The New Kid

Learning intention

I am learning to examine how authors make stories engaging with elements such as character and humour, and to experiment with these skills.

Success criteria

I can:

• analyse characters’ words and behaviour
• reflect on what this reveals about their personalities
• identify a source of humour
• experiment with creating a complex character

Essential knowledge

View the video Characterungroup from the English Textual Concepts.

Introduction

Discuss how readers gain insights into characters’ personalities. Ensure students identify that often readers gain an understanding about characters through what they say and do. Select two students to read for the characters in the play and instruct them to read it aloud to the class.

Teacher modelling – 10 minutes

Tell students that even if we believe a character is not telling the truth, what they say can still reveal a great deal about their personalities. Discuss the following:

• Why are Lydia and Zac speaking to one another? (Zac is new at the school and Lydia is befriending him and making him welcome)

Use the think-aloud strategy to emphasise that sometimes when people want to make friends or to impress someone new, they may go along with what the other person says or does to form a connection. Explain that perhaps either one or both of the characters may be going along with what the other says in the interests of forming a friendship. Discuss the following questions with the students, and guide them to the suggested answers provided:

• Do you think Lydia and Zac are being truthful in the play? Why/why not?
• What are they arguing about? (Who is the most hard done by)
• What can readers infer about their personalities? (They are competitive)
• What do they say about writing stories in English lessons? (Zac says he hates writing stories and that he has no imagination, and Lydia agrees and expresses that she feels the same way)
• Do you agree with the characters’ assertion that they have no imagination? (No, they seem very creative in the stories that they have been telling each other)
• What does this reveal about their personalities? (That they don’t understand their own strengths)

Emphasise that some of what the characters say directly contradicts with their personalities. Inform students that this helps create complex and realistic characters. Reflect on the impact of the contrast between what the characters say and their actions. Draw students' attention to the fact that this creates humour and irony in the text.

Guided practice – 15 minutes

Inform students that they will be creating a character whose actions contradict what they say. Remind students that this is one way to make characters appear complex. Tell students that first they will plan an example together. Discuss examples of reasons why characters might express ideas different from what they feel/how they behave. For example:

• They are scared of heights but pretend not to be and climb a tall climbing frame, to avoid anyone thinking they are not brave
• They agree with directions from someone in authority, then avoid their instructions when that person is out of sight

Inform students that they will be composing a play script that reveals the complexities of the character they create. Tell students that first the class will be planning an example together. Select one of the ideas students identified. Discuss how you might reveal this contrast in the character, through their behaviour contradicting what they say. Provide examples such as a character acting with bravado and saying they cannot wait to try a zip wire; while making up excuses and running away to hide the fact they are scared of heights. Refer back to The New Kid and identify how the play is structured. Ensure students note the following:

• Character’s names are provided as a list
• The dialogue is written next to each character’s name
• The character’s behaviour is expressed both through the actions of the other characters and the stage directions

Place students with a partner. Instruct them to copy the table below into their workbooks, and to use this to plan their ideas:

Discuss how students might reveal their ideas about the character through a play. Inform students that they should include at least two characters, so they are able to show their character acting in a contradictory way to what they say. Briefly co-construct an example with students, such as:

Ed: Hi, what are you doing?

Tran: I’m about to go on this zip wire. Fancy joining me?

Ed: Oh, I’d love to. Oh no, what a shame, I just remembered that I have to be somewhere.

Tran: Don’t worry, it won’t take long.

Ed: Great! Oh ow, whoops!

(Ed falls to the floor)

Tran: Are you OK?

Ed: I’ve twisted my ankle. What a shame, I won’t be able to go on the zip wire with you now. 

Independent activity – 15 minutes

Inform students that they will be using their ideas in a brief play. Remind students that they should reveal the character’s complexity to readers and that how they act/feel should contradict what they say. Allow time for students to compose their plays.

Differentiation

Provide students requiring support with the following scaffold:

Character 1 (insert name):

Character 2 (insert name):

Character 1 (insert name):

Character 2 (insert name):

Character 1 (insert name):

Character 2 (insert name):

Include stage directions (instructions for how the characters should act) where appropriate. Students could use the scaffold digitally so they can copy and paste the character names as many times as required. Students who require further support with written language may prefer to use notes, brief dot points to outline the ideas. Instruct these students to focus more on rehearsing their play for the performance rather than on constructing a script.

Direct students who require extension to consider how to add further humour to the play. Remind them that in The New Kid, Zac and Lydia both tried to outdo each other. Instruct students to add a competitive element between the two characters in their play, to inject further humour. View Strategies for Differentiationungroup from the NSW Department of Education for further strategies for differentiation.

Assessment

Inform students that they will be peer-assessing each other’s plays. Discuss criteria students might use for assessing the plays. Refer to the lesson’s success criteria for ideas. Sample responses include:

• Creates a play
• Includes dialogue for the characters
• Includes a character whose actions differ from what they say
• Creates humour through the complexity of the character

Match pairs together to form small groups of four. Instruct students to take turns performing their plays to one another. Instruct students to allocate one point for each of the criteria. Tell students to identify two-stars-and-a-wish for the other pair, and to provide a score for the number of criteria they have met. View Using Effective Feedbackungroup for examples of peer feedback.