Creative Writing: Characterization Approximate Time Needed:   45 minutes Lesson Summary:   Students will develop a character sketch (either in paragraph or short list format) by combining research on a particular career with elements of characterization studied in literature classes. Lesson Objective:   Students will develop web searching skills; articulate and utilize the elements of characterization by understanding the roles of both reader and writer; and exercise creative writing skills by conceiving of their own individual characters. Materials and Resources: ECOS Career Search or Career Directory ECOS Career List Helpful Hints:   Teacher might want to review definitions of key literary terms (narrative, metaphor, image, symbol, etc.) before embarking a class on a creative writing assignment. Teacher might want to compile--ahead of time--a template for a short list of characterization traits/techniques so that students can work within a structure. Teacher might also use this template to briefly review a rubric for the assignment to be evaluated. Activities Students choose a career that interests them. This can be done outside of class to save time. Review definition of characterization. Characterization: the personality a character displays; also, the means by which a writer reveals that personality--from Adventures in English Literature, Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich. Compile, with the aid of the class, a list of essential traits for a good characterization. List might include things such as: suggestive name; physical description; brief psychological profile; a character’s actions (perhaps habitual); other characters’ thoughts about him/her; and literary devices to invoke these things (e.g., symbol, image, metaphor, simile, etc.). Once the class has established a list of essential traits of characterization, students then compose a list (perhaps using a teacher-made template) of descriptive character traits for a fictitious character who works in this career. Students will already have information on the career, having culled information from a particular ECOS career profile. For example, Joan is interested in the life of a government agent. She discovers, using ECOS, that working for the State Department might require someone to travel abroad and to handle sensitive documents or engage in espionage. Drawing on her own creative impulses, and perhaps a story read in class, Joan then creates a fictional government agent, and articulates his/her specific, descriptive character traits. Evaluation:   Students may be evaluated on either a written list or a paragraph-format characterization, based on the characterization traits/techniques established in class or through teacher’s rubric. Unit Goal:   Using this lesson and lessons for setting, tone, plot, and theme, teacher can ask students to combine these five major aspects of narrative to create their own short stories.