Wanted: Character Evidence

Overview

Lesson 3 of 5 in Choose Create Celebrate Books. Students transform an existing character profile into a wanted poster, storyboard or audio advertisement that uses relevant evidence to communicate the character’s actions, personality and role. The lesson explicitly teaches audience, persuasive and descriptive language, headings, visual hierarchy and accessible design.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• select relevant evidence from a literary text and character profile
• use descriptive and persuasive language for a chosen audience
• organise ideas with clear headings, visual hierarchy and purposeful details
• choose an appropriate format to communicate their interpretation
• explain how their evidence shows the character’s role in the story

Success criteria

• I can identify specific actions, words or events that provide evidence about a character.
• I can use descriptive and persuasive language suited to my audience.
• I can organise my work with a clear heading, logical sections and readable design.
• I can explain how my evidence supports my view of the character.

Curriculum links

• Creating written and multimodal texts for particular purposes and audiences.
• Creating and presenting imaginative texts that draw on ideas, events and characters from literature.
• Analysing how language features, text structures and visual choices influence meaning.
• Planning, drafting, editing and publishing, including spelling, punctuation and digital or multimodal presentation.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Connect and regulate: Welcome students and briefly revisit the character profiles from Lesson 2. Display the learning intention and success criteria in the lesson introduction slides. Students silently choose a regulation option: stretch, doodle, headphones or a two-minute breathing break.

2. 5–13 minutes – Model the genre: Show two contrasting wanted-poster examples in the exemplar and teaching slides: one crowded and vague, one clear and evidence-based. Think aloud while identifying the heading, audience, descriptive vocabulary, persuasive call to action, visual hierarchy and three pieces of relevant evidence. Ask: “Which details help us understand the character, and which could be removed?”

3. 13–20 minutes – Explicit teaching and planning: Teach the language pattern: “Wanted because…” followed by evidence and explanation. Model turning a profile note into a sentence, such as “Mara is resourceful because she repairs the radio using objects others ignore.” Distribute the character evidence poster planner. Students record the character, intended audience, role, three evidence points, descriptive words, persuasive words, heading and chosen format. Offer spelling support from the word bank and read instructions aloud.

4. 20–23 minutes – Planned regulation break: Pause for a predictable movement or sensory break. Students may stand, get water, use a quiet space or complete a short breathing strategy. Re-display the task steps in the activity instruction slide before students begin.

5. 23–37 minutes – Create and confer: Students independently or with a partner create a paper poster, digital poster, storyboard or audio advertisement. They must include a clear title, character description, role in the story, at least three text-based evidence points and a persuasive ending, such as “Approach with caution” or “Reward offered for information.” Use the planning sheet as a checklist. The teacher conferences with each student, asking, “What does this evidence prove?” and “How does your format suit your audience?” Provide a quiet work area and allow speech-to-text, scribing or audio recording.

6. 37–42 minutes – Peer response: In pairs, students share their work or play their advertisement. The listener gives one specific strength and one useful suggestion using the prompts in the peer-feedback slide: “I understand this character is…” and “One detail that could make the evidence clearer is…”. Students make one quick improvement.

7. 42–45 minutes – Reflect and preview: Students complete a brief oral or written reflection: “My strongest evidence is… because…” and “Next lesson I want to improve…”. Invite two volunteers to share different formats or approaches. Preview Lesson 4, when students will refine and celebrate their book-related creations.

Resources

• the complete lesson slide deck
• the character evidence poster planner
• Character profiles and familiar class texts
• Paper, coloured pencils, markers and rulers
• Devices and headphones, if available
• Audio-recording or presentation software
• Spelling and descriptive-language word bank
• Visual timer and regulation tools
• Quiet workspace or low-stimulation area

Assessment

• Observe planning conversations and check whether students select relevant, text-based evidence rather than unrelated details.
• Use the finished product to assess audience awareness, descriptive and persuasive language, organisation, visual hierarchy and explanation of the character’s role.
• Record each student’s reflection and conference response to identify support needed for drafting and publishing in the next lesson.

Differentiation

• Provide a partially completed planner, sentence stems, a reduced choice of formats and a small bank of character adjectives, action verbs and persuasive phrases.
• Use dyslexia-friendly formatting: clear sans-serif font, generous spacing, short instructions, cream or pale-coloured paper, minimal text on slides and read-aloud access. Accept speech-to-text, scribing, drawing with labels or audio.
• For autistic students, preview the sequence visually, offer a choice of audience and format, use explicit time warnings, permit quiet parallel work and avoid requiring eye contact or public performance.
• Extend capable learners by writing from another character’s perspective or using humour while maintaining accurate evidence from the text. They may also vary tone for two different audiences and explain which language choices changed.

Extension

Students create a second version from another character’s perspective, or add humour without weakening the evidence. They should annotate two language or design choices and explain how these influence the audience.