Evidence of Character Traits - Albert Einstein


I have been exploring the Comprehension Modules in Chapter 7 of Jan Richardson's updated 2016 version of The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading.  This week, I've been using Module 14 (pg. 271) "Evidence of Character Traits" with my students.  I like this particular strategy because it asks the student to find text evidence while also introducing them to new vocabulary.  I created recording sheets to use in our notebooks where we could record our traits and evidence.  After teaching this lesson, I revised the recording sheets so there is one for when a text has multiple characters, and one for when a text has a single character with many traits.  Since I used this strategy for a biography, we ended up just writing "Albert Einstein" down the left column, and I felt it was wasted space.

This strategy worked really well to structure our reading of a biography!




Here's how I taught this comprehension strategy:

Step 1: Analyze Text

Read the text and choose several words to describe the character. For Albert Einstein, I chose "curious" "brilliant" "imaginative".    (see Appendix M on page 327 for a list of traits). I wanted to have one trait that I could use to model, and 2 others that students could choose from when it was time to write.  Mark the places in their text with a sticky note that has the word you've chosen.  I love the idea that YOU CHOOSE THE WORDS.  My students are low language, and tend to choose very simple vocabulary.  I did one familiar word (curious) and two that were unfamiliar (brilliant, imaginative). 

Step 2:  Introduce Vocabulary

I used an anchor chart like the one above to provide simple definitions.  We discussed these words and used them in sentences.  I had them do some repeating of the definitions to put them in their own words, and made links to their home language.

Step 3:  Teacher Modeling

After my students had a chance to read through the first portion of the text (the pages where I had chosen the trait words), we went back in the text to look for examples of how Einstein was curious, brilliant, or imaginative.  I read aloud the page above, thinking aloud about my evidence and adding it to my chart.  See the video below if you care to!

Step 4: Students Read/Find Evidence

After modeling, I had them do the next page as partners.  They followed the same protocol - reading, finding where in the text there was evidence that the character exhibited the chosen trait, and then writing a brief statement on their organizer in their own words. Then, I had them continue this process with the other words I had flagged as they worked individually.  In The Next Steps Forward, Jan suggests having the students insert the sticky notes themselves, but for our first time using this strategy, I chose to do this part myself.  Next time I'll give them blank sticky notes and have them do more of the work on their own.


In my next post, I'll share how we used our Evidence of Character Traits to write a short paragraph.




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Evidence of Character Traits - Writing, Albert Einstein

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