English Language Arts9-12+
Characterizing Bruce Lee with STEAL Charts
By Colleen D.
A heavily scaffolded reading activity for high school English learners at WIDA level 1.5, using the story "Be Water, My Friend." Students build a STEAL chart to track Bruce Lee's traits and then use that evidence to write a claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) paragraph, building characterization and academic writing skills.
Customize for your classroom
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as a multi-day ELA lesson: preview the key words (martial arts, master, yielding, gentle, water) with visuals and sentence frames, then read the story aloud or in pairs before students fill in the STEAL chart (Speech, Thoughts, Effort, Actions, Looks).
- Discussion question: How did Bruce change from a hot-tempered boy to a calm master, and what evidence in the text shows this change?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: provide a partially completed STEAL chart with one example per column and CER sentence starters such as "Bruce Lee is ___ because the text says ___. This shows ___."
- Extension for advanced students: ask them to compare Bruce's traits with those of a character from another text and explain how the writer reveals character differently.
- Estimated time: about 45 minutes for the reading and STEAL chart, plus 30 minutes for drafting and revising the CER paragraph.
English Language Arts9-12+
Characterizing Bruce Lee with STEAL Charts
By Colleen D.
A heavily scaffolded reading activity for high school English learners at WIDA level 1.5, using the story "Be Water, My Friend." Students build a STEAL chart to track Bruce Lee's traits and then use that evidence to write a claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) paragraph, building characterization and academic writing skills.
Customize for your classroom
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as a multi-day ELA lesson: preview the key words (martial arts, master, yielding, gentle, water) with visuals and sentence frames, then read the story aloud or in pairs before students fill in the STEAL chart (Speech, Thoughts, Effort, Actions, Looks).
- Discussion question: How did Bruce change from a hot-tempered boy to a calm master, and what evidence in the text shows this change?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: provide a partially completed STEAL chart with one example per column and CER sentence starters such as "Bruce Lee is ___ because the text says ___. This shows ___."
- Extension for advanced students: ask them to compare Bruce's traits with those of a character from another text and explain how the writer reveals character differently.
- Estimated time: about 45 minutes for the reading and STEAL chart, plus 30 minutes for drafting and revising the CER paragraph.