Character Traits: Character Analysis through Comics: Digging Into Body Biography
- Preview |
- Resources & Preparation |
- Instructional Plan |
- Related Resources |
- Standards
Overview
Students will analyze Great Immigrants, Great Americans: The Comic Book featuring the story of Raj Panjabi using the STEAL (Speech, Thoughts, Effects on Others, Actions, and Looks) method, explore personal influences and present findings through a body biography.
Teachers can front load vocabulary from the comic and explore homonyms—like “settle,” “condition,” “service,” and “challenge”—to reinforce language skills.
Using the comic strip Great Immigrants, Great Americans to analyze the representation of Raj Panjabi allows students to apply the STEAL method. Through this analysis, students can identify him as a dynamic character, one who grows through experiences.
Students will then apply their understanding by analyzing someone who has positively impacted their own lives. They will create a body biography and present it to the class, demonstrating speaking and listening skills.
Featured Resources
- Digital or printout copies of Great Immigrants, Great Americans: The Comic Book (Raj Panjabi story)
- STEAL chart (multiple examples can be found online)
- Body Biography template
Materials and Technology
- Writing notebook
- Body Biography template
- Text Structure Task Cards
- Reflection page
- Color pencils, crayons, or markers
Printouts
- Printout copies of Great Immigrants, Great Americans pages, if needed
- QHT Classroom Signs (adapted from Springboard)
- Tableau scenarios
Websites
This video offers a concise and engaging overview of static and dynamic characters in literature. It defines static characters as those who remain unchanged throughout a story, while dynamic characters undergo significant internal changes in response to events. The video uses simple visuals and narration to help students grasp these concepts quickly, making it ideal for middle school English language arts classrooms. It serves as a useful introduction or review tool for character analysis lessons.
The Theatre Tableaux Lesson Part 2-1/1 video serves as a practical demonstration of how to teach tableaux in a classroom setting. The instructor introduces the concept of tableaux—frozen pictures created with the body to tell a story—and guides students through a series of engaging partner exercises. The lesson emphasizes collaboration, creativity, and physical storytelling, making it a valuable resource for educators aiming to integrate drama techniques into their curriculum. The video concludes with a review and encourages students to use tableaux to build full narrative scenes.
The website provides a clear and visually organized chart that outlines various types of text structures commonly used in reading and writing instruction. This resource is particularly useful for students who benefit from visual reminders to help them identify and understand different organizational patterns in texts, such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, sequence, problem and solution, and description. The chart includes signal words and guiding questions for each structure, making it a practical tool for classroom instruction or independent study. Educators are encouraged to download the chart and consider posting it on their blogs or digital classrooms to support student learning and reinforce comprehension strategies.
The video titled “Molly’s Secret Plan: Using the STEAL Method for Characterization” presents a short animated story designed to help students understand and apply the STEAL method of characterization. Through the engaging narrative of Molly and her secret plan, the video demonstrates how each component of the STEAL method can be identified and used to draw conclusions about a character’s personality and motivations. This resource is ideal for classroom instruction or independent learning, especially for middle-grade students.
"Chomping at the Lit: STEAL Characterization Chart" offers a clear and engaging explanation of the STEAL method for teaching characterization. The STEAL acronym—Speech, Thoughts, Effect on others, Actions, and Looks—is broken down with definitions and examples to help students analyze characters more effectively. The site provides a free downloadable STEAL chart that can be printed and used as a student handout. Additionally, it includes a reference guide version of the chart that can be displayed in a PowerPoint presentation, supporting both in-person and digital instruction.
"eReading Worksheets: Characterization Worksheets" offers a wide range of free printable and digital resources to support students in understanding characterization. It includes worksheets specifically designed for students who need additional practice or support in identifying character traits, analyzing character types, and applying text structure knowledge. The site also features related resources such as Text Structure Worksheets, Reading Activities, Character Types Worksheets, and a comprehensive Character Traits List, making it a valuable tool for differentiated instruction and skill reinforcement in reading comprehension and literary analysis.
This website offers a variety of resources to support educators in teaching with body biographies. It includes pre-planning handouts to help teachers organize lessons effectively and ideas for integrating body biographies into different subjects or texts. The site also provides clear definitions for vocabulary terms commonly used in body biography activities, ensuring students understand key concepts. Additionally, it features adaptable templates originally designed for specific books, which can be modified for other texts or projects. Finally, the site includes step-by-step teaching directions, guiding educators on how to implement body biographies in their classrooms successfully.
This resource provides a simplified guide to creating and scoring body biographies, making it accessible for both teachers and students. It includes step-by-step instructions that support students who may need additional guidance in completing the project. The document also offers clear expectations for a written reflection, encouraging students to think critically about their character analysis. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of justifying choices, such as selected symbols and quotes, helping students identify character traits in a meaningful way. This guide is a practical tool for integrating visual and analytical learning in the classroom.
