Source page 1

Character Change: Independent Cover Assignment

Classroom copy · 1 October 2026

Purpose: explain how a character’s choices change over time, using an early and a later detail and separating character evidence from a change in the situation.

Materials: this four-page packet and a pencil. A highlighter or two colored pencils are optional. No physical bridge, device, or outside source is needed.

Use these steps

1. Find one of the character’s words or actions near the beginning. 2. Find one later. 3. Explain what changes in the character’s choices, thinking, or actions. 4. Separate that evidence from a change in an object, plan, or setting. 5. Name what the story does not establish.

Work independently. Read the story on page 2, use the tracker if helpful, and write your response on page 4. If a direction is unclear, reread it or ask the substitute to repeat it without suggesting an answer.

Source page 2

The Next Test

Original fictional story.

On Monday, Anika carried her folded-card bridge into the makers' room inside a notebook. She had built it from two index cards and a strip of tape. At the first school test, the center sagged under seven washers. Anika pressed the bridge flat and wrote, “Add a center support before I show anyone.” When Mr. Cho invited students to bring designs to Friday's family night, Anika said, “I'll bring mine when it can hold twenty.” She kept the notebook closed while she added another strip of tape by herself.

On Wednesday, Anika set the bridge at the end of the makers' room table. Tomas, who was building beside her, asked, “Which part bends?” Anika started to close the notebook. “I'll test it later,” she said. Tomas offered to add washers one at a time while she watched. After a pause, Anika moved the notebook aside. “Could you tell me when the center starts to dip?”

At seven washers, the middle sagged again. Anika traced the crease with one finger. She and Tomas folded a spare index card into a support and slipped it under the bridge. Their next test held ten washers; at eleven, one end dipped. Anika wrote, “Center held to ten. Check the left end.” She asked Tomas to test from that side next. The bridge still needed work, but Anika did not put it away.

On Friday, Anika placed the bridge on the family-night test table with her notebook beside it. A fourth grader asked if he could try it. “Yes. Add one washer at a time, and watch the left end,” Anika said. When the eleventh washer made that end dip, she recorded the result instead of covering the bridge. “Now I know where to start,” she said. It still could not hold twenty washers. Anika left it on the table and invited the fourth grader to help her plan another test.

Source page 3

Character change evidence tracker

Record words or actions from more than one point in “The Next Test.” Keep changes in Anika separate from changes in the bridge or setting. The tracker gives space but does not supply the answer.

Near the beginning: one action or statement by Anika

Later: one action or statement by Anika

What changes in the bridge or situation?

What changes in Anika’s choices or actions? Use both details.

One thing the story does not establish

Source page 4

Independent character-change response

Write a short paragraph explaining how Anika changes from the beginning to the end of “The Next Test.” Include (1) one early word or action, (2) at least one later word or action, (3) what changes in Anika’s choices and how this differs from a change in the bridge or setting, and (4) one thing the story does not establish. Use a quotation or precise paraphrase for each piece of evidence. Use the optional tracker if helpful.

If you finish, use a separate sheet to write a short new scene where Anika receives feedback on another design. Include two observable words or actions, then note what the scene supports and what it cannot prove about every situation.

Derived from the independent task and tracker in Explain How a Character Changes. The story is original fiction.