Zodiac Characterization

Native American Signs

The Western Signs

 What's your sign?

I've seen a lot of really fun lessons be done with the zodiac. The ones I usually see are when people use the discussion of different star signs in a conversation class 

My favorite way is to get students to compare a character to different astrological signs. Now, you can do this any zodiac system you like. The Chinese zodiac signs, the Native American zodiac signs, or the  Western zodiac signs.

I enjoy teaching this lesson with the Chinese zodiac for a couple reasons.

1. I enjoy showing students different cultures. As my students here in Mexico do not have much exposure to Asian culture

The Chinese Zodiac

2. Also, in the case of The Body we know approximately when the characters were born. That means I can lower it down to only two signs, which means there's less reading for the students to do.

What are my students actually doing?

Step 1. They get assigned a character
Step 2. They read about the Ox and the Rat sign.
Step 3. They underline the parts of the descriptions that they feel describe the character.
Step 4. They summarize the descriptions
Step 5. They decide on if he is a rat or an ox.

Normally 1-5 are done on their own. Once they've made their decision I divide the class up by characters.

Step 6. Discuss why they felt the character should be that sign. Compare thoughts with the other students who have the character. See if a consensus on what sign fits best can be reached.
Step 7. Students share their findings with the class. Listen to what other characters are different signs.
Step 8. On their own students find support from the story that matches the descriptions of the sign.
Step 9: Students write a paragraph on why their character is a certain sign.


Voila! This works GREAT at helping my students find evidence to support their arguments. This is something that students tend to struggle with and this assignment is an easy way for them to find specific examples in the text that relate to what they are arguing.

If you're interested in using a worksheet that has already been made then you can go over to TPT for this worksheet. While it was designed for use with The Body it can be used with any characters from any story.  It includes

• A description of the rat and ox personalities
• Space for students to summarize the descriptions
• A graphic organizer to help students sort through their evidence
• Space for them to write a paragraph
• A sample worksheet completed using examples from The Body

Until June 1st I am having it on sale for only $1.00! On June 2nd it will go back to being $1.50.