- Hello, virtual learners.

My name is Mrs.

Matar, and today, I'm going to be teaching you strategies to describe characters in the books that you read, in the movies that you watch, and in the shows that you watch.

But before I do that, I wanted to tell you a little bit about me.

So I'm gonna start with hobbies because one of them is sitting right here on my lap.

This is Harry, okay?

And sometimes, he can be a real character.

So one of my hobbies is hanging out with my kitty who you're gonna see from time to time either on my lap or running up and down the stairs behind me.

Another one of my hobbies is finding time outside in nature.

Right now is a really nice time to do that because the weather is warming up.

See?

There he goes up the stairs.

(laughs) And of course, I love to read books, okay?

My favorite food is pizza.

And my favorite color is purple, okay?

So as you know that I'm a teacher, okay?

And I teach reading and writing.

And my favorite part about being a teacher is watching my students develop a love for reading, okay?

I love watching them read books.

And watching light bulbs go off when they make connections to the characters that they're reading about is my favorite thing in the whole wide world.

Right now, I'm a teacher in Glen Ridge, okay?

So let's talk a little bit about reading, okay?

Like I said, we're going to be talking about describing a character, and I'm gonna give you a really cool strategy to do that.

It's called the FAST Characterization method.

But before I do that, first we're gonna talk a little bit about what is describing a character, then I'm gonna teach you the FAST Characterization method.

After that, we're gonna work on "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland," the book.

I'm gonna read you a small passage, and we're gonna practice the FAST Characterization method.

Then I'm going to read you another book called "The Invisible Boy."

And we're going to use the FAST Characterization to describe two of those characters as well.

So that's our agenda for today.

Let's get started.

So before we start talking about "Alice in Wonderland," I thought that it would be a good idea to talk about describing a character and what that really means, so let's break it apart.

What do you think it means to describe something?

So if you're describing something, you're saying how someone or something looks, feels, sounds, or behaves, okay?

What about a character?

What's a character?

So a character is a person, an animal, or a pretend being that we see in a story, okay?

So when I say story, I mean a book, or a movie, or a TV show, okay?

Those are all stories, too.

So before we talk about describing words, we need to review something called parts of speech, okay?

So I know that you've heard of that before.

So we're gonna talk about three types, okay?

So I'm going to review quickly what a noun is, what a verb is, and what an adjective is.

And the adjective is the most important for today, okay?

So let's talk about it.

So a noun is a person, a place, or a thing.

So an example of a noun would be you or I. I would be a noun, you would be a noun, okay?

Your trusted adult that you live with, they would be a noun, okay?

An aunt, an uncle, a sister, a brother, they're nouns.

Places, so school would be a noun, home would be a noun, the playground would be a noun, the park would be a noun.

And things, maybe your favorite toy or your favorite video game, that's a noun.

The couch or the chair that you're sitting on right now, that would be a noun.

The pencil, or marker, or crayon that you're holding right now, that's a noun, okay, because it's a thing.

Let's talk about verbs now.

So verbs are action words.

And when I say action, some examples of verbs would be talking, jumping, running, swinging, playing, watching.

Those are all verbs.

And finally, I highlighted it because it's super important, adjectives are describing words.

And we learned that if we describe something, we're saying how someone or something looks, feels, sounds, or behaves, okay?

So let's talk about some describing words, and I have some examples for you.

So some of you might be athletic.

You might be doing a lot of running around outside right now since we have so much free time, okay?

You could be excited.

This would be a good example for me because I'm so excited to be teaching you this lesson right now, okay?

Sometimes we might like the way a person or a character in a book looks.

For instance, usually, a princess in a story is very pretty.

And the prince might be handsome.

This is an adjective or a describing word that describes all of you.

You're all very smart.

It doesn't wanna stick.

There we go, you're all very smart, okay?

And lastly, loving.

Your trusted adult might be loving, okay?

So these are all examples of describing words.

And as I said, we can use these words to describe characters in a book.

But we can also use these words to describe you, me, or trusted adults that we might live with.

Like I said, trusted adults that we live with are loving, right?

