Reading

1. Reading Key Ideas and Details: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. Objectives: • I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Today we will be doing a Close Reading Of A Bad Road for Cats By Cynthia Rylant. Essential Questions: How can we infer character traits and support inferences with evidence from the text? How can I infer how a character changes across a text and explain why that character may have changed?

2. Building Understanding Let’s Set the Purpose! • I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Enduring Understanding: Good readers get to know and understand the characters in their books. This understanding helps readers comprehend the text and enjoy the books they are reading. We are going to read a short story to see how different characters respond to different situations and develop theories as to how and why they change. You will then do the same for books you are reading independently and in partnerships.

3. Let’s Get Engaged! Today we’re going to do a shared reading of A Bad Road for Cats as we explore how and why characters change. Turn to your partner and discuss the meaning of the following quote, “There is not much point in writing a novel unless you can show the possibility of moral transformation, or an increase in wisdom, operating in your chief character or characters." –Anthony Burgess In this lesson we are going to learn how readers can infer how and why characters change.

4. GUIDED PRACTICE Since so many main character learns and grows from, it is important to not only recognize these transformations, but also understand how the story's events affected the characters. Today we will continue to recognize a character's growth across a text and consider the underlying reasons why the character has changed and learn to support those inferences with evidence from the text. Remember that inferring (i.e., taking evidence from the text and combining it with your own experiences and knowledge) to understand how the character changed. • I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change

5. Close Read Readers can deepen their understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change. We’ll use these questions to guide our discussion: 1. Who is the main character, and what do you know about her so far? 2. Think about the main character, Magda, as you read. What does she look like? How does she act? How do other characters in the story react to her? 3. Compare and contrast Magda's traits at the beginning of the story to the end of the story. 4. Describe how she changed. 5. Think about why Magda might have changed the way she did. What would cause this sort of transformation? Support your idea with evidence from the story and your own insight.

6. Benchmark Vocabulary Vocabulary • Diesel • Moral transformation •disdain •Figurative phrase: “Magda was not old but she carried herself as a very old & very strong person might, with no fear of death and with a clear sense of her right to the earth and a disdain for the ugliness of belching machines and concrete.” How might we interpret the meaning of this line?

7. Text Talk: Compare and Contrast Characters across the text to find change Characters are who a story is about. Main – or important – characters are central to a story. Writers develop characters by describing how they look (traits), their personality (thoughts and feelings), what they do (actions) and interactions (relationships with other characters). This helps us infer-come up with important theories about character and their moral transformations.

8. Text Talk Compare and Contrast Characters across the text • I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Let’s look at beginning of the story and the traits, feelings, and actions of Magda. I read that she “prayed” that her cat hadn’t wandered far and as she asked the young man at the station about her cat, “her eyes snapped back and fiery as she spit the question at him.” I also learn that her husband died, she had no children and her cat, Louis was her only companion. I then get the great piece of figurative language, “Magda was not old but she carried herself as a very old & very strong person might, with no fear of death and with a clear sense of her right to the earth and a disdain for the ugliness of belching machines and concrete.”

9. I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Text Talk Compare and Contrast Characters across the text . I will begin a chart to list character traits about Magda at the beginning of the story along with text evidence and my own thinking: AT FIRST…Magda, a poor and harsh woman is very worried about her missing cat. We also learn that she is lonely, unhappy and miserable. I know this because we learn that she is a widow, has no kids, lives alone and can be rude to others by the way she asked the man at the station about her missing cat. “her eyes snapped back and fiery as she spit the question at him.”

10. I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Text Talk Compare and Contrast Characters across the text But we also learn that she is compassionate towards animals as she expressed care about the kitten, Louis when she first met him. He had a missing tail and no one seemed to care about him. “Nobody’s. Just a drop-off,” said the attendant at the station. Magda scooped up the cat, took it to the vet and then took it home. I will add my own thinking-insight: I am learning that even though Magda lives in a dreary place, she’s poor, works as a seamstress, lacking human companionship and seems impatient and angry with those folks who live there (esp: when they seem indifferent towards animals, she shows care and concern towards the kitten).

11. I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change TEXT TALK: Compare and Contrast characters across the text: But then, Magda meets a boy who seems to be even poorer than she is. When he grinned, he showed a mouthful of rotten and missing teeth. This boy had her cat, Louis, who was covered in oil. We learn that she knows he is unusual as She questions herself, “What kind of boy is this?” When she saw him with her cat, she wanted to leap for him but stopped herself. She kept offering the boy money. Finally, when she gave him a 20 dollar bill, he returned the cat to her with “tears dripping off his face like rainwater.” We learn that for days, She was enraged at the boy who sold her—her cat, nearly dead.

12. I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Text Talk Compare and Contrast Characters across the text In the end, Louis recovers with Magda’s care. She becomes less angry at the boy and ultimately forgave him for what he did. In fact as the text notes, “She felt sympathy for him, Remembering his tears.” So she knit him a woolen cat and dropped it off at his house one day on the way to the grocery store.

13. I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Text talk: Comparing and contrasting characters across the text. Adding my insight: This makes me think that a kinder, gentler and more compassionate Magda has emerged as a result of her encounter with the boy. She met a poor soul who seemed to have even less than she did and she felt sympathy towards him. Perhaps, she may now have made a new friend. By thinking about someone else’s misfortunes, Magda became a gentler person. I believe that she may even be less angry towards others as a result of this experience.

14. I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change Turn and talk: What did you notice about the way I deepened my understanding of the text by inferring how and why the character changed? How can this help you as a reader?

15. Small Group Time STEP 1: Focused Independent Reading It’s time to prepare to read your independent books. Let’s take a look at the two focus points and make a plan for your reading. You will apply both focus points to your self-selected texts.

16. Small Groups: STEP 2: You will begin to complete the how and why characters change graphic organizer for the books you are reading. • I can deepen my understanding of a fictional text by inferring how and why characters change

17. USE THIS CHECKLIST:

18. Teacher Notes: Independent: Students work on their own at first/but then or before and after charts for their novels. In addition, in your response logs, describe how your main character is changing and why he or she is changing. Or if you just started a new book, predict how and why your character might change.  Suggestion: Use “how and why characters” change handout. Maybe you would want to fill one out together for this story instead of before-after chart. Then kids can do one on their own for their own story. I would also modify rubric (so it is a four pointer) and give out with assignment. At the end of the session, gather students and ask them to share their thoughts on why their characters might have changed in the stories they are reading. Ask students to reflect on how thinking about characters in this way helps them to better understand and enjoy the stories they are reading .

19. More Teacher Notes: EXTENSIONS • Students can study other characters in their books, in addition to the main character and complete the graphic organizers. Students can study how characters change across a series of texts. Possible series include the, the "Fudge" books by Judy Blume, the Dimwood Forest series by Avi, or J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Students can use similar charts and graphic organizers to develop dynamic characters for their own narrative stories. Students can think about how and why they have changed in certain circumstances and connect this to the reading they are doing in class.

20. And even more teacher notes: •STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS Provide students with a short story in which a character changes. Ask them to read the story independently (you will have to make sure it is a text that all students can read) and respond to the following questions, citing evidence from the text to support their responses. Describe what the main character was like at the beginning of the story. Describe what the main character was like at the end of the story. How did the main character change? Why do you think he or she changed in that way? How has understanding character change helped you to become a better reader? Assess graphic organizers and character maps using the How and Why Characters Change Rubric. Review observations and conference notes taken during these sessions. 

21. How and why Characters change