RL.3.3

what's this

• Verbally describing characters and related actions supports oral language development,
• vocabulary acquisition, and speaking and listening standards across grade levels.
• Organizing information, describing relationships (i.e., how traits influence behaviors and
• actions), and summarizing are active reading comprehension strategies that can be
• applied to a variety of texts and experiences across content areas. For example, those same strategies can be utilized during scientific observations and discussions of historical figures.
• Being able to visualize and summarize character traits and actions are prerequisites to and
• will support higher levels of comprehension, such as synthesizing information, making inferences, and forming opinions.
• Examining how the author directly describes characters and indirectly reveals traits through
• the characters’ actions will help students understand author’s purpose and to distinguish between relevant vs. unimportant information in a variety of texts.
• Comparing and contrasting character traits revealed by the author’s words versus character
• traits apparent in illustrations or visual representations would help students integrate and analyze literature and arts.
• Participating in character description and analysis improves student understanding of
• narratives and their structure, which helps students learn how to write their own stories.

what's this

• How does understanding story elements, such as characters, actions, and sequential events,
• support comprehension of narrative texts?
• What additional instructional support can be provided for students who struggle to attend to the
• important elements of text?
• What strategies can be used to help students describe the characters and related
• actions and events?
• How does character description and analysis contribute to the overall comprehension of
• narrative stories?

LEARNING PROGRESSION

Go to RL.2.3 to see skills mastered prior to this.