Activities

1. Differentiate between author and speaker/narrator.
   
   
2. Differentiate between 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd limited, and 3^rd omniscient point of views.
   
   
3. Identify the author’s purpose.
   
   
4. Identify the perspective, viewpoint, and/or attitude of the narrator or character. 

5. Identify the narrator's/speaker's point of view.
   
   
6. Explain the effect of the narrator’s/speaker’s point of view on other elements of the text.

7. Evaluate how the author or a character’s point of view shapes the content and style of a text.
   
   
8. Analyze choices the author made to include or omit information from a text.
   
   
9. Describe how the narrator’s/speaker’s point of view influences the events described.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student understands the differences between the author of the story and the speaker/narrator within the story.  Knowing that the author can share opinions, perspectives, and information in multiple ways throughout the story is key.  Using the words, thoughts, and actions of the speaker/narrator is just one of those methods. The narrator is limited to what the author says or does through him/her.
   
   
2. Student is able to name the point of view from which a story is told.
   
   
   1. First person- A character within the story recounts/retells his/her own experiences or impressions.
   2. Second person-The story or the piece of writing is from the perspective of “you.”
   3. Third person limited-The narrator tells the story from the viewpoint of one character in the story.
   4. Third person omniscient- The narrator has unlimited knowledge and can describe every character’s thoughts and interpret their behaviors.
      
      
3. Student identifies the author’s purpose for writing the story. Possible purposes might include: to reveal a conflict, to draw attention to an issue or event, to predict the future, or to understand the past.
   
   
4. Student identifies the perspective, viewpoint, and/or attitude of the narrator or character.  A narrator or character, just like a real person, has a distinct perspective, viewpoint, and/or attitude.  Recognizing and understanding what those are help to understand how events are described and developed in the story.
   
   
5. Student identifies the point of view used by the narrator (or character) in the story.  To do this, the student needs to understand definitions of each point of view and use that information to find out which point of view the author has chosen to use for the narrator (or character) in a story. Word choice is analyzed to determine the point of view of a text, including the way in which the narrator tells the story.
   
   
6. Student analyzes the narrator’s (or character’s) point of view and determines how it affects other elements of the text.  The way that characters, events, and setting, for example, are used in a story might be affected by the narrator’s point of view.
   
   
7. Student evaluates how both the author and the narrator/character shape the content and style of the text.  Both the author and the narrator/character need to be considered separately.  The content included in the story is affected by both, as is the style of the story.
   
   
8. Student analyzes and draws conclusions about why the author chose to include or omit characters, events, settings etc. in the story.  Considering what elements were chosen for inclusion and which were not included can tell about what the author’s intent is.
   
   
9. Student considers and describes how the narrator’s point of view influences the events described.  What the narrator tells (by choice or as a result of the author’s choice of what point of view is used) can influence the events.