Talking about character descriptions

 

Our new NSW English syllabus for Grade Two dictates, yes dictates, that this is the text to use for this outcome:

Students will explore how reader response to a character can be created through language, dialogue, actions, images and music. They will engage with well-known literature and innovate from mentor and supporting texts to compose literary descriptions of characters.

Mr Twit was one of these very hairy-faced men. The whole of his face except for his forehead, his eyes and his nose, was covered with thick hair. The stuff even sprouted in revolting tufts out of his nostrils and ear-holes. Mr Twit felt that this hairiness made him look terrifically wise and grand. But in truth he was neither of these things. Mr Twit was a twit. He was born a twit. And now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever. The hair on Mr Twit’s face didn’t grow smooth and matted as it does on most hairy-faced men. It grew in spikes that stuck out straight like the bristles of a nailbrush. And how often did Mr Twit wash this bristly nailbrushy face of his? The answer is never, not even on Sundays. He hadn’t washed it for years. 

(This text is also used in schools in Victoria which is where I found this text sample).

NSW English – Stage 1 – Unit 39

Learning intention: Students are learning to build on their understanding of character and how authors create a desired reader response to characters in texts.

Success criteria Students can:

· identify and understand how characters are constructed in texts

· use a noun group to build a description

· identify patterns to predict character actions

· use verbs and adverbs to add precision

· identify, understand and use wordplay and rhyme in a range of texts.

Task 1: Explain that students will create a mental model of a character from the story The Twits to draw later in the lesson. Without showing the illustrations from the text, ask students to close their eyes and read the descriptive paragraphs about Mr Twit from Chapters 1, 2 and 3. Ask students to draw Mr Twit. Repeat this activity using the descriptive paragraphs of Mrs Twit from Chapter 4.

I would argue that this is NOT the best text to use. 

 

• The tone of this description of Mr Twit is angry and aggressive. It could be used as a later example but not as a way to begin exploring the concept of character.
• Over two weeks the teacher reads this book to the class. Most will do this in a piecemeal way chapter by chapter dissecting each of the identified grammar features. Students will have no sense of the whole narrative. 
• There are so many other authors and books to explore - it is so limiting to always suggest Roald Dahl - we need to expand teachers' and students' knowledge of books.
• Are we crushing reading for pleasure in young children with this micro analysis of a text and the drip feed reading of small chunks every day followed by an 'activity' and an 'assessment.' 
• There is no time in this unit to explore other illustrations by Quentin Blake or to perhaps look at the way covers of this book vary. 

The syllabus in Victoria takes a better approach to the concept of character. Prior to using the text from Mr Twits they have these tasks:

This lesson will draw on student’s familiarity with narrative texts and characters to explore the ways in which they have responded to different characters.

• Ask the students to think about some characters from narratives they are familiar with, distinguishing between those characters they align with and those they don’t.
• Allow students time to look through narratives available in books in the classroom to find parts which provide details of the characters, their appearance, their actions, their dispositions which they can record to share later.
• Share responses inviting the students to explain why they liked or didn’t like the character. 

Teachers who follow the NSW K-2 Syllabus could consider supplementing the descriptions of Mr Twit with extracts from other books - characters who are quirky or ordinary; larger than life or small and seemingly insignificant; nasty and greedy or kind and generous.

"The little man always wore a respectable brown suit and respectable brown shoes. He worked in a neat office, and wrote down rows of figures in books, ruling lines under them."

"His mother wore a green scarf and gold earrings. Between her lips was her old black pipe, behind one ear was a crimson rose."

Meet Harry Stevenson. He doesn’t live in a castle, or a witch’s cottage, or anywhere exciting like that. His home is in a flat with seven-year-old Billy and his mum and dad. And at first glance, Harry doesn’t seem any different from your average guinea pig. He has ginger fur and sparkly black eyes and likes nothing more than snacking on a piece of broccoli. But don’t be fooled! Harry may just want to sleep and eat (and then eat some more) but somehow he always manages to get swept up in adventures: whether it’s scoring a goal in a vital cup match, creating mayhem in Billy’s classroom or hitching a ride to Paris with a gang of bikers!

"A girl, Tola's age comes out of the shop. She is wearing a pair of jeans ... (that fit) her all the way up and way down and they have no stains at all. ... Her jeans are cool. Her denim jacket is cool. Her hair that falls down her back like a black waterfall looks freshly washed and cool, cool cool!"

"There was a kind of charm about her, something in the set of her whiskers, an extra devil-may-care twirl to the rosettes in her brown and white fur, and a gleam in her eyes, which set her apart. Even her name had an air of romance. How she had come by it was something of a mystery, and Olga herself told so many fanciful tales about moonlit nights, castles in the air, and fields awash with oats and beautiful princesses  ..."

"She was wearing pajamas and cowboy boots and was holding a dictionary and a lunch box."

"Gooney Bird Greene was wearing a pink ballet tutu over green stretch pants, and she had three small red grapes, an avocado, and an oatmeal cookie for lunch."

"On Friday, Gooney Bird was wearing Capri pants, a satin tank top, and a long string of pearls. Her hair was twisted into one long braid, which was decorated with plastic flowers. There were flip flops on her feet."

"She was wearing a ruffled pinafore, dark blue knee socks, and high top basketball sneakers ... (and her) earrings dangled and glittered and were very large."

"Gooney Bird was wearing gray sweatpants, a sleeveless white blouse with lace on the collar, and amazing black gloves that came up above her elbows."