Building Character Profiles

Overview

This 45-minute lesson is Lesson 4 of 5 in the unit Character Creation in Drama for Years 2-3 students. The focus is on helping students create detailed character profiles including backstory, motivations, and traits. Students will work in pairs to share and discuss their characters, promoting collaboration and deeper understanding of character development.

This lesson aligns with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh for the Arts learning area, especially Drama, and integrates key competencies and learning objectives relevant for Years 2-3.

Curriculum Connections

Learning Area: The Arts – Drama (Levels 1-2)

Key Competencies:

Thinking: Developing character profiles requires imagination and reasoning.
Using language, symbols, and texts: Creating and sharing character descriptions uses expressive language.
Relating to others: Collaborative pair work and sharing ideas.
Managing self: Planning and organising thinking to create a profile.
Participating and contributing: Engaging in discussions and respecting others’ ideas.

The Arts Curriculum Level 1-2 Drama Strands:

Participate in drama to explore ideas and feelings, and understand others' perspectives.
Explore role and characterisation through voice, movement, and gesture.
Express ideas clearly through drama conventions to communicate meaning.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

Use drama techniques to create and sustain role and characterisation.
Develop and communicate ideas about a character’s feelings, thoughts, and motivations.
Collaborate with peers to explore and develop character ideas.
Use language and expressive skills to communicate ideas about characters.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

Identify and describe key aspects of a character: backstory, motivations, and traits.
Use expressive language to communicate character details clearly.
Collaborate effectively with a partner to share and deepen understanding of characters.
Reflect on how character traits influence behaviour and story possibilities.

Materials Needed

Character Profile Template (age-appropriate, visual with sections for Name, Backstory, Motivations, Traits)
Whiteboard or chart paper and markers
Drawing materials for students (coloured pencils, crayons)
Character cards with starter ideas (optional)
Space for pair discussions

Lesson Outline

Time	Activity	Description
0-5 mins	Introduction & Recap	Briefly recap previous lessons on character creation. Introduce the concept of a character profile and why knowing a character’s backstory, motivations, and traits help bring them to life. Use a familiar story character as an example.
5-15 mins	Guided Modelling	Model how to fill in a character profile using an example character (e.g., a friendly monster or talking animal). Show how to think about where they come from, what they want, and how they behave. Use expressive language and encourage students to ask questions. Discuss why these details matter.
15-30 mins	Paired Character Profile Creation	Students work in pairs to create a character profile of an original character. They can draw and label traits, create a simple backstory, and decide what motivates the character. Encourage using descriptive words and sharing ideas verbally. Teacher circulates to support and prompt deeper thinking.
30-40 mins	Sharing & Discussion	Pairs share their character profiles with another pair, discussing what they created, explaining motivations and traits, and asking questions. Emphasise positive feedback and listening. Optional sharing with whole class if time.
40-45 mins	Reflection and Consolidation	Whole class discussion: What did you learn about creating a character? How do motivations and traits help us understand a character? Brief reflection (could be oral or drawn). Explain that next lesson will use these profiles to develop short drama scenes.

Teaching Strategies and Considerations

Use explicit teaching and modelling to scaffold understanding of character profile elements.
Incorporate visual supports on the profile template to aid comprehension and engagement.
Encourage use of descriptive language and expressive vocabulary, modelling and prompting where needed.
Use pair work to build social and collaborative skills, with teacher facilitation.
Ensure a safe and inclusive environment where all ideas are valued.
Differentiate by providing sentence stems or vocabulary prompts for students who need additional language support.
Use real or fictional characters familiar to students to anchor learning.
Use drama conventions of role and characterisation by inviting students, if comfortable, to briefly act out their characters after creating profiles.

Assessment and Feedback

Formative assessment through observation of student participation and contributions during paired work and discussions.
Check character profiles for inclusion of backstory, motivations, and traits using a simple checklist.
Use questioning during sharing to assess understanding of how traits influence character and story.
Provide oral feedback highlighting effective use of language and thoughtful character development.
Encourage peer feedback using simple positive prompts (e.g., “I liked how you explained why your character feels that way.”)

Suggested Character Profile Template Sections (Visual & Simple Language)

Name of Character
What is their story? (Backstory – Where do they come from?)
What do they want? (Motivations - What is important to them?)
What are they like? (Traits - Friendly, shy, brave, funny…)
Draw your character here!

Alignment with New Zealand Curriculum Refresh

This lesson explicitly supports learning outcomes for Drama at Levels 1-2 by encouraging students to take on and sustain roles, explore and express character traits and motivations, participate effectively with peers, and develop verbal and non-verbal communication skills through drama processes. It integrates key competencies, particularly relating to thinking, relating to others, and using language, as outlined in The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh.

By guiding students to organise their ideas and work collaboratively, the lesson aligns with recommendations for breaking learning into manageable experiences and providing scaffolds and supports for participation (Te Mātaiaho English Years 0–6).

If you would like, I can also create printable resources or character profile templates to accompany this lesson. Would that be helpful?

Teaching Instructions