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Lesson Plan: Compare and Contrast Characters

Subject:  ELA- Reading

Grade: 5

Lesson Objective: To compare and contrast characters in a story using specific details from the text

Common Core Standard:  CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3- Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

Materials:

Starter:

Say:

  • Why do you think that there are different types of characters in stories?  (Allow the students to answer.)

Main:

Say:

  • Authors write about many different types of characters when they write stories.  Different characters are needed to tell a story.
  • Some characters are main characters and we learn a lot about them while we are reading a story.  They are very important to the story.  The story is often about main characters.
  • Minor characters are in a story to help the major characters and to help move the story along.
  • In every story there is a protagonist.  This is the character that the story is about and is a main character.  The protagonist is a character that we as readers develop emotions about.  Those emotions are generally good, but not always.
  • There is also an antagonist in every story.  This is a character that goes against the protagonist.  The protagonist must overcome the antagonist.  For example, in “Little Red Riding Hood,” Little Red Riding Hood is the protagonist and the wolf is the antagonist.  Little Red Riding Hood must overcome the wolf for the story to end.
  • Most characters in stories develop or change along the way.  This is most noticeable in main characters, but this also happens with minor characters.
  • Paying attention to the character traits of the different characters in a story will help you to identify which characters are major, minor, protagonists and antagonists. 
  • This will help you to better understand and appreciate the story that you are reading.
  • Now, you are going to read part of a story.  You are going to think about the characters and how they are the same and how they are different and then you will answer the questions.
  • Does anyone have any questions?

Feedback:

Say:

  • Who would like to share their answers?  (Allow the students to share and go over the answers.)

Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer

Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.

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