Language Arts · Grade 2 · Worlds of Wonder: Narrative Reading and Craft · Term 1

Character Traits and Motivations

Investigating how characters respond to challenges and how their traits influence the sequence of events in a story.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3

About This Topic

In this topic, Grade 2 students explore the internal and external worlds of characters. They learn to identify character traits by looking at what a character says, thinks, and does. This work is essential for developing empathy and understanding cause and effect within a narrative. By examining how characters respond to challenges, students begin to see that stories are driven by the choices individuals make.

This unit aligns with the Ontario Language Curriculum by focusing on making inferences about characters using evidence from the text. It also provides a natural bridge to discussing diverse perspectives, including those found in Indigenous storytelling where characters often learn through interactions with the natural world. Students gain a deeper understanding of these concepts when they can step into a character's shoes through role play and collaborative decision making.

Key Questions

1. Analyze how a character's actions reveal their inner feelings.
2. Predict how the story might change if the main character made a different choice.
3. Explain how the author uses dialogue to develop a character's personality.

Learning Objectives

• Identify character traits using textual evidence of a character's words, actions, and thoughts.
• Explain how a character's traits influence their decisions when facing a challenge.
• Analyze how a character's dialogue reveals their personality and motivations.
• Predict the potential impact of a character making a different choice on the story's sequence of events.
• Compare a character's motivations in one story to a character's motivations in another story.

Before You Start

Identifying Main Characters and Setting

Why: Students need to be able to identify who the story is about and where it takes place before they can analyze character traits and motivations.

Understanding Story Events

Why: Students must be able to follow the basic plot of a story to understand how character choices influence the sequence of events.

Key Vocabulary

Character Trait	A quality or characteristic that describes a person or character, such as brave, kind, or curious.
Motivation	The reason why a character does something; what the character wants or needs.
Dialogue	The words that characters speak to each other in a story.
Inference	A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning; figuring something out that is not directly stated.
Sequence of Events	The order in which things happen in a story.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Students often confuse a character's temporary feelings with their permanent personality traits.

What to Teach Instead

Teach that feelings change like the weather, while traits are more like the climate. Using a 'Trait vs. Feeling' sorting activity helps students distinguish between 'sad' (a feeling) and 'kind' (a trait).

Common Misconception

Students may believe that characters are either all good or all bad.

What to Teach Instead

Introduce complex characters who make mistakes. Discussion circles where students debate why a 'good' character made a 'bad' choice help them understand human complexity.

Active Learning Ideas

Role Play: The Choice Chamber

Students act out a pivotal scene from a story but pause at the moment of conflict. The class suggests three different choices the character could make, and small groups act out the different consequences of those choices.

30 min·Small Groups

Think-Pair-Share: Character Inside and Out

Pairs look at an illustration of a character and list 'outside' traits (appearance) and 'inside' traits (feelings/personality). They share one 'inside' trait with the class, citing a specific action from the book as proof.

15 min·Pairs

Gallery Walk: Character Trait Posters

Groups create a poster for a character featuring a 'trait word' and a drawing of a moment that proves it. Students walk around the room with sticky notes to add other words that describe that character based on their own reading.

25 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• When reading news reports about community leaders or local heroes, students can identify their character traits and consider what motivated their actions during a difficult situation, similar to analyzing story characters.
• Children's book authors, like those at Scholastic Canada, carefully choose character traits and motivations to create engaging stories that resonate with young readers, influencing plot development.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a short passage featuring a character facing a simple problem. Ask them to write: 1. One character trait shown by the character. 2. One sentence explaining what motivated the character's action.

Discussion Prompt

Present students with two different choices a character could make in a familiar story. Ask: 'If the character chose [Option A] instead of [Option B], how might the story change? Explain your thinking using what you know about the character's traits.'

Quick Check

During read-aloud, pause and ask: 'What did [character's name] just say? What does that tell us about them? What might they do next because of this?' Record student responses to gauge understanding of dialogue and prediction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I help Grade 2 students move beyond simple traits like 'nice' or 'mean'?

Provide a 'Trait Word Bank' with more specific vocabulary like 'determined,' 'cautious,' or 'generous.' Encourage students to find evidence in the text that justifies these more nuanced words during small group reading sessions.

How can active learning help students understand character choices?

Active learning strategies like 'Hot Seating' allow students to interview a peer who is in character. By asking the 'character' why they made a specific choice, students move from passive observation to active analysis. This physical and verbal engagement helps them internalize the connection between a character's internal motivation and their external actions.

What Indigenous resources support character study in Ontario?

Use stories by Indigenous authors like Nicola Campbell or David A. Robertson. These narratives often feature characters navigating relationships with elders and the land, providing rich material for discussing traits like resilience and respect.

How can I assess if a student understands character motivation?

Ask the student to predict what a character would do in a completely new situation. If they can justify their prediction based on the character's past actions, they have grasped the concept of motivation.