Experience 6.3 
Character Development: Thoughtshots

In this backstage experience, students continue the process of developing a medieval role for themselves and practice seeing through the eyes of that character, called “thoughtshots.”

Mental Joust: What are thoughtshots? What might the dragon slayer be thinking in the story, Saint George and the Dragon? What is my character thinking and what thoughtshots can I add to my medieval character’s story? How do thoughtshots help me develop my medieval character?

Time: 45 minutes

Materials: Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, pens, Book of Days, scissors and glue sticks, photocopies of character summary sheet (found in Handout Manuscripts)

Worthy Words: thoughtshot

Procedure: 

1. Ask students to jot down everything they are thinking right now. (Random thoughts are OK. It doesn’t have to be appropriate and students can throw it out after they have written it.)
2. Ask if anyone wants to share what he or she has written. Thoughtshots can be just a sentence or two in length, but reveal much about what a character is thinking and feeling. Talk about the power that writers have to reveal the thoughts of the characters they create. 
3. Read the passage that describes the dragon in Saint George and the Dragon. (Page15)
4. Read the description the second time, but this time stop at various parts, point to a student and say one of the following: You are the dragon slayer, tell me what you are thinking now. What might you be thinking at this moment if you were a famous champion dragon slayer? What might you be thinking at this point if this was the first dragon you had ever seen?
5. Discuss how thoughtshots can differ widely depending on the circumstances of the character.
6. Have students look at their stories of their medieval characters. Insert a thoughtshot or two.
7. Ask students to complete the Character Summary Sheet, cut off the right hand portion and glue it into the first half of their Book of Days.

Exhibit Connection: 
At The Children’s Museum, you can talk with real actors to find out what process they use to develop characters. Also, learn basic stage-fighting techniques. It looks real but no one gets hurt!

References & Resources: 

Cushman, Karen. The Midwife’s Appretice. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. 

Hodges, Margaret. Saint George and the Dragon. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1984.

Lane, Barry. After the End: Teaching and Learning Creative Revision. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1993.