Duration: 2 class periods of 45-50 minutes

Printable: MY Access! Lesson Plan : Character Development in A Christmas Carol

By reading how writers have analyzed Scrooge’s responses to events, students can generate their own ideas and begin evaluating their own analysis of how Scrooge responds to challenges. 

A Christmas Carol Prompts:

Middle School: The Most Influential Spirit in A Christmas Carol

In the story, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the spirits of Christmas past, present, and future on Christmas Eve.  Each spirit leads Scrooge to view one of three different times in his life in order to teach him a lesson. The spirits are determined to convince Scrooge to start being more compassionate and less miserly.  Which spirit’s message do you think had the greatest impact on Scrooge?

In a multi-paragraph essay, explain which Christmas spirit you think had the greatest influence on Scrooge.  Include details and examples from the story to support your discussion.

As you write, remember your essay will be scored based on how well you:

develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly communicates your thesis to the audience.

support your thesis with meaningful examples and references from the text, carefully citing any direct quotes.

organize your essay in a clear and logical manner, including an introduction, body, and conclusion.

use well-structured sentences and language that are appropriate for your audience.

edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English.

Use any of the tools available to you, such as the Checklist, Spellchecker, or Graphic Organizer.

High School: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

In Charles Dickens’ famous novel, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who help him realize that he is not the man he should be.  When he is invited to view his own gravestone by the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, Scrooge implores: “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.  Say it is thus with what you show me.”

What do you think Scrooge meant when he said this?  Do you think he followed his own conclusion?  Write a multi-paragraph essay in which you discuss Scrooge’s quote and how he tried to live up to it. Be sure to include specific details from the text to support your understanding.

As you write, remember your essay will be scored based on how well you:

develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly communicates your thesis to the audience.

support your thesis with meaningful examples and references from the text, carefully citing any direct quotes.

organize your essay in a clear and logical manner, including an introduction, body, and conclusion.

use well-structured sentences and language that are appropriate for your audience.

edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English.

Use any of the tools available to you, such as the Checklist, Spellchecker, or Graphic Organizer.

Day One: Note this lesson would take place after discussions of the text.

Prewriting:

1. Have students print out the MY Access Character Chart They should draw a line down the page through the center of the boxes.  On the left side, have students write their responses based on Scrooge’s character.  (10 minutes)

Student Models:

2. Print out the following body paragraphs from 3 different proficient student essays about character development in A Christmas Carol. (5 minutes for first reading)

Scrooge thinks about what will happen in the future.   He was asking the ghosts to tell him that it was true what they were showing him, because if it was not true then he wouldn’t do anything to change himself.  Scrooge was petrified at what he was seeing and he wanted to change everything.  When he saw Cratchit’s son dying he knew that he wasn’t doing anything to help so when the ghost showed him what was going to happen to the little boy he was frightened.   Scrooge started to feel terrible because of everything that he saw.  So when he saw what would become of him because he was such an awful evil man, he began to do things differently. 

The last thing Scrooge does to alter his fate is treat Bob Cratchit better. In the beginning of the story, Scrooge paid him poorly, only let him have one coal for a fire, and almost considered not giving him the day off for Christmas. Both the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come help him reconsider his ways. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows him how badly Cratchit’s thought of him.  Scrooge also sees him how sick Tiny Tim is. Then the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come tells him how saddened the family is after Tiny Tim death. This leads to the end of the story where Scrooge sends an enormous turkey to the Cratchit’s house, he gives Bob more coal and a raise, and he promises to help out with his family.

Then the Ghost of Christmas present came to him.  The ghost took him to his nephew’s house where a party was being held.  While there, the people brought up Mr. Scrooge, and talked about how evil he was. Scrooge began to realize that he needed to change as he saw all of these memories and people talking about him. 

3. Ask students to circle all words that relate to influence, cause or impact by other characters or circumstances.  (5 minutes)

4. Have students then underline all words that have to do with decision making or character changes or development.  (5 minutes)

5. As a class, discuss their responses. (10 minutes)

6. Have students go back to the Character chart and in the right column, state 1 or 2 that relate to their initial responses.  (10 minutes)

Day Two:
Drafting (& Revision)

1. Ask students to begin to draft the essay using the Character Chart. (30 Minutes) as your go around and provide feedback.  For ideas about using My Tutor feedback as the students draft, look at part 6 of the lesson plan on teaching the MY Access prompt, The Double Life of Pocahantas.

Revision:

2. With about 15 minutes left in class, ask students to go back to the sample paragraphs.  Ask students to highlight the times where the author states his or her opinion about the character’s motives and actions.  Students should use some of these words and phrases to revise their own writing as they analyze the behavior or actions of Scrooge and revise their essay.

 

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