Characterization is one of the most basic skills we teach students about reading. And it is a darn important one. It is actually a life skill as students will at some point transfer these understandings to film, TV and actual people. This is why it is so important for them to understand character complexity in literature.
What is Character Complexity?
When teaching students about character complexity it helps to begin with the idea of complexity itself. Having a clear understanding of what it means to be complex can help them understand that characters are layered and multi-faceted.
It’s fun to use a picture book or even a wordless picture book to do this. Having students note the layers of a two page spread in a picture book including how the pictures and text work together, can help them develop an understanding of complexity itself.
Once students begin to see what it means to be complex, they can begin to transfer this to looking for layers in character complexity.
Writing Meaningful Character Analysis
As students begin to address the complex layers of a character, they can list character traits. Once they have a list of traits, they can begin to look into the implications of these traits to develop claims.
It is helpful in the beginning to provide students with sentence frames and character analysis vocabulary that they can use to develop character analysis that focuses on the complexity of a character in the text.
Additionally, drawing students attention to contrasting characters can also help them to see the layers in a complex character. By comparing two or more characters, students can see the rich layers of each character.
Moving Students Beyond Character Complexity
Once students have a sense of how to examine characters for complexity, you can move them to additional layers of complexity in texts. Noting complexity in a character can lead students to a deeper examination of the conflicts, themes and structures of a text.
To learn more about helping your students to examine character complexity, join my free week long masterclass: Unlocking Characterization: Teaching Character Complexity in High School English.
Related Reading
Text Complexity for AP English
9 Innovative Ways to Dive into the Definition for Characterization
15 Clever and Surprising Ways to Use a Wordless Picture Book in High School English
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Characterization Anchor Charts: give students a list of vocab they can use to describe characters.