They provide us with food, and clothing, and a TV so you can watch me teach you lessons, okay?

But before we describe our trusted adults, I want you to describe you, okay?

So we're gonna use this sentence frame to do it.

I am blank because blank.

Because when we describe characters, we wanna do it in a full sentence.

So we're gonna practice describing ourselves before we start describing a character.

So let me give you an example.

So an example for me is I am curious because I like to ask questions and learn new things.

Think about how you can describe you and feel free to use some of the words I already gave you.

Those are some great examples of how to describe you, okay?

Now let's talk about describing some people that we might know, okay?

So we're gonna use this sentence then.

He or she is blank because blank, okay?

So as I mentioned, you can describe your loving adult in your house, okay, the person that takes care of you.

You can describe your siblings, your sister and your brothers, your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, maybe your friends that you haven't seen in a while, okay?

So let me give you examples.

I'm gonna give you two because I have two sisters.

And if I describe one without the other, they're gonna get really mad at me.

So I'll describe my middle sister first.

She's a little bit older than me.

And her name is Elizabeth.

So I'm going to say that she is very funny because she tells the best jokes, okay?

And now I'm gonna describe my oldest sister.

Her name is Amy.

And I'm going to say that she is loving because she gives the best hugs.

How can you describe somebody that you know?

Those are all great descriptions.

Great, so I think that we're ready to learn our strategy for describing characters, okay?

So the strategy that I'm going to teach you today is called FAST Characterization, okay?

So you're gonna notice that the word FAST, all the letters are capital letters, and they're that way for a reason.

Because each letter in the word stands for a way that we can describe characters, okay?

So I'm gonna put this here, and I'm gonna show you each way, okay?

So we're gonna start with F. So F in FAST stands for feelings.

What are the character's feelings, okay?

So usually, we can tell this by what's happening in the story or the character just right out tells us how they're feeling, okay?

Feeling.

Action, okay?

So what are the character's actions?

What is the character doing in the story that you're reading or watching?

What are some of their actions?

So an example of this would be if you're watching a show or a movie about a superhero, their actions would be to save the world.

If you are watching a show or movie with a villain in it, their actions might be to ruin the main character's day, okay, because they're the villain.

They're usually a character that we don't like very much, okay?

So that's actions.

Say, so what is the character talking about, okay?

Sometimes we see what they say directly in a book, okay?

And we can tell what they say because they're in between those two things called quotation marks, okay?

So what is a character saying?

And as I said, sometimes they directly say it and sometimes it's described in the story.

And the last one is thinking.

And this is the trickiest one, but I know that you can all handle it 'cause you're all super smart.

So what is the character thinking about?

And the reason why I said this one is tricky is because sometimes we have to figure it out.

Characters don't always tell us what they're thinking.

Like do you always tell everyone what you're thinking?

Probably not, okay?

Characters are the same way.

They don't always tell us what they're thinking, okay?

Sometimes, as I said, we have to figure it out.

So it could be a little bit tricky.

So let's review this really quick.

So FAST Characterization.

So what the character is feeling, what the character is doing, what are their actions, what the character says, and what the character is think.

So the first character we're gonna describe is Alice, okay?

But before we can describe her, we're gonna read a few pages from her because some of you might not have been exposed to this book.

So I wanna make sure that you know a little bit about her before we get into it, okay?

So we're gonna describe Alice, and then we're gonna describe another character who's a rabbit, okay?

So this is what the cover of the book looks like.

And that's Alice right here, and this is a rabbit that we're gonna describe, okay?

So let's get into it.

So I'm going to read a part of the very first chapter to you, which is called "Down the Rabbit Hole."

And we're about to see why, okay?

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do.

Once or twice, she had peeked into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversation in it.

And what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or a conversation?

How do you think Alice is feeling right now?

She's sitting on the edge of a bank, which is kind of like right by where there's a body of water, a river.

And she's sitting with her sister who's reading a book, and she has nothing to do.

How do you think she's feeling right now?

Let's keep reading to see if we get a little bit more information about her.

