How can you tell if a character is a villain? What about a hero? Work on literary analysis with an engaging language arts worksheet. After completing an activity about the four types of conflict, learners fill out a character map about a fictional character and his or her traits.

Concepts

characters, protagonists, antagonists, conflict, external conflict, internal conflict, elements of a short story, heroes, villains, character maps

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Use in a narrative writing unit, or when analyzing characters in a short story or novel
• Have your class turn their character maps into creative stories
• Encourage small groups to come up with a unique character profile, and combine the characters in a class story with interesting plot turns and conflicts
• Lead a discussion in which your class decides whether characters in a popular movie or show are heroes or villains (bring in examples of movies in which characterization is not so black and white)

Classroom Considerations

• The example for Man versus Himself describes a teen who fights the urge to commit sins, which may require clarification or rewording by a teacher

Pros

• Encourages analytic thinking when it comes to characters, as one section prompts learners to note whether heroes can have weaknesses or villains can have positive attributes
• Versatile for any reading level, grade level, and language arts curriculum

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.3 RL.7.3 RL.8.3 RL.9-10.3 RL.11-12.3 W.6.2.a W.7.2.a W.8.2.a W.9-10.2.a W.11-12.2.a