Says
Who?
A
Lesson in Point of View
Lauren
Johnson
Objectives: Seventh Grade
North Carolina State Standards:
Competency Goal 4 - The learner will
refine critical thinking skills and create criteria to evaluate text and
multimedia.
����� 4.03
- considering and presenting alternative points of view or reasons
Competency Goal 5 - The learner will
respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.
����� 5.01
- analyzing the effects of such elements as plot, theme, point of view,
characterization, mood, and style.
NCTE/IRA Standards:
Standard 11:
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical
members of a variety of literacy communities.
Purpose:
In this lesson, students will learn how
important point of view is while reading various types of genres. The point of
view the author chooses to write in makes a huge impact on the reader. Students
will learn that authors may choose to write in a particular point of view to
convey a specific message or to persuade the reader to believe a certain way
about a character or event. In this mini lesson, students will explore at least
two points of view while reading familiar stories (picture books). The book, The
True Story of the Three Little Pigs, will be read to the students. This
book is from the point of view of the wolf from the original story The Three
Little Pigs. This book clearly shows the importance of point of view in a
story as it shows the impact it has on a reader�s interpretation and feeling
about the story afterwards. Students are then instructed to write their own points
of view from other familiar stories. This activity engages students in a
creative writing process and allows them to experience, first hand, the
importance of how point of view affects readers.
Materials:
The book The True Story of the Three
Little Pigs (or a similar spin-off of familiar stories or fairy tales,
anything told from an atypical point of view)
Other familiar story books or fairy tales
(Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears, etc.)
Time Needed:
35-45 minutes
Script:
Today students, we are going to take a
look at point of view and its importance. First, who can define point of
view for me? (Allow students to answer and make suggestions). Tell students
that point of view is the narrarator�s interpretation in a sense. Let�s say
there was an unfortunate fight in the gym this morning. Now depending on who
you ask, you may get two opposing explanations of what really happened. When we
refer to point of view in writing, this means that there can be as many
different versions of the story as there are people in it. That�s what makes
selecting who tells a story one of the most important decisions an author can
make. Why do you think this is true?� (Allow
students to respond).� Essentially, the
point of view the story (or news article, magazine article, etc.) is told in,
can either be taken as fact or opinion, but overall, point of view can totally
affect how we as readers respond to the story. Just as if there was a fight in
the gym this morning, I bet you would want to hear both sides of the story so
that you could make your own decision as to which point of view to believe. The
same goes for books or news articles we read. Whatever point of view they are
written in will affect how we as readers feel about the characters or events
involved. (Introduce book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and
read aloud to students, reminding them or perhaps reading the original story of
the three little pigs beforehand). Now, after reading this book, we can see
that the wolf obviously has a much different story than the little pigs do. The
point of view this book is written in is different. How does it make you
feel towards the wolf? Towards the three little pigs?
Now it�s your turn. I am going to put you
into groups and hand each group a book that you are all probably familiar with.
You should take a moment and elect one person to read the book aloud. The
True Story of the Three Little Pigs was written from the Wolf�s point of
view, which made it interesting because we have never heard from the wolf before
now! It�s your job, as a group, to write a story about the book I handed you -
but you must write your story in a different point of view than the original.
Be prepared to share your group�s story with the class. Remember, be creative!
(Give students enough time to write a brief story about their book, about 25
minutes - more time if needed. One recorder is needed to write the story; one
person reads the story aloud afterwards. Create groups ahead of time as to
which students will work best together; assign groups accordingly).�
(Take time to share stories with the class). To wrap up, who can tell me the importance of point of view? (Allow students to respond) As we have seen from reading our books and writing in alternate points of view, the point of view of a story is extremely important, as it helps us as readers to determine which side of a story is more believable. Also, using different points of view can greatly impact how we feel toward a character or event in a story. Authors may choose to write in certain points of view to convey certain messages or simply to show the other characters� side of the story. (Explain to students that the importance of this activity was to consider other�s points of view, especially while reading. As readers and human beings, we will always connect to certain characters of a book; however, it is important to consider the �other� character�s perspective. How does he or she feel about what is happening? This activity helps us as readers to have a more open mind while reading a book or any kind of text. Also, more writing develops better writers. The more we, as writers, write, the better readers we become, as reading and writing are connected.) Does anyone have any questions about point of view?