This resource is designed for character analysis and can be easily adapted to suit different classroom needs. It supports the creation of real-life body biographies, making it ideal for projects. The guide includes detailed directions for each paragraph of the written reflection, helping students structure their analysis clearly and thoughtfully. Its flexible format and comprehensive instructions make it a valuable tool for engaging students in real-world character exploration.
Preparation
1. Display the QHT signs in various corners of the classroom.
2. Print Great Immigrants, Great Americans: Raj Panjabi or prepare to display it on the screen.
3. Prepare to show YouTube video on characterization: Molly’s Secret Plan.
4. Print two STEAL templates per student.
5. Familiarize yourself with the body biography tasks by visiting the website.
6. Gauge student background. Use with biographies if necessary. Build student prior knowledge using Richard Wright, excerpts from Hunger and Fire or Walter Dean Myers, Bad Boy.
7. Plan to display body biography examples with directions. Create a body biography of yourself, a student, or another teacher.
8. Plan to create a body biography using Richard Wright as a whole-class group.
9. Print Body Biography template with instructions and rubric.
Student Objectives
Students will:
- analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text.
- create a document that demonstrates clear understanding of interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text.
- analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse formats and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue.
Session Introduction and Activities
(Session One)
- Mini Lesson/ Review Homonyms: QHT Springboard
- Class Discussion: Why is storytelling an important aspect of a culture or society?
- Think-Pair-Share: How do you learn about your culture?
- Read and discuss comic
- View video on tableau
- Reenact scenarios (in PowerPoint/ Slide Deck)
- Discuss: Static and dynamic characters from the comic
(Session Two)
- Mini-lesson on text structures
- Reread Great Immigrants, Great Americans comic: Raj Panjabi
- Discuss the structure of the comic and any other texts the class has read to this point
- Discussion: How setting impacts character choice
- Direct/Indirect Characterization: Review mini-lesson with “Molly’s Secret Plan” video
- Characterize Raj Panjabi STEAL method
- Ask students to select a person of interest and characterize a real person in their life
(Session Three)
- Review the characterization of the person of interest in small groups
- Discuss Body Biography project expectation with instructions and rubric
- Allow class time for students to complete preplanning page
(Session Four)
- Allow class time for students to work on the Body Biography
- Discuss publication of the Body Biography
(Session Five)
- Presentations (Gallery Walk)
- Begin writing Reflection paragraphs
Extensions
- Students can write a narrative essay based on the person they analyzed for their body biography, using interview responses to craft a compelling personal story.
- Students can create a comic strip that illustrates the STEAL method, showing how a character’s traits are revealed through speech, thoughts, effects on others, actions, and looks.
- Using ReadWriteThink’s Comic Creator or Trading Cards, students can
- create a visual document that demonstrates a clear understanding of the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas.
- identify and explain main ideas and supporting details across diverse formats to clarify a topic, text, or issue.
From Theory to Practice
This lesson is grounded in the theoretical framework presented by Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, which explores how comics function as a unique medium of communication. McCloud argues that comics can convey meaning in ways that traditional print cannot, engaging multiple senses to communicate complex messages (195). By analyzing comics, students not only interpret visual and textual elements but also develop a deeper understanding of character through the STEAL method—Speech, Thoughts, Effects on others, Actions, and Looks. This multimodal approach supports diverse learners and fosters critical thinking. Furthermore, McCloud emphasizes that comics remain one of the few mass communication forms where individual voices can still be heard (197) and that they allow readers to “see one another more clearly” (198).
In this lesson, students will analyze a comic to identify character traits and development, determine whether characters are static or dynamic, and create a body biography to visually represent their analysis. Additionally, students will explore vocabulary through homonyms found in the comic, reinforcing language skills through a mini-lesson.
This approach not only enhances literary analysis but also empowers students to express their interpretations creatively.
Work Cited
McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: The invisible art. William Morrow.
Student Assessment / Reflections
To effectively assess the final product, the teacher can combine elements from both rubrics in the guide. Rubrics found on pages 6–7:
- From Rubric 1 (Writing-Focused):
- Style: Evaluate the audience engagement, word choice and voice of the body biography.
- Conventions: Assess grammar, punctuation, and spelling in both the written reflection and any text included on the body biography.
- From Rubric 2 (Visual/Collaborative-Focused):
- Teamwork: If students worked in pairs or groups, assess collaboration, shared responsibility, and participation.
- Visual Presentation: Evaluate creativity, neatness, and how well the visual elements represent the character’s traits.
- Use of Quotes: Assess the relevance and accuracy of selected quotes and how well they support the character analysis.
Work Cited
College Board. (2025). Springboard Curriculum. https://www.springboard.com/
Standards
A complete listing of the standards can be found here.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).