This lesson aims to expand students' comprehension of how literature reflects real people, conflicts, and universal themes. At the end of this lesson, students can: 
- Analyze the character development of a short story character
- Analyze how the character conflict drives the plot forward.
- Explain how the theme, plot, and characters are connected to each other

- In what ways does text interaction encourage thought and action?

- Characterization: The method an author uses to reveal characters and their various personalities. 
- Plot: The structure of a story. The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure often includes the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. The plot may have a protagonist who is opposed by an antagonist, creating what is called conflict. 
- Theme: A topic of discussion or writing; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work. 

- Alice Walker. (2003). Everyday Use. Mariner Books.
- Other examples with strong characters and interrelated themes include “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, “The Sky is Gray” by Ernest J. Gaines, and the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.
- Arthur Miller. (1977). An Enemy of the People. Penguin. 
- Charles Dickens. (2009). A Christmas Carol. CreateSpace. 
- three copies for each student of the Character Profile worksheet (L-L-7-1_Character Profile)
- computer projection of the Sample Completed Character Profile (L-L-7-1_Sample Completed Character Profile)

- During the lesson, it is important to focus on analyzing the development of characters, how their conflicts advance the plot, and the connections between the characters, plot, and theme.
- Observing the students as they complete their character profiles will help you identify those who may be struggling and provide them with additional support immediately. It will also allow teachers to redirect the attention of students, if necessary, by highlighting the importance of the story's climax and inquiring whether the theme they have chosen is closely linked to it.
- You can use the provided checklist to evaluate students' understanding.
+ The student can identify details in the narrative that demonstrate character growth.
+ Students comprehend and include details for every aspect of the character profile, such as appearance, behavior, words and thoughts, emotions, thoughts of other characters, and direct information from the narrator.
+ The student is required to complete a profile for each of the three main characters.
- When students are brainstorming ideas, feel free to intervene and help them refocus or review the material if necessary. You can ask them to change one element of a story, such as the setting, a character, or a key scene, to show how different components of the story interact with each other and how the theme is revealed through these connections.

Direct Instruction, Modeling, Active Participation, and Scaffolding 
W: Show students how character relationships progress the story, evaluate characters, and connect relationships to the theme.
H: Motivate students by demonstrating how character development can be connected to their self-image and how they are perceived by others.
E: Provide opportunities for students to explore and apply major concepts through both large and small group discussions on themes, conflicts, and character development.
R: Assist students in developing a theme by utilizing their prior understanding of character and conflict.
E: Motivate students to read and comprehend themes, plot, and characters.
T: Make the necessary modifications to the lesson to cater to the diverse interests and learning preferences of the students. For students who seem less motivated to learn about the relationships between the components, you can offer them a graphic novel. In case some students are not as proficient, you could review the elements of fiction using a story that they have previously read. On the other hand, for more proficient students, encourage them to write about the cultural significance of quilts.
O: Assist students in examining character conflicts and their impact on the story's overall theme by reading a story with well-developed characters.

Focus Question: How can character analysis help us comprehend the text more deeply? 

Describe how people's actions and words influence the options we make about them. "What might you assume if you see another student grinning at their report card? After a game, what would you assume if you saw the soccer team moving slowly?" Talk about the hints that the students used to come to these findings. Ask students to provide more instances of how they evaluate people's behavior based on their feelings and actions.

Part 1

Ask your students to think about a graphic novel, book, or short story that they found particularly memorable. You can provide a list of the characters that have been discussed with the class. Ask your students to describe the character in one sentence and then explain how they arrived at this description. Discuss their responses and write some examples on the interactive whiteboard or board. Help your students understand that most of their answers can be categorized into three categories: what the character does, says, or looks like. As they read, encourage your students to become engaged readers by having them search for clues about the growth of characters.

Review the short story's setting, characters, plot, point of view, and theme. Let the students read "Everyday Use" after that. Ask students to explain the setting and time of the story. After that, ask them to describe the narrator's house. "What do you remember about the outside?" you ask. " What about the inside?" "Consider how the story's events might differ if they took place in a different setting," you might say. Talk about the significance of the setting for a story's events. 

Give each student three copies of the Character Profile worksheet (L-L-7-1_Character Profile). Tell the class that each of the story's main characters will have a profile that they must complete to examine how the author created them. For students to follow, begin by having them write the name of a main character in the oval of the Sample Completed Character Profile (L-L-7-1_Sample Completed Character Profile). Instruct students to use the story to fill in the following sections of the organizer: the narrator's direct statements, other characters' feelings and thoughts, physical attributes, actions, and thoughts. Instruct students to search for particular details from the narrative that bolster each area of the profile.

Part 2 

Assign small groups to identify the conflicts in a story. To help the groups in identifying the conflicts, they should recall the details about the characters. It is important to note that a story can have multiple conflicts. Each group should have one student to write down the results. Explain that the primary conflict is the one that moves the story forward and leads to the climax. Students should also circle the most significant conflict that they find. If needed, remind them that the climax is the turning point of the story where the conflict is at its most intense. Lastly, explain to the students that Mama giving Maggie the quilts is the conclusion of the story.

Instruct groups to report on their themes. Write the themes down on the interactive whiteboard or board. Ask, "Do you think one theme is more significant than another? Why do you believe that?" In case students are facing trouble selecting a significant theme, remind them of the importance of the story's conclusion. Please clarify if the selected theme is related to the conclusion. Ask if the theme they have chosen is directly related to the climax.

Talk about how intricately the literary elements relate to one another. Students should consider how changing a single aspect of the story, like the point of view, might alter the meaning of the narrative.

Extension:

Ask students to work in small groups and reenact a scene from a section of a story that involves dialogue.

At the end of the story, Dee claims that Mama does not understand her background. Encourage students to write a journal entry exploring what Dee means and how Mama interprets her statement.

Show your students clips from a heavily themed movie, such as Star Wars, and discuss how the triumph of good over evil is the main theme and how it relates to the main characters' conflict.

Students should imagine themselves as two characters from different texts meeting and acting out a conversation.

Encourage students to rewrite a chapter of a book from a different character's perspective.