CHARACTER EDUCATION

RICH TASKS/LESSON IDEAS

BY ABBY ESTWANI

RICH TASKS/ LESSON IDEAS

It is important when integrating character education into the Junior
curriculum to:
Ensure that tasks are rich and meaningful
Students are given choice of how they would like to demonstrate their
learning
Use social justice as a means of teaching character education in order
to integrate various subjects and curricular expectations

GREAT READ-OUT-LOUDS TO GET YOU STARTED

(STORIES I READ WITH MY GRADE 5 CLASS EACH YEAR)

Text

Description

The Breadwinner
Deborah Ellis

A story about a girl in Afghanistan

Excellent for grades 5 and 6
Great potential for connections to other stories

The Shepherds Granddaughter

Anne Laurel Gault

A story about a Palestinian girl and the farm her family is losing
due to the building of an Israeli settlement
Grade 5-6 excellent connection to First Nations peoples and land
rights

The Little Hero-One Boy's Fight for Freedom:

Iqbal Masih's Story
Andrew Croft

Martins Big Words

Doreen Rappaport

- A recount of Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs struggle for equal rights
- Many parallels can be drawn between this and the above stories

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope

Maxine Trottier

Excellent for grades 4-6

Perfect for starting off the school year
For excellent Junior tasks Visit :
http://www.terryfox.org/SchoolRun/_Library/National_Lesson_Plans/
National_Junior_Lesson_Plan.pdf

Nelson Mendela
Cath Senker

Excellent for grades 4-6

Connections can be made between all the stories listed

Who Was Ghandi?

Dana Meachen Rau

Promotes peace, civil-disobedience

Excellent for anti-bullying
Great connections to Martins Big Words

Focus on child labour issues

Excellent for grades 4-6

RICH TASKS
Rich assessment tasks offer teachers with the
opportunity to focus on a "big idea" through
the clustering of grade/subject expectations.
Carefully designed, these tasks enable
students to make connections between what
they are learning and the characteristic(s)
being explored. Teachers can ensure that
students are engaged in the task by ensuring
the task is meaningful, thought provoking ,
raises questions, has more than one right
answer, and appeals to a variety of learning
styles.
((http://www.oame.on.ca/main/index1.php?
lang=en&code=presmessage&chapter=32

RICH TASKS
Character Box

Students choose a character from the story and create a character box for the
character of their choice
Students fill the box with items that represent the character (evidence from the
text must be included)

Journal
Writing

In response to character dilemmas, pictures, and read texts, students will keep a
character education journal. This journal should serve as a means for students
to generate self-relevant texts.

Role Play

To invite students into an imaginative situation in which they construct and

enact a role different from their own or solve an imaginary dilemma related to a
read out loud

Letter Writing

Students write a letter to a character of their choice from a read-out-loud and

express one or two character traits they admire or dislike about the character,
ask questions, and share feelings.
Another classmate takes on the role of that character and responds to their
letter.

Fish Bowling

Students work in groups of 4-5 to discuss a specific topic (character ed related)

in the centre of the ring formed by the rest of the classmates. After completing
their talks the rest of the classmates respond to their discussion.

CHARACTER EDUCATION & GUIDED LITERACY

What is guided literacy?
Guided literacy instruction is an instructional approach that involves a teacher
working with a small group of students who demonstrate similar reading or
writing behaviors and can all read at similar levels of texts or exhibit similar
writing strengths and areas for improvement. When reading with students, the
text is easy enough for students to read with your skillful support. The text
offers challenges and opportunities for problem solving, but is easy enough for
students to read with some fluency. You choose selections that help students
expand their strategies.
(http://www.scholastic.ca/clubs/images/whatisgrl.pdf)
(http://
www.eworkshop.on.ca/edu/resources/guides/Guide_Lit_456_Vol_5_Reading.pdf)

CHARACTER EDUCATION
& GUIDED LITERACY

While the teacher is working with a small group of students, the rest of the class should be engaged
in rich tasks that challenge them to use their critical thinking skills, raise questions, and think about big ide
These tasks may be based off of the Read-out-loud the class is reading. Creating guided literacy centres
based on The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser is an excellent way to integrate character
education into the Junior literacy curriculum.

The Daily 5 is a literacy program that helps ensure that the teacher is able to dedicate time with a group o
students, or work 1:1 with a student while the rest of the class is engaged in meaningful reading and writin
activities. (The Daily 5, Gail Boushey, Joan Moser)

Sample lesson using the Rich Tasks based on

The Daily 5:
After reading a chapter
from The Breadwinner,
by Deborah Ellis, the
teacher teaches a focus
lesson (e.g. Word Work:
spelling)
15 minutes

Whole Group
Lesson

Student
Independent
Work
Students work on one of
the rich tasks in groups of
4 or 5
Additional reading/writing
activities may be added to
the list of tasks such as:
Read to self, read to
someone, work on writing,
word work, listen to
reading
45 minutes

Teacher is working with

students on : Guided
Reading, Guided Writing,
Assessing, or Conferencing
15 30 minutes

GUIDED LITERACY BLOCK

BASED ON THE DAILY 5 BY GAIL BOUSHEY &JOAN MOSER

Guided
Instruction