Emotion Graph

What is an emotion graph?

An emotion graph is a line graph of a character's feelings across a story. Chapters run along the bottom, the strength of the emotion runs up the side, and a line is plotted for each emotion being tracked. It turns something children usually only gesture at — he was sad, then he was happy — into a shape they have to defend point by point.

It is a comprehension activity wearing a maths costume, and that is part of why it works: children who find talking about feelings uncomfortable will happily argue about whether a point should sit at 4 or at 7.

How do you make an emotion graph for a story?

1. Choose one emotion first. Not "emotions" — one. Fear, or hope, or loneliness. A single line is far more teachable than three.
2. Set the chapters to match how far you have actually read. A graph that runs past the reading invites guessing.
3. Plot chapter one together and make it deliberately controversial. Put it too high and let them argue you down.
4. Demand evidence for every point. The question is always the same: which line in the book puts it there?
5. Add a second emotion once the first line is complete, and look at where the two cross. Crossings are where the story turns.

What goes on each axis?

Along the bottom: time — chapters, or scenes, or events. Up the side: strength of the emotion, zero to ten. The mistake to avoid is putting different emotions on the vertical axis (sad at the bottom, happy at the top). That looks tidier and it teaches something false, because it makes emotions into opposites on one scale. A character can be frightened and excited at the same time, and two separate lines show that where one line cannot.

Which books work best for an emotion graph?

You need a story where the feeling genuinely changes and the change is caused by something. These are the ones I keep coming back to:

• Holes (Louis Sachar) — plot hope. It falls for a long time before it rises, which surprises children.
• The Boy at the Back of the Class (Onjali Q. Raúf) — plot loneliness against friendship on the same axes.
• Kensuke's Kingdom (Michael Morpurgo) — plot fear. The early chapters are a very clean line.
• Charlotte's Web (E. B. White) — for younger classes; plot worry, which is unambiguous and rises and falls repeatedly.
• The Iron Man (Ted Hughes) — plot fear, but plot the reader's fear rather than a character's. It is a great way in to how an author controls you.

What is the difference between an emotion graph and a tension graph?

An emotion graph plots what a character feels. A tension graph plots what the reader feels — how worried you are about what is coming. They often move together but not always, and the places where they come apart are the most interesting in the book: dramatic irony, where the reader's tension climbs while the character stays perfectly calm, is exactly a gap between the two lines.

With a strong Year 6 class, plotting both on the same axes and asking why they diverge is one of the best comprehension conversations available.

How do you use an emotion graph in guided reading?

Keep one graph running for the whole book and add a single point at the end of each session — it takes about four minutes. The value compounds: by chapter eight the group is not plotting a point, they are arguing about a shape, and they are doing it with the whole story in view. A blank printed graph in the front of each reading record works well for this.