purpose for this lesson is to identify the narrator’s or speaker’s point of view and describe how that affects how the events in the text are depicted.
Pass out the first article (I generally start with the home town) and either read through it together (shared experience) or have students read it independently. In this first reading, they should be determining the POV and how they figure it out.
When finished with the first reading, turn and talk or share thinking with the group. In the second reading, students should highlight where in the text the author describes specific events. Then they should code (leave tracks of their thinking) in the margins about how the narrator views these events—positively? Negatively?
Discuss their thinking and then pass out the second article from the rival team’s hometown. Again, have students read through the first time just to determine the narrator’s point of view. Turn and talk and discuss thinking. As with the first article, they need to highlight where in the text the narrator describes specific events. However, students use the same colored highlighter as they used on Paper 1 if the narrator describes the event in a similar manner to the first author. They use a different color highlighter if the event description is different.
When students finish highlighting both articles, they meet in small groups (this could be on the following day if there is a time issue) to discuss the focus question—How does the narrator’s point of view affect how the events in the text are depicted? After small group discussion, bring the whole group together to debrief.
If you have time to read a shared novel, or even a read-aloud book, model and think aloud, how you would answer these questions:
Who is telling the story?
What is happening in the story? How does the narrator’s or speaker’s point of view affect the description of events in the text?
What effect does this text have on me? Why?
Ultimately, the goal is for students to internalize the questions and ask and answer them as they read. Book clubs, literature circles, and written responses allow students to demonstrate understanding.
Core Connections
Grade 5
Reading Standard 6
Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.
Three Novels to Try
Three terrific novels that are examples of different characters telling the story are Wonder (Palacio) and the follow-up to it The Julian Chapter (Palacio) and Because of Mr. Terupt (Buyea). Reading novels takes time but lends itself to the gradual release model. At the beginning, you do the thinking and modeling. As the story unfolds, turn the questioning over to the kids.
Next Instructional Steps: Integrating Opinion Writing With Evaluating Argument
What’s ahead:
What Do I See? A Student Sample of Persuasive Writing 26
What Do I See? A Student Sample of Compare and Contrast 28
Authentic Assessment: Student Reflection and Evaluation 31
Peer Power: How to Use Student Work as Mentor Texts 32
If/Then Chart 36
Mentor Texts 38
Unit Planning: How to Build Out Three Weeks 41
What Do I See? A Student Sample of Persuasive Writing
Now we take the time to see how our students are doing with the work of this sequence, so we can plan subsequent instruction. Here, I provide student writing samples. As you look at your own students’ work, think about the following: What does this tell me about this child’s understandings (or confusions) as a reader? What do I see this child doing well as a writer and what needs development? What is the quality of the thinking I see?
What Do I See? A Student Sample of Compare and Contrast
Time to write!
Authentic Assessment: Student Reflection and Evaluation
If we want students to continue to feel that their hard work is for them, not just to “do school,” it’s vital that we invite them to reflect on the work they do. What follows is a sample of one student’s reflection, and I think it does a good job of showing the power of self-assessment. Clearly, it helped Aiden internalize his learning and the process and allows you additional teaching points for future instruction.
Student Reflection
Reflection
by Aiden
I actually had fun reading the fairy tales and now I’m reading the book you got for the classroom that has the original Grimm’s fairy tales. Some have a lot of action! I think right now I’m citing and explaining very well and I really hope to improve. For the first time doing a fairy tale compare and contrast I thought I did very well because it was fun to pull evidence from the text and include it in your writing. It also pushed me by how enjoying it was to compare and contrast the fractured fairy tale and the original fairy tale. Now I’m very excited to do compare and contrast in all categories. The only thing that I struggle with is word choice and voice.