So she was considering in her own mind as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel sleepy and bored, whether the pleasure of making a daisy chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that, nor did Alice think it was so very much out of the way to hear a rabbit say to itself, "Oh, dear, oh, dear, I shall be too late!"

Hmm, we have a talking rabbit.

When she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time, it all seemed quite natural.

But when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat pocket or a watch to take out of it.

And burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit hole under the hedge.

In another moment, down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out of it again.

The rabbit hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped down suddenly, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about how to stop herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep or she fell very slowly for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her to wonder what was going to happen next.

So Alice is falling, falling, falling, falling, falling down this rabbit hole which is very, very long.

First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything.

Then she looked at the sides of the well and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and bookshelves.

Here and there, she saw maps and pictures hung up on pegs.

She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed, and it was labeled, orange marmalade.

Orange marmalade is like jelly.

But to her great disappointment, it was empty, hmm.

And she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody underneath it, so managed to put it into the cupboard as she fell past it.

Well, thought Alice to herself, after such a fall as this, I shall think of nothing of tumbling downstairs.

How brave they'll all think of me at home.

Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house, which was very likely true.

And here is a picture of the rabbit.

So there he is with his waistcoat and his watch, and he's very worried about being late, okay?

So based off of what we've just learned about Alice in the book, okay, we know she's feeling how?

How is she feeling?

I'm going to show you this to remind you.

So she's sitting with her sister on a very hot day with nothing to do, and she's feeling so sleepy.

What usually makes you feel sleepy during the day?

If you're what?

So Alice is feeling bored.

I'm sure you all know what it's like to feel bored, especially now, okay?

So Alice is feeling bored, so she dozes off to sleep, okay?

What do you usually do once you doze off to sleep, right?

Sometimes you have really nice dreams, which is what Alice is doing right now.

So Alice begins to dream about falling down a very long rabbit hole, right?

That's where she sees the orange marmalade.

And she's falling so far down, she's thinking, hmm, whenever I'm able to get out of this hole, everyone is going to think that I am so brave, right?

And that's what Alice says.

That's our S. So Alice says, how brave they'll all think me at home because of such a fall she took in her dream, okay?

And lastly, what is Alice thinking, okay?

So Alice, I'm gonna hold this up so you can see it, she thinks that she's somewhere in the middle of the world because she falls down the rabbit hole which is so, so, so very deep.

So this is how we use the fast characterization to describe Alice, okay?

Let's get into describing the rabbit, okay?

Some of the letters erased.

Let me fix those.

So the rabbit.

So we're gonna look at how he feels, how he acts, what he says, and what he thinks, okay?

So how is the rabbit feeling?

So we know he keeps looking at his watch, and he's worried he's going to be late.

So if you're gonna be late, how do you feel?

I know when I'm going to be late for something, I feel really nervous, okay?

So we're gonna say that the rabbit is feeling nervous because he doesn't want to be late for the queen.

So if you read on in the story, there is a queen in it, which she's the villain in the story, okay?

She's the Queen of Hearts, and she's very, very mean.

So the rabbit doesn't wanna be late for a meeting with her.

So because the rabbit is nervous about being late, he keeps looking at his watch because he knows the queen is waiting for him, okay?

The rabbit says, "Oh, dear, oh, dear," because he is fearful of the consequences that the queen has in store for him.

Okay, he's really worried about what the queen is gonna do when he finally gets there.

And last, but not least, the rabbit thinks that the queen is very scary because her punishments are very harsh, and he's worried about the fact that he's gonna get punished for being late, okay?

So now, since we read a small passage and we described two characters, we're gonna read you the FAST Characterization method one more time, and then we're gonna start talking about the full story that we're gonna read called "Invisible Boy," okay?

So this is FAST Characterization, right?

In order to characterize the new characters that we're gonna meet today, we're gonna talk about how they're feeling, okay, how they're acting, what they're saying, and what they're thinking, okay?

So let's get into "The Invisible Boy."

