How do you get to know someone you’ve just met?

In this lesson you will learn to develop ideas about the main

character by recording and analyzing what he does, says,

and thinks.

Let’s Review

It is time to get to know Jimmy Valentine our main character in “The Reformation of Jimmy Valentine-Safe Cracker.”

A Common Mistake

Is to look at just ONE

Word, thought or action, instead of looking at many different things a character does, says, and thinks.

Core LessonCore Lesson

A week after [Jimmy’s] release, there was a neat job of safe-burglary in Richmond, Indiana, with no clues left behind. A scant eight hundred dollars was all that was taken. Two weeks after that, …a burglar-proof safe in Logansport was cracked and fifteen hundred dollars were taken.

Action

Jimmy:• Bank robber

who leaves no clues.

What does this tell me about

Jimmy?

Core LessonCore Lesson

Jimmy:• Bank robber

who leaves no clues.• Sneaky with his

words.

What does this tell me

about Jimmy?

“Got anything going on?” asked Mike Dolan, curiously.

“Me?” said Jimmy in a pretend puzzled tone. “I don’t understand. I’m just a salesman for the New York Amalgamated Short Snap Biscuit Cracker and Frazzled Wheat Company.”

His statement delighted Mike. “Jimmy working for a cracker company!”” thought Mike. “How absurd!”

Words

Core LessonCore Lesson

Grab the information from the text1

2 Analyze the information

3 Jot down your ideas about the character.

In this lesson you have learned to develop ideas about the

main character by recording and analyzing what he does,

says, and thinks.

Guided Practice

Pulling a folding-bed out of the wall, Jimmy slid back a hidden panel and dragged out a dust-covered suitcase. He opened it and gazed fondly at the finest set of burglar’s tools in the East. It was a complete set made of specially tempered steal, the latest designs of drills and bits…with two or three novelties invented by Jimmy himself, in which he took pride. They cost him over nine hundred dollars to have made….

What does this tell me

about Jimmy?

Jimmy:• Bank robber who

leaves no clues.• Sneaky with his

words.

Guided Practice

1 Grab the information from the text

2 Analyze the information

3 Jot down your ideas about the character.

Extension Activities

Group Extension:

Working as a class or in small groups read a selected text. Then apply the three-steps to develop thoughts about the main characters based on what he or she does, says, and thinks.

Extension Activities

Individual Extension:

Using the three steps, develop and record ideas about the main character in your independent reading book, based on what he or she does, says, and thinks.

Quick QuizQuick Quiz Review the passage below. Write down a quote, an action, or a thought the character had in that section and what it tells you about him or her. I found Sherlock Holmes in his usual spot,

in the back room of his apartment. He was eating grapes and casually flipping through the channels on his television,. In those dim quarters you somehow felt the cares of the world on your shoulders…Every few minutes he’d answer the cell phone he had hanging from a lanyard around his neck. “Holmes,” he’d say, “How can I help you?” Then hem-ing and ha-ing, he’d take down some information in his black notebook. Most calls ended with a joke of some kind and Holmes’ familiar chuckle. He was a likable guy.