Grade 6 · Reading Stories: Theme and Character · Making Meaning from Fiction
How Characters Change
Track what a character wants, what blocks them and how they are different by the end.
Learning objectives
- Describe a character using actions and speech rather than adjectives alone
- Track a change in a character across a plot
- Cite the moment where the change happens
Common Core ELA alignment
RL.6.3
Analyse how particular elements of a story or drama interact, including how characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. Grade 6 emphasis: work with a single text or clear pairing, with teacher-modelled evidence and summary.
RL.6.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what a literary text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Grade 6 emphasis: work with a single text or clear pairing, with teacher-modelled evidence and summary.
W.6.9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research. Grade 6 emphasis: work with a single text or clear pairing, with teacher-modelled evidence and summary.
MYP criteria
- Criterion A — Analysing
ENGAGE
Show, do not tell
Compare two sentences. 1) Marcus was nervous. 2) Marcus read the first line of his speech four times, then folded the page into a small hard square. The second sentence never uses the word nervous, yet you feel it more.
Think about it
- Which sentence gives you a picture?
- What did the writer do instead of naming the feeling?
EXPLORE
Read: an opening scene
Nadia had promised herself she would not speak in class again. Last week her answer had been wrong and the room had laughed, and the laugh had followed her home. So when the teacher asked who could explain the diagram, Nadia looked at the desk. Then she noticed Samir, three rows ahead, half raising his hand and pulling it back, again and again. Nadia knew that feeling exactly. She stood up before she had decided to.
Notice
Nadia changes because she recognises her own fear in someone else. The change is shown by an action: she stands up before deciding.
Think about it
- What does Nadia want at the start of the scene?
- What or who blocks her?
- Quote the sentence where she changes.
EXPLAIN
Reading a character
Four windows into a character
| Window | What to look for | Example from the scene |
|---|---|---|
| Actions | What they do when it costs something | She stood up before she had decided to |
| Speech | Words, silences and what they avoid saying | Nadia says nothing at first |
| Thoughts | What the narrator lets us hear | She had promised herself she would not speak |
| Effect on others | How other characters react | Samir raising and lowering his hand |
Tracking change
- Start: what does the character want and fear?
- Middle: what pressure or event pushes back?
- Turning point: the exact sentence where behaviour shifts.
- End: what is different, and what does it cost?
Common mistake
Saying a character is nice or brave is a label, not analysis. Analysis names the action and explains what it reveals.
MYP_PRACTICE
Criterion A task
Choose a character from any novel or film you know well. Write 150 words tracking one change.
- Name the want and the fear at the start.
- Identify the turning point and quote or describe it precisely.
- Explain what is different at the end and what it cost the character.
EXIT_TICKET
Check yourself
Think about it
- Write one sentence that shows a character is angry without using the word angry.
- Which of the four windows do you find hardest to use?
Interactive practice · annotate
Annotate the turning point
Label each sentence of the scene as want, block, turning point or aftermath.
Labels you can use
Work through each line
Your answer
This draft stays in this tab only. Copy anything you want to keep into your learning log below.
Key vocabulary
- Characterisation
- The methods a writer uses to show what a character is like.
- Motivation
- The reason a character wants something and acts.
- Turning point
- The moment where a character or plot changes direction.
- Conflict
- The struggle that drives a story, inside a character or between characters.
Practice questions
0/3 correct
Level 1 · Criterion A
Which detail best shows Nadia is afraid at the start?
Level 2 · Criterion A
What causes Nadia to change?
Level 3 · Criterion A
Which sentence is analysis rather than description?
MYP criterion tasks
Level 4 · Criterion C
Write the next paragraph of the scene, showing whether Nadia regrets standing up. Use actions, not adjectives.
Reflect & track
Your learning log
Saved privately in this browser — no account needed.
How confident do you feel?