To teach characterization effectively, teachers must first decide upon a literary character which is suitable for their class, and then select appropriate passages from the books in question which highlight that character's main attributes. Compile these passages on a worksheet and go through it with your class, line by line, highlighting words which shed a ray of light onto that character's personality. Some authors are more useful in this regard than others. For older students, consider analysing the first few pages of "Moby Dick." For younger students, use broader characters like Mr. Dursley from "Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone."
Once you have worked through the excerpts with your students and have highlighted some passages which successfully illuminate the characters you have chosen to study, draw up a list of broad character archetypes (pirate, assassin, dictator, adventurer, princess, supermodel) and characteristics (meanness, immaturity, bravery, stupidity, cleverness) on your class board or projector and ask your students to write a brief biography of such a character. This will encourage them to put the techniques you have covered into practice.
Give your students examples of famous similes from literature and ask them to interpret their meaning. For example, you could use "I wandered lonely as a cloud" from Wordsworth's "Daffodils" or "Jimmy Smith was moving through the room like an enormous trained mole collecting the empty cans" from "Suttree" by Cormac McCarthy.
Present these similes in isolation and discuss with them all the possible meanings which could be drawn from these similes. Ensure that students are aware that there are no unambiguously correct answers, and that different similes can mean different things to different people. Then present them with a list of objects and ask them to create similes for each. Examples include a broken window, a starry sky or a frozen lake.
Metaphors work in a similar way to similes but are typically held to be more powerful and dramatic. The study of metaphors is essentially quite similar to the study of similes. Consequently, a large part of your focus as an educator is ensuring that your students are aware of the difference between the two. A useful exercise is to compile a jumbled list of similes and metaphors and ask your students to label them "M" and "S" appropriately. For more advanced classes, you can present a list of metaphors, such as "all the world's a stage," and ask them to convert them to similes; in this case, "the world is like a theater stage," or vice versa.
An interesting topic for debate is "Which is more evocative, the metaphor or the simile?" You may find that your class is divided on this issue. Some will feel that metaphors, being more direct, are more powerful. However, others may feel that metaphors are too melodramatic and counterintuitively detract from the force of a description. As with many literary debates, there is no correct answer to this question. The aim is to ingrain into your students an awareness of the power of both devices and the importance of only using them appropriately.
Foreshadowing is a powerful literary technique which often gets overlooked in the teaching of prose and fiction devices. Foreshadowing is the use of suggestion by an author to hint to his readers at plot developments which may come later in a story. A well known example is that of "Chekhov's Gun." In Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," it is casually mentioned that the room contains a loaded pistol. The pistol does not play a part in the story until near the end, yet its inclusion at the beginning hints at violence to come. The "Chekhov's Gun" principle is now a general term for all kinds of foreshadowing.
Useful examples of foreshadowing to study with your class include the first scene of "Macbeth," in which three witches, amid thunder and lightning, decide to meet Macbeth after a battle, and the prophecy in the story of Oedipus.