Are you teaching characterization in your classroom? Short stories might just be the tool you need. Read this post to learn several tools, tips, and titles to make teaching this abstract concept more engaging and effective for students.
We all have characters we love – and hate – right? That, my friend, is the power of characterization. A skilled author uses direct and indirect characterization to paint a picture of who a character is, what they want, and how they feel. However, understanding characterization involves more higher-level thinking than one may assume.
Yes, secondary students usually have a basic understanding of characterization. However, it’s time to move them toward a deeper understanding of characterization, how to recognize it in a text, and how to analyze it for deeper meaning.
Whether you’re gearing up to teach characterization for the first time or are simply looking to refresh your approach, this post will review tools, tips, and titles to help.
The biggest challenge of teaching characterization is that it is an abstract concept. Therefore, before you dive in, make sure your students have a solid understanding of how to make inferences in a text. This will help them build a foundation for understanding indirect characterization.
Then, help students understand what characterization is and why it matters. Explain that characterization is crucial to making a story enjoyable, developing themes, and driving the plot. Once they grasp that, they can move on to learning how to identify and analyze characterization.
When teaching characterization, it’s imperative to explicitly explain the various ways authors convey information about their characters:
From there, students will better understand what they should be looking for as they read. Additionally, developing a solid understanding of characterization will only help students when it comes to understanding other literary elements like theme , plot, and point of view .
Short stories offer students a manageable chunk of text while offering complete character development. Additionally, due to their shorter nature, short stories tend to focus on one main character rather than several. Therefore, students can gain a clear understanding of the main character.
While short stories contain great instances of indirect characterization, authors tend to be more clear and concise due to their limited length. Therefore, teaching characterization with short stories presents the right balance of achievability and challenge. Then, they will be more equipped and confident to think more deeply about texts of higher complexity and their more complex characters.
While short stories are a great teaching tool for characterization, not all short stories (and their characters) are created equal. Therefore, seeking out stories with strong, compelling characters is essential.
While there are many stories out there that meet those standards, here are a few of my favorite titles for teaching characterization with short stories:
1. “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes
As the story begins, Roger, a young teen, attempts to steal an older woman’s purse. However, readers quickly realize there is more to the woman, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, than meets the eye. Ultimately, Hughes surprises readers with an unexpected twist as Mrs. Jones showers Roger with care and generosity.
Have students track both characters to analyze as individuals or compare to one another. By the end, they will be ready and eager to discuss the two characters and the interesting experience they share.
2. “So What Are You Anyway” by Lawrence Hill
The story follows young Carole as she is seated next to an older, presumably white couple on an airplane in the 1970s. The couple, Henry and Betty Norton, incessantly question Carol about her race. This leaves mixed-raced Carole confused and unsure how to answer, ultimately leading Henry to blurt out the question that gives the story its title: “So what are you anyway?”
While there are strong examples of direct characterization, like Henry’s “sunburnt face,” this story is rich with indirect characterization. Students have to work to read between the lines to understand the tension between Carole’s innocence and the Norton’s overbearing arrogance.
3. “Sol Painting, Inc.” by Meg Medina
The story focuses on 12-year-old Merci as she and her brother tag along with their Papi for a painting job during summer vacation. Told through Merci’s point of view, students can track how her character is revealed by her words, thoughts, actions, and interactions with those around her.
“Sol Painting, Inc.” does a fantastic job illustrating characterization as Merci’s understanding of her father and the sacrifices he’s made for his family develops with each page. Furthermore, students will have a lot to discuss when it comes to comparing the three main characters, each revealing as much about themselves as they do each other.
4. “The Jacket” by Gary Soto
Soto’s “The Jacket” is perfect for middle-grade readers learning or practicing characterization. While the story centers on the titular jacket, students will quickly realize that the piece of clothing is much more than a jacket. Instead, it’s a symbol of the narrator’s characterization and development.
At first, the young narrator blames the “ugly” jacket for his misfortunes. However, as the narrator’s view of the jacket changes over time, students can track how that represents a change within the character and his self-identity.
5. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin
The story follows Mrs. Sommers, the story’s protagonist, on a day away from her household duties as a mother and wife. As the only main character of the story, students can easily track her actions, thoughts, desires, motivations, and changes throughout the text. As students quickly realize, a day out shopping reveals a lot about her character.
Have students track Mrs. Sommers’ change in character as the day progresses, and she succumbs to the allure of materialism. At the end, ask students to use what they’ve learned to decide if Mrs. Sommers is truly happy or not in her present situation.
6. “American History” by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Taking place on the day President JFK was assassinated, the story hardly focuses on the tragic piece of American history. Instead, the event serves more as a backdrop as the fourteen-year-old protagonist, Elena, struggles with her own tragedies.
The story is rich with telling action and emotion, and there is much to pay attention to as Elena, a Puerto Rican immigrant, navigates issues of prejudice and belonging. Direct students to pay close attention to the interactions between Elena and others and how these interactions have a lasting impact on the young girl.
One of the best tools for teaching characterization with short stories – or literature of any length – is providing students with guiding questions:
Providing students with these questions will help guide them to identify and make sense of direct and indirect characterization.
The acronym S.T.E.A.L. is another effective tool for teaching characterization. Not only is it easy for students to remember, but it targets elements of both direct and indirect characterization. Consider providing students with a S.T.E.A.L. character tracker where they can answer the following questions as they read:
The more I think (and write) about it, there are tons of ways to make teaching characterization with short stories both engaging and effective. I hope this post gives you some inspiration and ideas to bring to your classroom. However, if you have any short story titles or teaching tips to add to the list, be sure to leave a comment below!
