Lesson video

Hi there.

My name is Mr. Charlesworth and in today's reading lesson, we're going to be developing our reading preferences through an appreciation of characters.

During the lesson, we're also going to be exploring humorous texts, so that's texts that make you laugh all the way from a chuckle through to laughing out loud.

I wonder, do you have a favourite funny text? I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

Let's begin the lesson.

Today's lesson outcome is I can explore a range of characters and texts, articulating what makes them effective.

The keywords are my turn, your turn.

Protagonist, character traits, hero, anti-hero.

A protagonist is a main character or central figure in a story or narrative.

Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.

A hero is a protagonist with noble qualities, often saving or helping others.

An anti-hero is a flawed protagonist, often with ambiguous morals.

Don't worry if you're unsure of any of the definitions.

We'll be exploring these throughout the lesson.

Today's lesson is all about developing reading preferences through appreciation of characters.

First, we're going to explore reading for pleasure through humorous texts.

Then we're going to move on to explore heroes and anti-heroes.

I wonder if one of your favourite characters fits into the category of hero or anti-hero.

We'll be exploring these categories later.

Let's start with exploring reading for pleasure through humorous texts.

Humorous texts are texts that make readers laugh just like the example below, "The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates.

These type of texts can contain relatable characters, word play, puns, and witty language.

A pun is a play on words.

They usually have a positive affirming plot.

That means that not only do you have points where you can laugh out loud, there's also points that make you feel through empathy.

And finally, they allow you to build connections from the characters in the text to yourself.

Humorous text can be in a range of forms and genres such as poetry with "Yapping Away" poems to fill the world with laughter.

In this poetry collection, you'll find poems about the eight different stages of having a successful tantrum, as well as why should never attend a Teddy Bear's picnic.

Humorous texts are also found in the form of picture books such as, "I Want My Hat Back." This is a gloriously, sarcastic, and witty picture book for both younger and older readers alike.

Humorous texts can also take the form of graphic novels such as "Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter." This is a really clever piggy take on the horror classic.

And finally, humorous texts can take the form of nonfiction with, "So You Think You've Got It Bad?" "A kid's Life in the Aztec Age." This text is really well researched and includes some fantastic facts that I know will bring smiles to lots of readers.

This ranges from being jabbed by cactus spikes all the way through to eating maggots, yuck.

I wonder, do you have a favourite text that makes you laugh? Pause the video now and tell your partner.

Here's our first check for understanding.

Based on what we've just learned, humorous texts usually contain A, a positive affirming plot.

B, unrelatable characters.

C, a sad, upsetting plot.

Or D, relatable characters.

There may be more than one choice here.

Think carefully.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Fantastic work.

It's a positive affirming plot and relatable characters.

Humorous texts don't tend to include unrelatable characters.

Authors and illustrators want you to connect with the characters rather than not relate to them at all.

Humorous texts don't tend to include a sad or upsetting plot.

They tend to keep things quite upbeat and optimistic.

Humorous texts usually have a protagonist who readers can relate to.

They have character traits that might be shared with the reader.

While Donald's spotting two of our keywords, we've got the protagonist, the main character whose eyes we see the narrative through, as well as character traits, those unique aspects of the character that make them who they are.

Let's have a look at an example.

In this text, "The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh", Billy Plimpton is the protagonist of the text.

He is about to start secondary school.

He has a stammer and is determined to not let it dictate how he's seen by others at school.

While done on noticing that character trait determined, Billy has dreams of being a standup comedian, however, he hates public speaking.

Billy is very personable and uses humour to make his family, friends and readers laugh.

Great spot.

You saw the other character trait, personable.

If you're personable, it means you're quite likeable that people will relate to you.

Now, I'd like you to name some benefits of reading humorous texts.

Have a think back to what we've just learned.

Pause the video now and note down a few examples.

Great work.

Let's have a look at some examples.

Jun says, "Humorous texts have characters that I can relate to.

I know lots of friends like the characters in Freddie Yates." And Sam says, "In a funny text, I know there will usually be a positive ending.

This puts me at ease when reading." I wonder if any of your benefits match Jun and Sam's.

In this first task, I'd like you to write about your favourite protagonist in a humorous text.

You can include information about the character traits and what makes them appealing.

You could also include examples of their actions, thoughts, words, and how they handle challenges.

Perhaps you'd like to share some ideas with a talk partner before you begin writing.

Pause the video now whilst you go off and write.

Great ideas, I hope you enjoyed writing about your favourite character in a humorous text.

Let's have a look at a few examples.

Jacob says, "I love 'Dennis the Menace.

' He gets up to so much hilarious mischief and always manages to get out of trouble!" Lots of you might know, but Dennis the Menace is the protagonist in the beano.

That's a comic that comes out weekly.

Lucas says, "I'm the character in the text.

I really enjoy learning fascinating, yet gross, facts about my body." Lucas's suggestion is a nonfiction example of a humorous text.

You can see from the funk cover of "Kay's Anatomy" that it's all about the body and some of the completely disgusting things that it's capable of doing.

I wonder, did you hear about friend's favourite character from a humorous text? Chat with your partner if you haven't already.

In the next part of the lesson, we'll be exploring heroes and anti-heroes.

Well done for noticing that these are two of our keywords.

We'll be exploring them in more depth now.

In the text that we read, we can encounter heroes and anti-heroes.

A hero will usually have noble character traits.

They will try to do the right moral thing in situations they find themselves in.

An anti-hero is neither purely good nor purely evil.

Anti-heroes can teach readers how characters change and grow as you read a narrative.

