Additionally, developing a solid understanding of characterization will only help students when it comes to understanding other literary elements like theme, plot, and point of view. Indirect characterization: the author shows who the character is through their speech, thoughts, motivations, actions, and interactions with others.įrom there, students will better understand what they should be looking for as they read.Direct characterization: The author explicitly tells the readers what they want us to know about the character by clearly stating details about the character.When teaching characterization, it’s imperative to explicitly explain the various ways authors convey information about their characters: Once they grasp that, they can move on to learning how to identify and analyze characterization. Explain that characterization is crucial to making a story enjoyable, developing themes, and driving the plot. Then, help students understand what characterization is and why it matters. This will help them build a foundation for understanding indirect characterization. Therefore, before you dive in, make sure your students have a solid understanding of how to make inferences in a text.

The biggest challenge of teaching characterization is that it is an abstract concept. Overcoming the Challenge of Teaching Characterization

Examples of short stories to write