then circle back to start.
Core Connections
Focus Reading Standard 6
Reading Standards 1, 4, and 5
Writing Standards 1, 5, 6, 9, and 10
Speaking and Listening Standard 1
Language Standards
This sequence can be replicated throughout the year using different genres and increasingly more difficult texts. While this sequence focuses on literature, and fairy tales in particular, you can adapt the unit to focus on compare/contrast and POV lessons using informational text, and in any content area. In addition, you can use the framework here to add POV lessons to other units—asking students to think about all characters’ points of view—not just the main character’s.
What Teachers Guide Across the Week
What Students Do Across the Week
Throughout the week—and beyond—students open up the hood on the texts they are reading and writing to discover the points of view that make the texts power forward. Students in the intermediate grades are developmentally ready to understand point of view, and it’s a skill that goes beyond texts to reading the world; point of view, after all, is the vantage point from which each one of us evaluates people, current events, and just about everything in the physical emotional landscape.
Lizzie Jo fills out her graphic organizer comparing and contrasting two fairy tales.
So just what is involved when we ask students to engage in this sequence? It begins with reading. In the first reading lesson, you guide students to see that spotting the point of view in texts is about looking at what authors and characters say and what they don’t say and considering the ideas, beliefs, and agendas that are in and above the text.
Then, in the companion writing lesson, ideally done the very same day, we “flip it” and students use what they have noticed about POV as they write. In addition to writing in response to reading (in this case, students compare and contrast), students begin to learn how to write opinion and persuasive pieces from their own point of view.
The next day? Back to reading! You’ll see that in all, you and students move back and forth between five reading/literature booster lessons on point of view and five companion writing lessons.
Students will be paying attention to how words and phrases are used in the text and also analyzing the structure of texts. Being able to do these reading moves is particularly essential for fourth graders, who are tested on their ability to write compare/contrast pieces with a focus on point of view. In addition, students read closely and pay attention to how the characters interact. (Reading Standards 4 and 5, which address Craft and Structure, are center stage). Collaborative conversations incorporate Speaking and Listening Standards and deepen comprehension and are a part of the writing process. Students put their understanding of POV into play as they write a persuasive piece, employing the writing process. Finally, to enhance both their writing and speaking, students will understand how language functions in different contexts, looking atFormal or Informal English and its role in revealing author’s intent and the point of view of the narrator and characters.
Literacy Moves
Make inferences
Ask questions
Determine similarities and differences
Select details
Analyze text
Booster Reading Lesson: Understanding Point of View
Getting Ready
The materials:
Text sets—traditional fairy tales and the same fairy tales depicting a different POVTwo suggestions are: Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten! The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf by Trisha Speed Shaskan (2012) or What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf’s Story by Toby Forward (2005)—this is the one I’m using in this lesson.
Anthology of fairy tales such as Michael Hague’s Read-to-Me Book of Fairy Tales (2013)
Online resources (see mentor texts, page 38)
Venn diagram chart
Sticky notes for pairs of students
Clipboards
Text sets for small group work at a variety of reading levels
Chart paper
Graphic organizers for students (www.corwin.com/thecommoncorecompanion)
Core Connections
Reading Standard 6
Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
Grade 4, Reading Standard
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narratives.
Reading Standards 1, 4, 5, and 10
Context of This Fourth-Grade Lesson
You will notice this first lesson is longer and contains more direct instruction than subsequent reading lessons. This is because it sets the foundation for the remaining lessons. You want to do the initial work together, but then each day do just a short 10-minute mini-lesson and then get out of the way so students can work independently as you meet with small groups or confer. Repeat this lesson using different texts and resources throughout the year. In addition, whenever you share a book with the class, ask: Who’s telling the story? Is it first or third person? What is the point of view? (While second person is not a requirement of the fourth-grade standard, I still like to teach second person—you, as it often shows up in nonfiction texts.)
