1. Characterization Report Card
Short Story Unit

2. Inference in Short Stories
Infer – Developing your own conclusion from clues and hints of a story
Motivation – A driving force or a reason character has for doing something
In the Contents of Dead Man’s pocket, Pedestrian, Everyday Use, Two Kinds, and coming up in Lamb to Slaughter & Masque of the Red Death, we see characters struggle with different problems & conflicts. Why does Tom Benecke decide to go out on that ledge? Why does Jing-Mei not practice for her recital? Why does Mama give Maggie the quilts?
Understanding characters is understanding their motivation!

3. Characterization Report Card
From Contents of Dead Man’s Pocket, Pedestrian, Everyday Use, Two Kinds, Lamb to Slaughter, and Masque of the Red Death you will choose four characters
Tom Benecke (Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket
John Mead (Pedestrian)
Mama (Everyday Use)
Maggie (Everyday Use)
Dee (Everyday Use)
Jing Mei (Two Kinds)
Waverly (Two Kinds)
Mary (Lamb To Slaughter)
Prospero (Masque of the Red Death)

4. INFER through reading
From your reading, INFER or take hints/ evidence from the story to determine what their report card will look like
For example – Maggie from Everyday Use would probably take HOME ECONOMICS (She already knows how to make quilts). What grade you suppose she get?
Tom Benecke from Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket may take statistics why?

5. Assignment
Each of your 4 characters will have a report card with listed items
Name
Picture – Drawn or computer generated
Schedule of Classes with GRADES
Should have 4 Classes per character
Comments (Explains why they have certain grades and classes)
Citizenship (Explains character’s motivation or character analysis) Why do they do the thing they do?
Use Example on next slide as a model

6. Name:
Course
Teacher
Grade
Citizenship:
Comments:

7. Name: Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings)
Course
Teacher
Grade
Geography
Bilbo C+
Archery
Legolas D-
Metal Shop
Sauron F
Botany
Samwise B
Comments: Frodo excels in botany, seeing he has an excellent relationship with Samwise and it could be said they are best of friends when it comes to plants. In archery and metal shop Frodo does poorly. He constantly resists Sauron’s instructions and refuses to make any changes in his presence Legolas understands that Frodo is not much for instruments such as the bow and arrow but is still given the benefit of the doubt. Bilbo the mapmaker believes that Frodo has great potential and really watches over him. Frodo has used many of Bilbo’s for study and at times uses them for traveling. Frodo still sometimes gets lost with different locations and is always trying to take another route in solving a geography problem
Citizenship: Frodo seems determined to be successful despite his timid nature and how soft spoken he is. Frodo does have many friends even among teachers. Frodo is under developed for his age but it does not seem to hold him back from doing GREAT things. A model student.

8. Important! Creativity & Originality Counts In INK / Hardcopy
WRITE CLEARLY
NEEDS TO HAVE COLOR
RUBRIC – Entire Project will be Graded on:
Neatness – Overall presentation of the Report Card (5pts)
Completeness – How well you filled out all sections (10pts)
Writing – How well you communicate your reasoning (10pts)
Creativity & Originality – Did you give me some new ideas? (10pts)
DUE DATE:
September 24th! DO NOT BE LATE