Develop Character Change

Overview

In Lesson 7 of 10 in “Narratives That Show Voice,” students review irregular plural nouns in context, then analyze how Judy’s feelings, motivations, traits, and actions change in Judy Moody Mood Martian. Students apply this thinking by planning a character profile and opening scene for a second narrative.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Use irregular plural nouns correctly in sentences.
• Describe how a character’s feelings, motivations, and actions change.
• Explain how a character’s response contributes to the sequence of events.
• Write an opening scene that introduces a character, goal, challenge, and narrator.

Success criteria

• I can use irregular plural nouns correctly in my writing.
• I can describe how a character changes and explain why.
• I can show a character’s goal and challenge through actions, thoughts, feelings, or dialogue.
• I can explain how the character’s response moves the story forward.

Curriculum links

• Georgia English Language Arts: narrative writing, including introducing characters, establishing a situation, and organizing a natural event sequence.
• Georgia English Language Arts: developing events through dialogue, actions, thoughts, feelings, and character responses.
• Georgia English Language Arts: describing characters’ traits, motivations, and feelings and explaining how their actions contribute to events.
• Georgia English Language Arts: using language conventions, including irregular plural nouns, in context.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–10 min · Grammar review: Irregular plurals. Teacher opens with the grammar review slides and models sorting nouns such as child/children, mouse/mice, foot/feet, tooth/teeth, and person/people, then revises an incorrect sentence. Students help sort singular and plural forms, revise two class sentences, and complete the grammar section of the character change and narrative writing worksheet independently. Briefly check answers by having students explain how they know a plural is correct.

2. 10–15 min · Engage: Notice a change. Teacher displays a carefully selected passage or summarizes a familiar moment from Judy Moody Mood Martian, using the character change discussion slides, and asks: “How is Judy feeling at the beginning, and how does she feel later?” Students silently identify one feeling at each point, then share with a partner using evidence from the text.

3. 15–23 min · Model character-to-plot thinking. Teacher creates a three-column chart on the board: Character change / Why it happens / What it causes. Model a response such as: “Judy feels frustrated because her goal is blocked, so she makes a new choice. That choice creates the next event.” Emphasize that a trait is a lasting quality, a motivation is what a character wants or needs, and a response is what the character does, says, thinks, or feels. Students help place details from the passage into the chart and explain the link between Judy’s response and the next event.

4. 23–30 min · Guided analysis. Teacher presents the prompts on the guided analysis slides and pairs students to complete the character-change section of the character change and narrative writing worksheet. Students record Judy’s starting feeling or trait, motivation, challenge, response, and resulting event. Partners must support one idea with a detail from the passage or class discussion. Invite two or three pairs to share, accepting different interpretations when evidence supports them.

5. 30–41 min · Apply: Plan and draft an opening scene. Teacher explains that students will begin a second narrative with a new or previously planned character. Using the model on the narrative writing instruction slides, teacher demonstrates introducing a narrator or character, establishing a goal and challenge, and showing a response through dialogue, action, thought, or feeling. Students complete the character profile on the character change and narrative writing worksheet, then write an opening scene of approximately one paragraph. Require a clear situation, a character goal, an obstacle, and at least two techniques such as dialogue, action, thought, or feeling. Circulate and ask: “What does your character want?” and “How will the character’s response cause the next event?”

6. 41–45 min · Reflect and exit. Teacher directs students to the reflection prompt on the reflection and exit slides and hands out the reflection prompt exit-ticket slips. Students complete: “My character responds to the challenge by ____. This moves the story forward because ____.” Collect the slips and invite one volunteer to read a strong example.

Resources

• the complete grammar, analysis, writing, and reflection slide deck
• the character change and narrative writing worksheet
• Judy Moody Mood Martian or a teacher-selected passage
• Board or chart paper
• Projector or interactive display
• Pencils and colored pencils
• the reflection prompt exit-ticket slips

Assessment

• Listen during grammar sorting and sentence revision; check whether students explain irregular plural forms rather than guessing.
• Review the character-change chart and worksheet for a clear connection among motivation, response, and resulting event.
• Use the opening scene and exit ticket to assess whether students introduce a situation and character, establish a goal and challenge, and show how a response moves the story forward.

Differentiation

• Support students with a word bank of irregular plurals, feeling words, motivation sentence frames, and a character-change organizer completed with one example.
• Provide an excerpt with key details marked, read the passage aloud, and allow students to dictate ideas or use speech-to-text as needed.
• Pair English learners strategically; rehearse responses orally with frames such as “At first, ___ feels ___ because ___” and “When ___ happens, the character ___, so ___.”
• Extend ready writers by requiring a short line of dialogue plus a description of the character’s thoughts, and by asking them to show a change in feeling without naming the feeling directly.