SEMANTIC FEATURE ANALYSIS

The House on Mango Street

Purpose: The purpose of this strategy is to encourage students to identify specific qualities about each character in the novel. This activity will also invite students to be observant readers, make assumptions, and identify with the text as they recognize familiar qualities in each character. They will then compare and contrast the attributes of the characters, synthesizing their own opinions, facts from the novel, and insights from other classmates to decide upon an outcome. This strategy is to be used after completing the novel and will take 50 minutes.

STEP 1 - Modeling Place a transparency of the blank Semantic Analysis Chart on the overhead. Select a popular movie, such as Star Wars, and ask the class to name the major characters. As they offer ideas, write them on the overhead in the left column. List at least 7-8 characters. (3-4 minutes)

STEP 2 - Modeling Ask the students to volunteer characteristics of the "players" that they want to analyze. For example: good, evil, handsome, intelligent, dumb, etc. Record their adjectives in the vertical slots across the top of the chart. Have at least 10 items. (5-7 minutes)

STEP 3 - Modeling As a class work through each character and analyze which qualities describe them best. Place a (+) in the box where the attribute correctly describes the character and a (-) where it does not. Let the students debate qualities that may be questionable. If an agreement cannot be reached, place a +/- in the box while two students reference the text to "prove" their point of view.

STEP 4 After the class has completely the chart, distribute a blank chart to each student. Explain that we are going to do this exact analysis of the characters in our novel. On the board, write as the class brainstorms main characters of the novel. Have them copy the characters onto their papers. (5-7 minutes)

STEP 5 Divide the class into groups of four. Ask each group to think of 10 attributes that may describe their characters, and write them on the top. They will have 10 minutes to go through the chart and analyze each character.

STEP 6 After each group has completed their chart, choose a spokesperson from each group and ask them to share what they found. Write each new characteristic on the board (10 minutes)

STEP 7 To assess the student's understanding of the text and ability to assign attributes to familiar characters, ask each student to choose 4 characters from the chart. The students will need to choose one quality for each character and find an example from the text that illustrates this attribute (have them include the page number and a brief explanation of WHY the text supports their claim). Have them record this in their novel response journals. Weir, 2000