So before we read a full story, like when we just read "Alice in Wonderland," I stopped and then explained some of the words to you that you might not know, but now that we're gonna read a longer story, I want to just introduce you to some words that we might encounter that you might not get used to.

And I like to call these words power words, okay?

So they're usually the longer words that we see in books that maybe you haven't heard of before, okay?

So some of the power words that we're gonna encounter in "Invisible Boy," okay.

The first one is invisible, okay?

So invisible means something that you can't see.

And I put a picture of a magician there.

And I put pictures next to all of the words because this really helps me learn what words mean that I don't know.

If I put a picture next to them, if I look up what the word means and then find a picture to associate it with, it helps me learn the word, okay?

So I'm gonna do that for you guys, and hopefully, it helps you learn these words.

So invisible means something that you can't see.

And I put the picture of a magician there because when I think of a magician, I think of maybe he can make a rabbit invisible, and then he pulls it out of a hat, right?

I automatically think of a magician when I think of the word invisible.

The next word is whine, okay?

So to cry and complain.

Usually, smaller children do this.

I'm sure I did it when I was little, and I'm sure that you did it when you were little, okay?

And that's usually what somebody looks like when they're whining, okay?

The next word is introduce.

So in the beginning of our lesson, I introduced myself.

I said, "Hi, my name is Mrs.

Matar," okay?

So when you introduce yourself, you're saying hi to someone new.

Usually, you say, hi, my name is, okay, because they don't know your name, and people need to know how to address you.

And then the last word is imagination.

And I'm sure that all of you have huge imaginations, right?

So imagination is a part of your brain that helps you come up with new ideas, okay?

And the picture that I use was somebody thinking, and then that light bulb goes off, whoop.

And there's your idea, okay?

So you can draw about it or write about it.

That's imagination.

So now that you know these words, we're gonna get into our read-aloud for "Invisible Boy."

Let's get started.

"The Invisible Boy," by Trudy Ludwig.

Illustrated by Patrice Barton.

Can you see Brian, the invisible boy?

Even Mrs.

Carlotti has trouble noticing him in her classroom.

She's too busy dealing with Nathan and Sophie.

Nathan has a problem with what Mrs.

Carlotti calls volume control.

He uses his outside voice inside too much.

Can you think of a way to describe Nathan?

Nathan can be described as noisy because he uses his outside voice inside.

Sophie whines, there's a power word.

Sophie whines and complains when she doesn't get her way.

How can you describe Sophie?

Sophie is upset because she's not getting her way.

Nathan and Sophie take up a lot of space and Brian doesn't.

When the bell rings for recess, Micah and JT take turns choosing kids for their kickball teams.

The best players get picked first, then the best friends of the best players, then the friends of the best friends.

Only Brian is left, still waiting and still hoping.

JT glances in Brian's direction and just as quickly looks away.

"We've got enough players for each team," he tells the others.

"Let's play ball."

In the cafeteria, Madison and her friends talk about her birthday party.

"The rope swing over the pool was awesome," says JT.

"Yeah, so was the water slide," says Fiona.

"That was the best pool party ever."

"I'm so glad you guys had fun," says Madison.

Everybody did except Brian.

He wasn't invited.

At choosing time, while the other kids played board games and read, Brian sits at his table doing what he loves to do best, he draws fire-breathing dragons scaling up tall buildings.

"Thank you for toasting my marshmallows."

Greedy pirates digging for treasure.

"Crackers?

"Arrgh."

Space aliens locked in intergalactic battles and superheroes with the power to make friends wherever they go.

I bet Brian wants to have that superpower.

On Monday morning, Mrs.

Carlotti introduces Justin.

Power word, introduce.

Justin, a new student in the class.

Brian smiles shyly at him.

Some of the other kids sneak looks at Justin, trying to figure out if he's cool enough to be their friend.

They haven't quite made up their mind yet.

At lunchtime, Madison and JT watch Justin eat with chopsticks.

"What is that," asked Madison as she points at Justin's food.

"It's bulgogi."

"Bul what?"

"Bulgogi, it's Korean barbecued beef.

"My grandma made it for me.

"It's really good.

