Don K. Philpot is a teacher, teacher educator, and writer. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the topics of instructional methodologies, content area reading, reading and writing instruction, and children’s literature in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Philpot’s Collaborative Explorations of Character Experience: Reading Actively in Middle Grade Language Arts provides a framework for engaging in the analysis of fictional characters with middle school students (grades 6 – 8). He uses well recognized books and authors to illustrate the range of questions teachers and students may explore as they come to understand the characters. This approach makes the characters relatable as students build relationships and, most importantly, empathy with them and their situations. Students will connect their own stories to those of the characters as they come to understand people and places in deeper and more meaningful ways.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1. One Crazy Summer: One Character’s Experience BrieflyChapter 2. Character Experience Explained: Jesse Aarons in Bridge To TerabithiaChapter 3. The Lived Experiences of Gilly Hopkins in The Great Gilly HopkinsChapter 4. The Lived Experiences of Brian Robeson in HatchetChapter 5. The Lived Experiences of Lolly Rachpaul in The Stars Beneath Our FeetChapter 6. The Lived Experiences of Frannie Barnes in FeathersChapter 7. The Lived Experiences of Doug Swieteck in Okay For NowChapter 8. The Recalled Experiences of Katie Takeshima in Kira-KiraChapter 9. Classroom Explorations of Character ExperienceAppendix A-CReferencesAbout the Author

Don K. Philpot is a teacher, teacher educator, and writer. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the topics of instructional methodologies, content area reading, reading and writing instruction, and children’s literature in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Philpot’s Collaborative Explorations of Character Experience: Reading Actively in Middle Grade Language Arts provides a framework for engaging in the analysis of fictional characters with middle school students (grades 6 – 8). He uses well recognized books and authors to illustrate the range of questions teachers and students may explore as they come to understand the characters. This approach makes the characters relatable as students build relationships and, most importantly, empathy with them and their situations. Students will connect their own stories to those of the characters as they come to understand people and places in deeper and more meaningful ways.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1. One Crazy Summer: One Character’s Experience BrieflyChapter 2. Character Experience Explained: Jesse Aarons in Bridge To TerabithiaChapter 3. The Lived Experiences of Gilly Hopkins in The Great Gilly HopkinsChapter 4. The Lived Experiences of Brian Robeson in HatchetChapter 5. The Lived Experiences of Lolly Rachpaul in The Stars Beneath Our FeetChapter 6. The Lived Experiences of Frannie Barnes in FeathersChapter 7. The Lived Experiences of Doug Swieteck in Okay For NowChapter 8. The Recalled Experiences of Katie Takeshima in Kira-KiraChapter 9. Classroom Explorations of Character ExperienceAppendix A-CReferencesAbout the Author