposition

Put a grumpy character next to a joyful one and they make each other stand out even more. Opposites are powerful!

Motivation and Moral Development

Motivation and Moral Development

Can someone do the right thing, but for the wrong reason?

“Much Ado About Nothing” Summary

“Much Ado About Nothing” Summary

Shakespeare’s Much Ado summarized in just five minutes!

Twelfth Night Summary

Twelfth Night Summary

An animated summary of Shakespeare’s utterly ridiculous “Twelfth Night.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Nothing could possibly go wrong with a love potion on the loose!

Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes

Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes

A typical student narrative includes plot and characters but lacks a larger idea to hold it all together. This is where a lesson on themes comes in…

Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes

Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes

Are students’ characters a bit flat? Archetypes give them a strong foundation on which to build their own characters as well as a tool to analyze existing stories.