"You wanna try some?"

"There's no way I'd eat booger-gi" And the kids laugh.

All of them, that is, except Brian.

He sits there wondering which is worse, being laughed at or feeling invisible.

Huh, poor Brian.

The next day, when Justin goes to his cubby to put away his backpack, he notices a piece of paper with his name on it.

"Justin, I thought the bulgogi looked good.

"Brian.

"Yum."

At morning recess, Brian finds a piece of chalk on the ground and starts drawing away.

"You're Brian, right?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for the note."

"Hey, Justin," Emilio calls out from the tetherball court, "You're up next."

"Sorry, I gotta go," says Justin.

"By the way, that's a really cool drawing," he adds before taking off.

Back in class, Mrs.

Carlotti asks the kids to team up in twos or threes for special projects.

The kids scurry around the room to pair off.

Brian heads towards Justin.

"I'm already with Justin," says Emilio.

"Find someone else."

Brian looks at the floor, wishing he can draw a hole right there to swallow him up.

"Mrs.

Carlotti said that we can have up "to three people in our group.

"We're only two.

"Come on, Emilio, let him work with us."

"Okay, I guess."

Mrs.

Carlotti gives the class directions for the project.

"Your assignment is to work together to write a story "about what you see in the photograph.

"Use your imagination."

Ah, power word, imagination.

"Use your imagination and have fun."

We already know that Brian has a great imagination because he loves to draw.

"Whoa, cool," says Emilio "What kind of people do you think "would live in a house like that?"

"I don't know, but I bet Brian could draw them "to go with our story," says Justin.

Brian smiled as he takes out his lucky pen.

Looks like they had a lot of fun with this project.

It's lunchtime again, Brian's least favorite part of the day, another 20 long minutes of kids talking and laughing with everyone else but him.

"Brian," he hears someone about.

"Hey, Brian, over here!"

Brian turns and sees Justin waving him over.

Emilio nods, "Hi, Brian," and makes room for him at the table.

"Cookie?"

"Thanks."

(chuckles) Maybe Brian isn't invisible after all.

So what did you think about "The Invisible Boy"?

What was your favorite part?

My favorite part was when Brian realizes that he's really not invisible.

So we're gonna use the FAST Characterization method to describe both Brian and Justin.

And we're gonna start with Brian, okay?

But before we start, I just wanna go through the FAST Characterization method with you.

So this is the FAST Characterization method.

And we're gonna talk about how Brian is feeling, what are some of his actions, what does Brian say, and what is Brian thinking, okay?

So let's take a look.

So for Brian, I gave you how he's feeling, how he's acting, what he says, and what he's thinking.

So together, we're gonna figure out why he's feeling this way, and we're gonna talk a little bit about the story, okay?

So for feeling, I said, Brian is feeling invisible because... Why was Brian feeling invisible in this story?

Can you give me some examples from the story?

Why did he feel so invisible?

I'll give you about a minute to think about it.

What do you think?

Think about the story, think of some examples.

So Brian is feeling invisible because he's realizing that his classmates don't really notice that he's there.

And he doesn't have any friends.

So I'm gonna say Brian is invisible because he has a hard time making friends.

And we know that he has a hard time making friends because he doesn't get invited to Madison's birthday party, he doesn't get picked to play on sports during recess or at gym, right?

So we definitely know that he has a hard time making friends and he's feeling invisible, in the beginning of the story, anyway.

What are some of his actions, okay?

So I chose Brian loves to draw because... Why do you think Brian loves to draw?

I'm gonna give you another minute.

Think about it, think of some examples.

Why do you like to do some of the things that you do?

So Brian loves to draw because... So before we talk about Brian, I'm gonna use an example.

So I told you one of my hobbies is to spend time with my cat.

And I know when I spend time with my cat, I feel very relaxed.

And I think that maybe since Brian is so shy and he struggles so much to make friends, Brian loves to draw because it makes him feel comfortable.

Whoops.

So I'm sure some of the things that you really like to do make you feel comfortable, too.

Let's look at something that he says.

This is one of my favorites.

