• During the lesson, emphasize the importance of identifying story structure and point of view. Confer with students to determine if they understand how to identify point of view in fiction and literary nonfiction.
• Collect and use the graphic organizers to assess students’ understanding. Provide specific feedback to each student.
• Have small groups read another story and identify the point of view. Informally assess if students are able to analyze and interpret point of view by using your anecdotal observation and notes.
• Use the following checklist to evaluate students’ understanding:
  • Student demonstrates the ability to identify literary elements in both fiction and literary nonfiction texts.
  • Student accurately uses story elements to identify and analyze point of view in both types of texts.
  • Student compares and contrasts the points of view in different stories.

Focus Question: How does an author use point of view in fiction and literary nonfiction texts?

Display several extreme close-up photos of items such as a tire, a leaf, or a piece of chalk. Ask students to identify the items. Have students share what they think each picture is. Then show them the full-size photo. Show students the pictures of a view looking out of the classroom and a view looking into the classroom. Ask them to describe the differences between the two views.

Say, “Where you are standing or how much you see of a situation impacts your point of view of that situation. It impacts how you identify the characteristics of the situation. The same is true for the characters in a story and the person telling the story.”

Say, “The way in which an author reveals characters, events, and ideas in a story is called point of view.”

Part 1

Say, “Today we are going to review some elements of fiction and literary nonfiction. We will explore the literary element of point of view and analyze how it impacts fiction and nonfiction texts.”

Have students look at the cover of The Three Little Pigs and make a prediction about the book’s point of view. (Three pigs are on the cover, so maybe one of the pigs is telling the story.)

Read aloud the book. During the reading, draw attention to the following literary elements of the text:

• Main characters: the three pigs and the wolf
• Setting: houses out in the woods
• Problem: The wolf wants to eat the pigs.
• Solution: The pigs build houses, each one stronger than the previous one.
• Resolution: The pigs outsmart the wolf, and he goes away.
• Point of view: (depending on the text) third-person narrative with the pigs portraying the wolf as the bad guy

Say, “How would the story be different if it were told from the wolf’s point of view?” Show students the cover of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs and have them make a prediction.

Read aloud the book. Have students identify how this story is different from The Three Little Pigs. During the reading, think aloud and model use of comprehension strategies such as inferring and summarizing to check for understanding.

After reading the story, discuss this question: “How did a change in point of view impact or change the story?” (The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is told in the first person, which allows us to connect with the main character, but we have to keep asking ourselves if the wolf is telling the truth. In The Three Little Pigs, the third-person narrator tells us how all the characters are feeling and thinking.) Discuss the impact that the point of view has on a story.

Introduce the Point of View Event Chart (L-4-1-3_ Point of View Event Chart.doc). Explain to students that they will be exploring how point of view impacts a story. Project a copy of the chart or reproduce it on the board. Then model how to complete the chart:

• Ask students to choose an event from The Three Little Pigs. List the event in the appropriate place on the chart.
• Have students choose a character and write his or her name in the “Characters” column.
• Discuss that character’s point of view and record students’ responses in the “Point of View” column.
• For the “Key Words” column, ask students to identify words that were important to that character’s point of view.
• For the “Interpretation” column, record students’ interpretations of the event from that character’s point of view.
• Using the same event, have students choose a different character. Work with the class to fill in the remainder of the boxes to compare how point of view changes the way an event is interpreted or viewed.

Have students work with a partner or small group to complete the Point of View Chart based on The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Allow students time to complete the chart. As students work, observe and check for understanding. Determine if reteaching is necessary.

Part 2

Say, “Point of view in literary nonfiction can be first person, as in an autobiography, or third person. Sometimes in the third person, the narrator does not know the exact feelings the character is experiencing. So you have to infer what the character is feeling based on what you know and what you have read in the text.”

Read the book Ruth Law Thrills a Nation. (This third-person narrative is about Ruth Law’s record-breaking flight from Chicago to New York in 1916.)

Distribute copies of the Point of View Event Chart (L-4-1-3_ Point of View Event Chart.doc). As you read, have students complete the chart.

Note that the answers related to the Ruth Law story will require more inference because the passage is told in the third person and is literary nonfiction. The narrator sees all the events but does not tell how Ruth feels throughout the story.

When students are finished, collect the charts for assessment and to determine if reteaching is necessary.

Extension:

• If students need additional opportunities for learning, use the texts listed in Related Resources along with the Point of View Event Chart in the Resources folder.
• Have students who are ready to go beyond the standard choose a story and rewrite it from a different point of view. Then have them interpret how the story changes when the point of view changes.