Grade 6 · Reading Stories with Purpose · Theme and Summary
Characters, Conflict and Change
Track how a character responds to conflict.
Learning objectives
- Track how a character responds to conflict
- Explain how setting shapes a character's choices
- Use evidence to describe a change in a character
AERO English Language Arts alignment
AERO.ELA.6.RL.3
Analyse how particular elements of a story or drama interact, including how setting shapes characters and how characters respond to conflict. Grade 6 / MYP 1 emphasis: work with one text or a clear pairing, with modelled evidence, sentence starters and short structured responses.
AERO.ELA.6.RL.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what a literary text states explicitly and of inferences drawn from it. Grade 6 / MYP 1 emphasis: work with one text or a clear pairing, with modelled evidence, sentence starters and short structured responses.
AERO.ELA.6.RL.8
Compare and contrast texts from different genres, cultures and time periods that address similar themes, ideas or forms. Grade 6 / MYP 1 emphasis: work with one text or a clear pairing, with modelled evidence, sentence starters and short structured responses.
MYP criteria
- Criterion A — Analysing
- Criterion B — Organizing
ENGAGE
What Makes a Character Change?
Imagine that you are completing an important task outdoors when the weather suddenly changes. You want to finish, but continuing could damage your work or affect your group. Stories often place characters in difficult situations like this. The conflict tests what they value and reveals how they think. As you read today, you will track one character’s response to conflict, consider how the setting affects her choices and use evidence to explain how she changes.
Think about it
- What can a difficult choice reveal about a character?
- How might strong wind change someone’s plans?
EXPLORE
Read: The Missing Page
Reading focus
Notice Noor’s problem, her responses and the influence of the windy setting.
Noor knelt beside an old stone wall at Al Zubarah, carefully sketching its shape in her field notebook. Her class was studying how people had built homes suited to the Gulf climate. Across the open ground, a strong shamal wind began to lift thin streams of sand. Their teacher called everyone towards the sheltered meeting point.
Noor looked at her unfinished drawing. She wanted to complete it without help and prove that she could manage an important task alone. “Just one more minute,” she said, pressing the notebook against her knee. A sudden gust tore the loose sketch from beneath her hand. The page rolled across the ground and caught against a low bush. Noor froze. If she chased it alone, she might move too far from the group.
Her classmate Hamad held out a spare folder. Noor took a breath and called to the teacher instead of running after the page. Together, the group retrieved it safely. At the meeting point, Noor placed the sketch inside Hamad’s folder. She asked him to label the building features while she added the final lines. The wind still pressed against the shelter, but their shared work stayed secure. Noor no longer saw accepting help as failure; she saw it as a way to protect the whole group’s work.
Think about it
- What conflict does Noor face after the wind takes her page?
- Which details show that the setting affects Noor’s choices?
- How is Noor’s attitude towards accepting help different by the end?
EXPLAIN
Connect Character, Conflict and Setting
1. Identify the conflict
A conflict is a struggle that drives the action. Noor experiences an external conflict with the strong wind and an internal conflict between working independently and asking for help.
2. Track responses in sequence
| Story stage | Noor’s response | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Beginning | She tries to finish alone. | She wants to prove her independence. |
| Middle | She stops instead of chasing the page. | She begins to think about safety and the group. |
| End | She accepts Hamad’s folder and shares the task. | She now values cooperation. |
3. Explain the setting’s influence
Setting is more than a location. It includes time, weather and physical conditions. The open ground and strong shamal create the problem by lifting Noor’s page. The weather also limits her choices: she cannot safely continue as planned, so she must seek support and shelter.
Build an evidence-based explanation
Use this pattern: At first, Noor ____. When ____, she ____. The words “____” show ____. By the end, she ____. This change suggests ____.
Model: At first, Noor believes that she should complete the task alone. When the wind carries away her page, she decides not to chase it. The words “called to the teacher” show that she chooses responsibility over pride. By the end, she shares the work with Hamad, suggesting that cooperation can be a strength.
MYP_PRACTICE
Write a Character Change Paragraph
Write one organised paragraph explaining how Noor changes in response to the conflict. Include the setting’s influence and at least two short pieces of textual evidence. Your paragraph should move clearly from the beginning to the end of the story and explain what each quotation proves.
- State Noor’s attitude at the beginning.
- Describe the main conflict and how the windy setting creates or increases it.
- Cite one short quotation showing Noor’s first response.
- Cite another quotation showing her later response.
- Finish by explaining her change and the story’s message about cooperation.
EXIT_TICKET
Before you close this lesson
Think about it
- Which piece of evidence best proves that Noor has changed, and why?
- How would Noor’s choices be different if the day were calm?
Watch
What makes a hero? - Matthew Winkler
TED-Ed · 5 min
Explore the common stages and character choices that can transform someone into a hero.
Before you watch: Which qualities make a character heroic?
- What stages of the hero's journey can you identify in a familiar story?
- How does a hero usually change as a result of the journey?
Watch
How To Find A Theme
D4Darious · 5 min
Learn how to identify a text's theme by looking beyond its topic to the message it develops.
Before you watch: What is the difference between a topic and a theme?
- Which details in a text can provide evidence for its theme?
- Write a complete theme statement for a story you know.
Interactive practice · evidence change paragraph
From Conflict to Change
Plan and write a short analytical paragraph. Connect Noor’s starting attitude, the windy setting, her response to the conflict and her final change. Use two brief quotations and explain each one.
Check your answer
Task
Use the prompts and frames to organise a focused evidence-based response.
Sentence frames
Prompts
Your answer
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Key vocabulary
- conflict
- A struggle or problem that a character must face.
- setting
- The place, time and conditions in which a story happens.
- textual evidence
- Words from a text that support an idea about it.
- character change
- A shift in a character’s attitude, understanding or behaviour.
Practice questions
0/3 correct
Level 1 · Criterion A
What does Noor want to prove at the beginning of the extract?
Level 2 · Criterion A
How does the setting most directly shape Noor’s decision after the page blows away?
Level 2 · Criterion B
Which order best organises a summary of Noor’s responses?
MYP criterion tasks
Level 3 · Criterion A
Explain how Noor changes from the beginning to the end. Use two pieces of textual evidence.
Level 3 · Criterion B
Write a two-sentence summary showing how the conflict leads to Noor’s change.
Reflect & track
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