So Brian says, "Bulgogi looks good, yum," because... Why does he say this?

What do you think?

I'll give you about another minute.

Think about it.

Think about who was eating bulgogi, and why would he say that to them?

Also, think about the way that he said it to them.

So I'm thinking that Brian tells Justin that the bulgogi that he was eating, the Korean beef, looks good because he wants to make friends with Justin, right?

And last, but not least, let's take a peek at what Brian is thinking.

So Brian, he's thinking that he's not invisible anymore.

So think about the end of the book.

What happens in the end of the book that helps Brian think that he's not invisible anymore?

What do you think?

So I'm thinking that Brian thinks that he's not invisible because what does he make at the end of the book?

He makes friends, right?

Okay, so let's go through this quickly before we start to describe Justin, okay?

So FAST Characterization of our friend Brian.

Brian is feeling invisible because he has a hard time making friends.

Sometimes making friends is hard, right?

Brian loves to draw because it makes him feel comfortable.

Brian says bulgogi looks good because he wants to make friends with Justin.

And Brian is thinking that he's not invisible anymore because he makes friends.

So let's take a peek at Justin now.

So this time looks a little bit different.

So what you are going to do is you're gonna tell me how Justin's feeling, Justin's actions, what Justin says, and what Justin is thinking all on your own.

I know that you can do it because I know that you are super, super, super smart.

And then we're gonna talk about it, okay?

So I'm going to give you a few minutes to do this, and then we'll come back and we'll go over our answers.

So I'm gonna hold it a little bit closer so you can see it, okay?

So I said that Justin is feeling uncomfortable because he's the new kid in class.

Have any of you been the new kid in class?

It's really not the best feeling.

It's exciting but it's scary at the same time, so it might make you feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Justin's actions are he wants to make friends so he's more comfortable in school.

It's so much easier to go to school knowing that you have somebody to talk to and play with, right?

Justin says, "Your drawings are cool," to Brian because he wants to make friends with Brian.

And Justin is thinking that school will be fun with friends like Emilio and Brian.

So we're gonna do one more activity today, and we're gonna call it our Final Thought activity, okay?

In this activity, I'm gonna ask you to make a connection to one of the characters in the book.

And the reason why I'm asking you to do this is because it's really important that we make connections to characters in books, whether it's one or more than one, because when we do this, it helps us understand the story a little bit better if we can connect to them, okay?

So for our Final Thought, I'm asking you which character do you connect to most, Brian or Justin, and why?

And we're gonna do this a little bit differently this time.

So I'm going to write my response while you write your response, okay?

And then when we're both done, we're gonna share them.

So you can get started, and I'm gonna start with you.

So I'm done with my response, but I'm gonna give you one more minute to finish off yours.

You can keep working.

Okay, so I'm gonna share my response with you, but if you're still working, feel free to keep working, okay?

So let me read you my response.

So I said, "I connect to Brian most "because I was very, very shy."

So it was really, really hard for me to make friends when I was smaller, okay, in grade school.

And it makes grade school really hard when you don't have very many friends.

"Also, I was always the last one to be picked "for sports because I was not athletic" or coordinated at all.

I'm still really not athletic or coordinated.

I'm very clumsy.

So it doesn't really make you feel good even though you know you're not the best at sports.

It's nice to have friends, and it's nice to having ease with making friends.

So that's my response.

And as I said, that's the last thing that we're going to work on for today, okay?

So I had so much fun teaching you about the FAST Characterization method.

And before I go, I just wanna go over it with you really quickly just to make sure that you don't forget before I leave, okay?

So when we're talking about the FAST Characterization method, we're talking about what the character is feeling, what the character's actions are, what the character says, and what the character is thinking.

I hope that you had as much fun with me as I had with you today.

It was so much fun teaching you about the FAST Characterization method and reading stories to you.

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

And I hope that you carry this strategy with you because you can use it whenever you read a book, whenever you watch a movie, or whenever you watch a TV show.

It really helps you describe characters, and I hope you think that it helps you describe characters.

So have a great day, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye.