Reading
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?
Analyze Characters Using Philosophy
What is the Brick Pig's philosophy? How would he apply it to the characters in Harry Potter?
Think Like A Philosopher
What would Socrates have thought if he watched Frozen?
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?
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.
Paragraphs: Systems of Sentences
Part 1 of Mixed Up Paragraphs
Want students to understand how a paragraph fits together? Explode one and make them reassemble it using the clues in each sentence! I even wrote a little app to bust a paragraph up for you.
Not Like The Others: Charlotte’s Web
Students will determine which of the characters is not like the others.
Do Narrators Have Too Much Power?
Imagine being a character in a story. Are you worried that your story's narrator may inaccurately describe you? What if they reveal something you wanted to be kept secret? Do narrators have too much power!?
Identifying Author’s Voice
What if... Edgar Allen Poe wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?
Showing A Character’s Trait
We tell students to "show, not tell" in their writing, but this advice isn't effective until they experience the difference. In this video, we'll put a famous character (of students' choosing) into a mundane situation and develop a fun scene to show off their main traits.
Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity
Your students will use Depth and Complexity to note how a character's main trait changes across a story.
Introduce Symbolism with Pixel Art
Create a pixelated icon that represents the essence of a character!
Characters’ Talents and Multiple Intelligences
How do characters from novels line up with Gardner's Multiple Intelligences?
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
Can someone do the right thing, but for the wrong reason?
Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes
Part 4 of Writing Better Stories
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.