Phaethon Characterization

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SWBAT write an analytical paragraph identifying one significant personality trait possessed by Phaethon after reading the myth “Phaethon.”

Big Idea

Supporting a personality trait with textual evidence.


10 minutes

 Yesterday, students read the myth, “Phaethon.”  I asked students to take out the paper that they had notated how Phaethon was a dynamic character.  This had traits that he portrayed in the beginning of the myth and traits that he possessed at the end of the myth.  

Prompt:  In your small groups, each student should create a list of personality traits that Phaethon portrayed throughout the myth.  Notate the paragraph that supports these claims. You may review the text that you previously marked.

Then, individually review your information and choose one trait that you would like to write about and be able to support your opinion using at least two strong examples supported with textual evidence.



20 minutes

At the beginning of the year, students practiced paragraph writing using "Perfect Paragraph" format (see Resource).  They have this model glued in their notebooks for easy reference.

After choosing a personality trait to focus upon in their paragraph, they used the perfect paragraph format, organize their ideas as pre-writing.  They needed to explain one significant personality trait displayed by Phaethon and include textual evidence to support their reasoning.

Rough Draft, Revise, Edit

50 minutes

After organizing their thoughts about Phaethon's major character trait, students used the pre-writing information to write their Rough Draft  of their analytical paragraph, identifying a significant personality trait and supporting their opinion with textual support from the myth.

Revision then followed, using blue/black ink to indicated what was revised.  I asked students to include "textual evidence" verbs in their writing to fluently connect their thoughts and textual evidence and to also incorporate Revision Strategies previous learned in class (see Resource). Editing was then notated using red ink. 


10 minutes

Students were able to begin writing their final copy in class.  However, they need to finish it for homework.   For homework, students wrote a final copy of this paragraph in MLA format.