Skills 1.A, 1.B, 1.E, 2.A, 2.B, 7.A, 7.B
Analyzing Character in Full-Length Novels and Plays: Stimulating Discussion with Videos
Inspire interest in the analysis of character and a discussion of complexity and nuance within a text by using these informative videos. Life, identify, relationships are complicated. Human emotions are complicated. Ask students to participate in discussions that allow students to explore this complexity within a text. First, provide students with a stimulus for the discussion--a video. Next, students will make claims about their characters based on the information in the video. Students should support their claims with evidence from the work. Their discussion will model the AP description of commentary, providing an explanation of how the text evidence supports their claims.
These discussions could result in an easy quiz the next day where students make a claim, support that claim with evidence, and write insightful commentary explaining how the text evidence supports their claims.
1. Deviance: Crash Course Sociology #18: Watch the video and then ask students to identify someone who is "deviant" in their text, or ask students to consider how the main character specifically may be considered deviant. Students may benefit from taking notes during the video before beginning the discussion with their text. Ask students to make claims about deviance and their main character and use textual evidence to support their claims.
2. Psychological Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #28: Invite students to watch the video. Consider discussion topics such as--Describe your main character's mental health. How have other characters contributed to the perception of your character's mental health? How have the other characters and/or the setting contributed to the mental health of your character. Encourage students to make claims and support those claims with evidence from the text.
3. Sociopath, Psychopath and Narcissist and How to Spot the Difference: This video from MedCircle explores the difference between a sociopath, a psychopath, and a narcissist. After watching the brief video ask students to enter into a discussion with their peers explaining why their main character is or is not one of the three. Ask students to support their claims with evidence from the text and explanations of their reasoning.
4. Personality Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #34: Watch the video which explores Ego-Dystonic and Ego-Syntonic Disorders, Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorders, and the potential biological, psychological, and social roots of these disorders. Students may want to take notes. Students may have fun taking the self-assessment published on the website Psycom before watching the video. After students briefly discuss the terms, direct the discussion to the characters in their novel. Ask students to consider if their character has one of the disorders and why; use text evidence to support claims.
5. Childhood Trauma: This five-minute video produced by the UK Trauma Council explores the effects of childhood trauma and how events shape brain development. After watching the video and discussing childhood trauma, ask students to consider how their character's childhood has influences their lives.
6. This TED Talk on the language of lying by Noah Zandan explains the relationship between language and deceit. This would be a great introduction to the 2016 Question 3 prompt on deception. Consider showing the video, allowing students to work in groups to discuss deceit in their novels or plays, and then assigning the prompt.
7. The Nova Effect: This video produced by Pursuit of Wonder explores the causes and effects of events in our lives. The subtitle The Tragedy of Good Luck provides insight into the content--the video is an exploration of events that may be considered tragic at first but often produce blessed results. This discussion will benefit students in considering structure and the function of events on the text and main character.
Analyzing Character in Full-Length Novels and Plays: Stimulating Discussion with Videos
Inspire interest in the analysis of character and a discussion of complexity and nuance within a text by using these informative videos. Life, identify, relationships are complicated. Human emotions are complicated. Ask students to participate in discussions that allow students to explore this complexity within a text. First, provide students with a stimulus for the discussion--a video. Next, students will make claims about their characters based on the information in the video. Students should support their claims with evidence from the work. Their discussion will model the AP description of commentary, providing an explanation of how the text evidence supports their claims.
These discussions could result in an easy quiz the next day where students make a claim, support that claim with evidence, and write insightful commentary explaining how the text evidence supports their claims.
1. Deviance: Crash Course Sociology #18: Watch the video and then ask students to identify someone who is "deviant" in their text, or ask students to consider how the main character specifically may be considered deviant. Students may benefit from taking notes during the video before beginning the discussion with their text. Ask students to make claims about deviance and their main character and use textual evidence to support their claims.
2. Psychological Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #28: Invite students to watch the video. Consider discussion topics such as--Describe your main character's mental health. How have other characters contributed to the perception of your character's mental health? How have the other characters and/or the setting contributed to the mental health of your character. Encourage students to make claims and support those claims with evidence from the text.
3. Sociopath, Psychopath and Narcissist and How to Spot the Difference: This video from MedCircle explores the difference between a sociopath, a psychopath, and a narcissist. After watching the brief video ask students to enter into a discussion with their peers explaining why their main character is or is not one of the three. Ask students to support their claims with evidence from the text and explanations of their reasoning.
4. Personality Disorders: Crash Course Psychology #34: Watch the video which explores Ego-Dystonic and Ego-Syntonic Disorders, Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorders, and the potential biological, psychological, and social roots of these disorders. Students may want to take notes. Students may have fun taking the self-assessment published on the website Psycom before watching the video. After students briefly discuss the terms, direct the discussion to the characters in their novel. Ask students to consider if their character has one of the disorders and why; use text evidence to support claims.
5. Childhood Trauma: This five-minute video produced by the UK Trauma Council explores the effects of childhood trauma and how events shape brain development. After watching the video and discussing childhood trauma, ask students to consider how their character's childhood has influences their lives.
6. This TED Talk on the language of lying by Noah Zandan explains the relationship between language and deceit. This would be a great introduction to the 2016 Question 3 prompt on deception. Consider showing the video, allowing students to work in groups to discuss deceit in their novels or plays, and then assigning the prompt.
7. The Nova Effect: This video produced by Pursuit of Wonder explores the causes and effects of events in our lives. The subtitle The Tragedy of Good Luck provides insight into the content--the video is an exploration of events that may be considered tragic at first but often produce blessed results. This discussion will benefit students in considering structure and the function of events on the text and main character.