Day 49: Analyzing Character Change Lesson Plan

Help students unlock deeper themes by looking at how characters transform. In Day 49 of the Grade 9 English course, students use an Analyzing Character Change Lesson Plan that helps them connect a protagonist’s choices to an author’s ultimate message. Following a quick grammar mini-lesson on utilizing participles to describe people in transitional states, students track structural alterations in their literature circle book characters’ attitudes, behaviors, and relationships.

75 Minutes | Key Concepts: Character Development, Textual Inferences, Participles as Adjectives, Literary Tracking, Thematic Roadmaps

Learning Goals and Standards

Students will:

Analyzing Character Change: how and why characters change throughout a novel
Identify the events, relationships, and conflicts that influence character development
Support observations about character change with specific evidence from the text
Use participles to describe a character’s evolving thoughts, feelings, or actions
Explain how character development contributes to the novel’s emerging themes
Strengthen close-reading and analytical writing skills through evidence-based responses

Ontario Curriculum Connections (ENL1W)

A1.2 Reading for Meaning — use reading strategies to understand increasingly complex literary texts
A1.6 Extending Understanding of Texts — analyze how characters, conflicts, and events contribute to meaning
B1.2 Reading Comprehension — interpret character development using textual evidence
A3.2 Critical Thinking — develop and support interpretations through close reading
B2.1 Language Conventions — apply grammatical concepts, including participles, to communicate ideas effectively

Common Core (Grades 9–10)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1 — cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3 — analyze how complex characters develop throughout a text
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1 — demonstrate command of grammar and usage when writing

IB Language & Literature (ATL Skills)

Thinking skills through literary interpretation
Communication skills through analytical writing and discussion
Reflection skills through examining character growth and change

Cambridge IGCSE English Literature

Analyze character development using textual evidence
Develop informed personal responses to literature
Explain how character development contributes to meaning

OECD Global Competence Framework

Interpret human experiences through literature
Support ideas using evidence and reasoned analysis
Reflect on personal growth and the experiences of others through reading

Resources

Bell Ringer Before Analyzing Character Change

Think about a character from a book, movie, or television show who changed dramatically.

Then ask:

What caused that character to change?
Was the change positive, negative, or a combination of both?

Explain that, just like real people, fictional characters often grow because of the challenges they experience.

Lesson Flow

1. Silent Reading – Literature Circle Books (20 minutes)

Students read silently from their literature circle novels.

During this time, I ask them to read with one guiding question in mind:

Which character seems different than they were earlier in the book?

Students are encouraged to:

flag moments of decision-making,
notice shifts in attitude or behavior,
pay attention to internal thoughts or reactions.

This keeps reading purposeful without interrupting flow.

2. Intro to Participles

Before moving into analysis, I give a short introduction to participles, reminding students that participles are verb forms used as adjectives and are often used to describe people in transition.

Examples I might share orally:

conflicted, hesitating, determined, exhausted
“Changed by the experience, the character begins to…”

I explain that participles are especially useful when describing character change, because they capture motion, emotion, and development in a single word.

3. Lesson & Individual Seat Work: Analyzing Character Change

Students now work independently to analyze character development in their novel.

Student Task

Students respond in writing to the following prompts:

Who is changing the most in your book so far?
How can you tell?
(Think about actions, dialogue, internal thoughts, or relationships.)
What might this change reveal about the book’s theme?

Expectations:

Students must focus on one character.
They should reference at least one specific moment from the text.
Encourage the use of a participle to describe the character’s state or transformation.

Sentence starters can be helpful here:

Struggling with this situation, the character begins to…
Changed by this experience, the character now understands…

This task works well as quiet seat work and provides excellent formative assessment data on both comprehension and thematic thinking.

First-Hand Suggestions

Students often notice that a character has changed but struggle to explain why the change happened. I’ve found that asking students to focus on one significant event or relationship that influenced the character helps them move beyond simple observations and into deeper analysis. Once they begin connecting character growth to the story’s larger message, they’re naturally preparing themselves for more advanced literary analysis.

Differentiation for Analyzing Character Change

Support Strategies

Provide a character-change graphic organizer
Model how to compare a character at the beginning and current point of the novel
Highlight passages that demonstrate important character growth
Encourage students to focus on one major change rather than multiple examples
Allow students to discuss ideas with a partner before writing

Support for English Language Learners

Pre-teach key vocabulary:

character development
transformation
motivation
participle
evidence
theme

Helpful sentence starters:

“At the beginning of the novel, the character was…”
“After this event, the character became…”
“One piece of evidence that shows this change is…”
“This change suggests that…”

Alternative Demonstration Options

Students may:

complete a character-change graphic organizer
discuss their analysis verbally with the teacher
create a timeline showing the character’s development
record an audio explanation instead of writing a paragraph

Extension Opportunities

Students ready for enrichment can:

compare the development of two characters in the same novel
analyze whether the character’s change is realistic or symbolic
explain how character growth reinforces an emerging theme
evaluate whether the character changes gradually or through a single pivotal event
analyze how the author’s use of dialogue, internal thoughts, or relationships contributes to character development

Analyzing Character Change FAQ

How do you teach students to analyze character change? The most effective method is focusing on behavioral signposts. Instruct students to identify changes across three distinct pillars: shifts in action, shifts in spoken dialogue/tone, and shifts in key relationships over the course of the text.

What is a participle and how does it describe character growth? A participle is a verb form ending in ‘-ed’ or ‘-ing’ that functions entirely as an adjective. Because participles imply action, they are excellent for describing characters in a state of internal or emotional transition (e.g., ‘Exhausted by the conflict, the protagonist yields’).

Why is character change connected to an author’s theme? Character change is rarely accidental. Authors deliberately alter characters to show the consequences of their choices, using those transformations to deliver broader statements about identity, power, societal structures, or resilience.

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