Creating a Phone Case for a Character in an ELA Novel Study

 

Are you looking for a fun character analysis activity for your ELA book study? We're excited to share one of our favorite projects: a character phone case design activity. We love this project because it comes with clear directions for students that allow them to work independently at their own pace. Middle and high school students have a blast drawing designs while making connections to the text. 

Here's how to use this character analysis activity:

Download the printable graphic organizer from Creating2Learn's TPT shop

This 8.5 x 11 in PDF file can be printed in black and white. The template is ready to print-and-go, making it extremely easy to incorporate into your lesson plan. If you have a substitute teacher or simply need a 30-minute time filler, this activity works perfectly! 

Ask students to pick an interesting character from the book

In order to make this project more interesting and to encourage independent thinking, consider having each student analyze a different character. Here are a few ways to distribute characters evenly:

- Write character names on folded slips of paper and have students draw the names

- Write character names on a whiteboard and have students take turns writing their initials by the name of the character they want to analyze 

- Use an online random generator tool to delegate characters 

Teach a mini lesson about analyzing characters 

Help students think more critically about characters in the book by discussing the following elements:

- character traits

- character motivations

- character development 

- roles in the story and contributions to the plot

- character connections to themes in the book

- character types (ex. protagonist vs. antagonist)

Ask students to share about their own phone covers and what the covers express about their identities 

If you have a no-phone policy in your ELA class, this project might be a worthwhile reason to let students break the rule for a day. Students love sharing their personal phone cases and talking about why they picked them.

Here are some questions you can use to guide the discussion:

- What type of materials are used for your phone case? Would these materials protect your phone if you dropped it on the ground? What does this show about you? (This question can reveal how concerned students feel about protecting their possessions.) 

- What colors are on your phone case? What do these colors show about you?

- What images or symbols are in your cover design? Why are these important to you?

Give students time to design a phone case for a book character and write about their creative choices

We recommend setting aside about 30-minutes for this activity. Students will need time to illustrate the design before writing responses to questions about their creative choices and why their design represents a character from the book.

Once students are done, it can be fun to hang up their artwork on a bulletin board. Students love seeing what their peers have created, and the worksheets can serve as wall aids that reinforce key details in the book. 

Interested in learning more about this character analysis project? Head over to Creating2Learn's TPT shop to find out how you can use this activity with your students!