4 Steps To Effectively Teach Point of View!

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Teaching point of view/perspective in narratives is one of my favorite units!  After following these four steps, your students will be pros at identifying and describing points of view in various texts and also create unique perspective pieces.  These 4 steps to effectively teach point of view are meant as a guideline, you can use and expand them to cover many more lessons.  Take a look:

1. Define & Identify

Start off by discussing point of view and who exactly is narrating the story.  Are they speaking in the first person? Do they have abilities to know all sides of the story?  Is their view limited?  Some of these questions may be philosophical but your students will definitely be able to keep up with you if you give them plenty of examples along the way.

Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.
A student version. (Taken from I‘m Loving Lit)
Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.
An anchor chart. (Taken from Creativity in the Modern Classroom)
Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.
Use examples. (Taken from First Grade Teacher Lady)

Follow these four steps and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view. Point of view lesson plan ideas included.Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.

Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.
and more examples! (Taken from All Things Upper Elementary)

2. Examine and Break Down

Next, allow your students to understand why a specific perspective is taken in a story. There are two main ways of doing this. Firstly, examine the evidence that supports the perspective. Secondly, examine the characters and allow students to see the perspectives really come to life. This second step is crucial in getting students to then create their own stories with a unique perspective.

Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.
Examine evidence and link it to perspective. (Taken from Ms. Sinclair)

Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.

Examine character traits, which contribute to point of view.
Examine character traits, which contribute to point of view. (Taken from Teacher Trap)

3. Explore Various Examples

Create plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the meaning of perspective. Fractured fairytales work really well for this.

This is seriously a must have! I kid you not. It's filled with poems, which can then be read in reverse from a different perspective. It's amazing!
This is seriously a must have! I kid you not. It’s filled with poems, which can then be read in reverse from a different perspective. It’s amazing!
Follow these four steps to effectively teach point of view and your students will be pros at identifying, describing and creating points of view.
From the perspective of the stepmother.

 

4. Student Creations

Give students a chance to create their own perspective pieces.  Now this is where you can start to have some fun.  Of course, this part can only be done if your students have completed a story writing unit.  Assuming they have, give them the opportunity to first write a story from their own personal perspective.  Then have them branch out and write the perspectives of characters previously unheard from.  One very fun activity I did as closure to this unit is: I had students form legal teams (defense lawyers and prosecutors, naturally), and I had them present the cases of famous fairy tale villains to a special guest judge (this can be a principal, special parent, etc).  The kids (and the adults) just loved this.

Students write a unique story from their point of a view.
Students write a unique story from their point of a view. (Taken from Third Grade Love)
Students choose a famous villain to defend or prosecute in a mock trial!
Students choose a famous villain to defend or prosecute in a mock trial! (Taken from Teachers Pay Teachers)

 

What steps do you follow to effectively teach point of view?

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