Character Traits and Motivations Lesson

Character Traits

Multiple Select

Character traits are determined by the way a character...

• acts

• thinks

• moves

• says

Character traits are determined by how a character looks (physical) , acts (does), thinks, feels, what the say and things that are said about them.

To identify how a character’s actions help you identify a character trait, readers need to:

• identify what the character wants or needs (their motivation) and how the character feels.

• identify the character’s actions that happen as a result of these needs and feelings (or the action they take after that detail).

• identify the character’s traits (words to describe what a character is like on the inside). 

Multiple Choice

Daren showed up at the banquet with food stains all over his dress shirt. He sat down, put his feet on the table, and burped loudly. The other people sitting at the table looked at each other but continued eating. What character trait does Daren demonstrate?

• Tardiness

• Mean

• Rude

• Neat

Multiple Choice

When Freak and Max fish Loretta's purse out of the storm drain and return it to her, what character trait do they both embody?

• Foolishness

• Honesty

• Loyalty

• Cowardice

Multiple Choice

Caleb saw his neighbor struggling to get his lawn mower running, so Caleb went over to his neighbor’s house and filled up his lawn mower with gas. When it still wouldn’t start, Caleb lent him his lawn mower. What character trait does Caleb demonstrate?

• Intelligent

• Helpful

• Hateful

• Nervous

Multiple Choice

Diamond spent twelve hours working on her Popsicle stick White House yesterday. Today she noticed that there are bushes in front of the building, so she spent another six hours making bushes out of construction paper. What trait describes Diamond?

• Perfectionist

• Lazy

• Imaginative

• Wasteful

Open Ended

When Angela asked her mother if she could go to the party, her mother said that she could not. So Angela asked her father, who said that she could. She then played her parents off one another until she got her way. Angela enjoyed herself at the party. What trait describes Angela?

Open Ended

Jared got off the train from his small farm village. He was now in the big city. An unshaven man with a trench coat with several holes in it approached Jared and told him that he was a police officer and that he needed to see Jared's wallet. Jared did not think that the man looked like a police officer, but he didn't want to get arrested on his first day in the city, so Jared reached into the front pocket of his overalls and gave the man his wallet. The man promptly ran away leaving Jared with no money. What trait describes Jared?

Open Ended

Kathy has a big project due in two weeks. She spends the next twelve days interacting with people from her school on social networks. The night before the project is due, she rushes to complete it and gets a C- as a final grade. She was happy with the grade. What is a word that describes Kathy?

Multiple Choice

What trait describes Kevin in the following:

"We walk for miles. Way beyond the pond and the playground and the school, and for a while we’re going through this really ritzy neighborhood of big white houses and blue swimming pools. Freak keeps saying stuff like, “That’s the Castle of Avarice,” and, “Yonder lies the Bloated Moat,”"

• Crazy

• Exhausting

• Smart

• Imaginative

Open Ended

Write one character trait that describes Bud. Explain with evidence from the text.

Open Ended

Write one character trait that describes Todd . Explain with reasoning from the text.