Using Personality Quizes to Open the Door to Great Character Studies

Have you ever asked your students to describe themselves, their friends and family, or a character in a book and get responses like "nice", "friendly", or if the character is an antagonist, words like "bully", or "mean"?

Clearly, students need to move beyond these basic descriptors, explore people and characters more deeply, and have the vocabularies to draw upon to do it. 

One fun way to introduce the idea of character studies and build vocabulary at the same time is to use personality quizes.  They can be found all over the internet and range from the very simple, to much longer and more complex so you can find one that is suitable for your student's age-group.  Err on the side of caution starting with a simple one, and then if students are interested they can explore their personalities further with longer, more involved tests.  Children seem to naturally want to learn about themselves, and I find that students eagerly complete the quizes, and spontaneously share and communicate their findings. 

The activity can go beyond just taking the quizes and developing vocabulary.  Here are some extension activities suited to a variety of age groups:

1. Make a Classroom Display.  Write the keywords in the descriptors on chart paper or large cue cards and add to a "Word Wall" or as a wall-mounted resource for students to refer to when they are writing character descriptions.  Alternatively, students can have a print out of the adjectives in their binders that they can refer to when needed.
2. Give Examples of the Behaviour.  Begin to explore the behaviours that are indicative of a particular personality trait.  If the word "co-operative" is used and students understand what that means, explore what that would "look like" (and possibly what it would not, for example being co-operative is different from being a blind follower).  Younger students may need this put into context.  For example, ask what being co-operative would look like in specific situations, such as in the lunchroom, at recess, or at a friend's house).
3. Matching Games.  Have students play matching games and see if they can match a personality trait to a descriptions of behaviours (see #2).  Add examples of your own that the students haven't come up with so that they need to think and to ensure they haven't just memorized what trait that behaviour was assigned to.  Explore when a behaviour can attributed to more than one character trait.  This excersize will help students to recognize character traits in other people and in characters in books, allowing them to write more indepth character studies and give them a leg-up when they need to justify the personality traits of a character with "evidence" from the book derived from the characters actions or what other's say about them, etc. 
4. Parts of Speech.  Have students categorize the descriptors in terms of their part of speech.  They should quickly notice a pattern!
5. Assign Personality Traits.  Now that students have the vocabulary and a clear idea of what that behaviour looks like, have students begin to identify those traits in characters in books they are reading.  Have students begin to provide examples of behaviour, justifying why a character can be attributed with that trait.  When appropriate, students may be able to begin to identify the gifts within themselves and their classmates by attributing personality traits to themselves and their peers.
6. Write Descriptions.  For an added challenge, see if students can write a description or write a mini-story about a character that is to exhibit one specific personality trait.  The catch is that they are not allowed to use that descriptor in their piece of writing.  It's kind of like the game "TABOO".  When students are finished, students can share their writing with the class and see if their classmates can identify the personality trait.  Younger students may need to have scenarios set out for them, while older students may just need a dozen or so prompters placed prominantly in the classroom to trigger ideas, such as "at a dinner party with the Queen", "while on a crowded bus", "playing a video game with friends", "while at the library", "waiting in a long line at an amusement park", and so on.
7. Get Creative with Except When:  Students may find it fun to fill out and share their endings to a series of sentence starters.  Identify a number of personality traits, and have a fill-in-the-blank form where students need to complete.  I commonly use "except when" statements using fictional characters.  For example:  "Marcy is brave except when:  ______".  You can tweak this as neeeded with "especially when" or "only when". 
8. Create a Personality Test.  Students may want to create their own personality tests as they begin to associate certain personality traits with certain colours, objects, or behaviours.  If you are going to allow students to give their classmates the test, ensure that tests are kept positive and that students understand it is just for fun.  Simple ones can even be made on paper and folded into an oragami game. 
9. Take on a Persona.  Have students imagine that they are a character in a book they are reading, or a famous person they are learning about.  Have them take a simple personality test answering the questions as they think that person would.  How accurate are the results?  Are there parts of the description that are accurate?
10. Evaluate.  Students can begin to evaluate what parts of their results from a personality test accurately reflect themselves.  Students can re-write portions of the description that don't apply. 

It's important that students are reminded that these personality tests are just for fun.  Take the necessary steps to enuser that students don't feel "labelled" in ways they don't want to be.  Also be aware that personality tests can be intimidating to some students making them feel vulnerable and exposed.  Know your students and choose and adjust the activities accordingly.

List Personality Tests:
To get you started here are some personality tests I found online.  Some can be adapted to do as a class if you print them out or hold colours and objects up for you students while you read the options for them.

A simple one using colour only, takes 5 minutes:  http://www.chinapaint.com/eng/flash/colorandme_en.swf

Do you know of a personality test?  Please write a brief description and provide a link.
Is there another way you can use Personality Tests to teach curriculum?  Please share your ideas by posting a comment below.