Sandra K. Friday
A tool that I have found to be effective in helping students answer the questions, “How does the main character change in the story, and why?” is a graphic organizer that is divided into three parts on a horizontal or landscape piece of paper. Each of the three parts is vertically divided. On the left side of the first section are the words, “
At first …
” In the section beneath this, on the left side are the words, “
But then
…
” In the last section beneath these is the word, “
Finally
…
” Students will record their observations of the narrator, perhaps his thoughts, and his actions in the beginning of the story, “
At first
…
” Then they will do the same as they make observations of him beginning to change his thoughts or actions, “
But then…
” And last, they will record their observations of him, his thoughts or actions at the end of the story, “
Finally
…
” To the right of each of these, they will record evidence, and quotations, to support the findings they have entered on the left side of the page. They will use this graphic organizer in each of the stories that they read, and again when they examine the pieces that they themselves craft.
A major value in this graphic organizer is that it is set up to actually show how the character changes from the beginning of the story to the end. Often, I find, when students are asked to identify how a character changes, they focus only on how he or she is at the end of the story and fail to describe the character at the beginning of the story and as the change begins to take place. This organizer provides students with a tool for observing the entire process of change.
Identifying how a character has changed will in some cases be challenging, but it is far more challenging to answer the question, “What
causes
the change?” For this they will also use a landscape graphic organizer like the one on which they explain how the character changes. But the second graphic organizer will ask the question, “
Why
does he/she change?” They will rely on the information on the first graphic organizer that answers the question “How does he change?” and they will now write what they understand about the character’s culture, subculture, fears, ethics, sense of justice, empathy, race and awareness of race, etc., that might explain each phase of the first graphic organizer: “At first
…
,” “But then
…
,” “Finally
…
” How does his or her culture or sub-culture play a part in each of the three phases? How does his or her fear play a part? How does his or her ethics, empathy, or sense of justice play a part, and, so on? (See Lesson Plan # 1 for a more detailed explanation of this activity.)
Writing assignment
Just as the narrator interacts with the “other” out of fear of how he will be perceived, even when he knows that not helping her betrays his cultural identity, students may write about a time when, out of fear or anxiety, they betrayed who they perceive themselves to be, or they may create a character who reacts to another character out of fear or anxiety. The character in their story, autobiographical or fictional, may reflect upon his/her actions after the fact, just as the narrator in the story does, thinking about his own self-respect or integrity. I realize, in thinking about this writing assignment, how crucial it will be that the students track the narrator on their graphic organizers so that they understand (1) the changes that he goes through in considering what to do, (2) what he does in interacting with the woman in the subway, and (3) how he feels about his actions and the outcome when he reflects upon them.