This document describes an activity for developing characters in short stories. It discusses developing believable characters by getting to know them through techniques like character profiles and interviews. The activity involves students working in pairs to interview each other and create fictional Facebook profiles for the characters they develop. They then present their characters to the class. The goal is to empower student writing through enjoyable, relevant activities that incorporate performance and relate to students' interests like drama.

1. Developing a Character
Unit: Short Stories
By: Yolanda Padilla Lebrón

2. Demo: Introduction
 University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
 ENGL 3202, Reading and Writing Composition II
 I have been teaching for a year.
 My classroom is plain, simple, it does not have
technology.
 Daily schedule: ECA, (Explore, Conceptualize and
Apply)
 Community- College level students
 Basic english, requisite for graduation

3. Approach, Strategy or Method:
 Focus on process rather than on product. According to
Brown (2o07), the writing process:
 Let students discover what they want to say as they write
 Help them to build repertoires of strategies for prewriting,
drafting and rewriting.
 Give students time to write.
 Graham and Arthur (2007)tell us in their book “Best
Practices in Promoting Motivation for Writing” that we can
empower writing if we give our students writing
experiences that are:
 enjoyable,
 pertinent and
 related to their emotions and interest.

4. My student’s interests:
 Conduct a needs assessment
 At the end of the semester I gave them an open ended
questionnaire. The majority said that they enjoyed
drama. One student said:
 “I enjoyed essays, journals, oral presentations, etc
but I especially loved drama. It was funny”.
Therefore I decided to use performance based activities
where the students could relate their classroom
experiences with their real life situations.

5. Pictures:

6. My teaching philosophy
 Pragmatism- (experimentalism)- the reality is the
interaction with the individual with environment or
experience; it is always changing
 Theory of education:
 Progressivism- (rooted in pragmatism)- To educate
the individual according to his or her interests and
needs.
 One of it’s proponents is Dewey

7. Activity:
 Developing a character
 Teaching objective:
 After listening to a power point presentation and completing two classroom activities
the students will develop a character.
 Duration
 The activity can be adapted for high school students and middle school students.
 It might take 3 or 4 classes (if the students are college level students)

8. Activity:
 Steps:
 Show power point presentation (tips)
 Show sample video of a character
 Ask students to work in pairs interviewing each other using the handout
titled “Character Information”.
 The students will imagine that they are creating a Facebook profile for their
characters and will fill out the Facebook handout .
 The students will read what they wrote in front of the classroom.
(performance activity).

9. Developing a Character of Fiction
 Unit: Short Stories

10. Developing a character

11. What do I need to know?
 Characters are the most important element in fiction –
 It is through their thoughts, speech, and actions in
which your story is told.
 What is the secret to build believable characters?
 ‘unique traits’ to
 ‘a common emotional plane with the reader’
 and providing him with a realistic context.

12. Developing a character
 In simplest terms, to build a believable character you
must know your character.
 He/she must become like a
real person/ real context

13. Example: Video
 John Leguizamo
 The year 1991,
 show Mambo Mouth (1991) (TV),
 he portrayed seven different Latino characters.
 The witty and incisive show was a smash hit.
 Controversial topics
 You can adapt your video according to your
audience.

14. Techniques to get to know your
character
 There are many techniques to get to know your
characters
 – The main one being the character profile.
- Another technique is to interview the character
- Studying real people

15. Character profile:
 Height, weight, hair & eye  Habits
color and age  Quirks or eccentricities
 Temperament  Likes/ dislikes
 Moral/ ethical/ religious  Fears or phobias
belief  Short and long term goals
 Political stance  Hopes and dreams
 Hobbies
Fill out handout
“Character Information”

16. Constructing a “real” profile
 Imagine that you are going to open an account for your
character on Facebook.
 What do you need to know about your character?
What information will you write on his profile?
 Fill out the Facebook profile sheet that we will provide.

17. Character presentations

18. Conclusion
 It is important to take into consideration our students
likes, dislikes, feelings etc. when developing our lesson
plans.
 We can empower writing through creative writing
activities and performance based activities.
 It is very useful to teach writing using performance
based activities because the students also practice
their oral skills.