They're not villains.

They have flawed characteristics.

Heroes and anti-heroes can provide readers with a range of perspectives from which to read from.

Well remembered, a perspective is another way of saying a character's point of view.

There are lots of different examples of texts with hero and anti-hero protagonists.

Let's have a look at some examples.

We have "Arthur and the Golden Rope", "Agent Zaiba Investigates: The Missing Diamonds", "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck", and Pippi Longstocking".

I wonder, can you tell whether a character is a hero or anti-hero from their front cover? It looks like Arthur and Agent Zaiba are both the heroes in their narrative.

Arthur is depicted with a menacing creature behind him, yet he seems to be quite brave standing there with a flame to light his way and Agent Zaiba seems to be running down the stairs with determination.

She's leading the other two people behind her hoping to solve a mystery.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Pippi Longstocking are great examples of anti-heroes.

These are characters with some flawed character traits.

That means there's some negative aspects about them, but we can't help but relate to and like them.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Match the keywords to their definitions.

We have protagonist, hero and anti-hero and the definitions, a flawed character, neither purely good nor purely evil.

A main character or central figure in a story or narrative, and a character with noble qualities, often saving or helping others.

Have a think about each of these definitions and which keyword they match to.

Pause the video now whilst you complete.

Well done.

A protagonist is a main character or central figure in a story or narrative.

A hero is a character with noble qualities, often saving or helping others.

That means an anti-hero is a flawed character, neither purely good nor purely evil.

Readers can identify a character's traits by paying attention to how the character acts, thinks and speaks in a story.

By noting a character's actions, thoughts, words, and how they handle challenges, we can figure out their intentions and work out whether they fit into the roles of a hero, anti-hero, or possibly a mix of both.

It is possible for a protagonist to not fit into these roles at all.

An example of this is, "The Legend of Podkin One-Ear." I won't spoil too much of the plot, but the character starts as a bit of an anti-hero, a flawed protagonist, someone that we don't really relate to, but then gradually warms as the narrative progresses.

Heroic character traits might include courage, selflessness, honesty and compassion that's caring for others.

It might also include integrity that standing tall and being proud of yourself, determination and leadership.

Anti-heroic character traits might include, being selfish, distrustful, unkind, rude, conflicted.

That means to have mixed emotions, stubborn or fiercely independent, doing what you want to do at the sake of everyone else.

It's important to remember that an anti-hero can have a mix of both positive and negative traits.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Which of the following are examples of heroic character traits? A, running away when someone is in danger.

B, confronting a bully.

C, protecting someone from harm.

D, wanting a reward for kindness.

There might be more than one example.

Pause the video whilst you decide.

Great work.

There were two examples.

B, confronting a bully, and C, protecting someone from harm.

If someone is demonstrating heroic character traits, they wouldn't run away from someone who's in danger.

They would stay or try to help.

Wanting a reward for kindness is quite a selfish and greedy character trait.

It's not one we'd expect of a hero.

When reading a text and exploring characters we can track a character's traits in an emotions graph.

Here's an example, on the left hand side, you'll see both positive, neutral and negative emotions, and then the graph stretches along showing the passing of time within a text.

Positive traits go above the centre line, negative traits below.

A short comment to describe the character's actions, thoughts and words can be added.

Well done for remembering that that's how we can identify a character's traits.

Let's have a look at an example that we've seen earlier of, "The Legend of Podkin One-Ear." At the start of the text, Podkin is lazy and entitled.

He's described arguing with his sister.

As the plot progresses, Podkin feels nervous and uneasy being so close to Grimheart Forest.

At the end of the text, without too many spoilers, Podkin defeats the enemy and rescues his family.

You can see from the beginning, middle, and end of the text how a character's traits can change.

In our final check for understanding, I'd like you to consider is this character a hero, anti-hero, or both? Have a look at the graph again.

Does Podkin embody heroic, anti-heroic or a mixture of both character traits? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Great work, Podkin demonstrates both heroic and anti-heroic character traits.

I wonder if your favourite character is similar.

In this task, we're going to create our own emotions graph for a protagonist from a text that you enjoy reading.

Remember to note down their actions, thoughts, and words that'll help you identify the character traits of the protagonist.

You'll need to plot the different points using the positive, neutral, and negative emotions, and as the text progresses, you can put down a few points to show how the character develops from the beginning to the middle, to the end of the text.

I wonder, will your character be heroic, anti-heroic, a mixture of the both or none at all.

Pause the video whilst you complete.

Fantastic work.

We're now going to reflect on our emotions graph.

Does your character exhibit traits that are heroic, these are some of the heroic character traits that we looked at earlier, or perhaps your character exhibits character traits that are anti-heroic.

Here are some of the anti-heroic character traits.

I wonder, would you describe your character as the hero or anti-hero of the text? Perhaps you find that your character doesn't fit into either category or maybe they exhibit a mixture of both.

If you've got time, perhaps share your emotions graph with your talk partner.

In today's lesson, we've been developing reading preferences through appreciation of characters.

We've learned that humorous texts can be in a range of forms and genres.

They usually have a protagonist who readers can relate to.

We've understood that a hero will usually have noble character traits.

They will try to do the right moral thing in situations they find themselves in.

An anti-hero is neither purely good nor purely evil.

They can have a mix of positive and negative character traits.

And finally, we've discover that an emotions graph can allow readers to track a character's traits throughout a narrative.

I've really enjoyed exploring a range of different characters with you.

I hope you have enjoyed it too.

Well done for all your hard work.

See you soon.