Meggin’s Current Articles

Teachers – Questions You Can Ask About Any Novel (Whether You’ve Read it Or Not!) Characterization

6th February, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments

Assessing students comprehension of stories, novels, or other narrative text that they might be reading is essential. However, if want to provide students with multiple options for their reading, as teachers, we might NOT have read everything that they are reading. If you wonder whether you can adequately determine their comprehension of a novel, even if you haven’t read it, then see if some of these questions related to characterization will help you with that worry.

1. Choose a significant character from your book. If s/he has a pet, tell whether this pet "fits" the character. If s/he doesn’t have a pet, what pet do you think would be appropriate? Explain.
2. Does the book you are reading have a large cast of characters or a limited number? Tell why you think the author chose to have many or just a few characters.
3. Imagine that you are looking into a crystal ball. You see the future of one of the characters. What do you see for him or her?
4. Does the main character in the book you are reading have a favorite food? If the book doesn’t mention this, what do you think his/her favorite food is? Explain your thinking, please.
5. What is the first job the main character ever had – or if this character has never had a job, what do you think his/her first job will be? Explain your thinking, please.
6. Do the main characters in the book you are reading have any hobbies? Do these hobbies reveal anything about their personalities or about the time and place where the book is set? If they don’t have hobbies, what hobbies do you think they would have? Explain why these hobbies fit their personality and the setting of the book.
7. If a newspaper article were written about one of the characters in the book you are reading, what would it say? Be sure and include a headline for the article.
8. Some people are afraid of spiders, although other people are not. What fears did the main (or some other significant) character have? What do you think this indicates about that character?
9. Describe a present that one of the main characters would like to receive. Provide explanation for your answer.
10. Do the characters in the book you are reading play any sports? Tell why you think the author did or didn’t include this aspect.
11. Which one of the major or minor characters in this novel has the most potential to be a star? Justify your answer.
12. Is anyone (in the book you are reading) superstitious? Explain your answer, please.

Have fun with these questions. When I’ve used them, I have gotten responses from students about books that I don’t think I could have gotten any other way, particularly when I have them write their responses on specially-created learning log sheets. After reading what they’ve written, not only do I know whether they read what they said they had, but it also allows me to structure learning experiences in a more fruitful way.

And if you would like to access the full-color teacher resource of "50 Questions to Ask About Any Novel," as mentioned in this article, as well as scores of free resources that you can use to build reading, writing, and learning in your classroom, including PowerPoints, PDFs, and Word documents, just go to…

**Owning Words for Literacy    http://www.OwningWordsforLiteracy.com
- and you can click on the Downloads tab.

To get numerous articles with teaching tips (for free), just go to…

**Articles for Teachers    http://www.ArticlesforTeachers.com
- and see what’s there for you to use in your classroom.

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph.D. of Productivity"(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!