Mini Lessons for Teaching POV

Written by guest blogger Daniela Garay

Point of view is one of those topics that become significantly more complex in upper elementary (third, fourth, and fifth grade), but that could still be taught in fun ways by using familiar stories and videos. In fifth grade, students need to be able to describe how the narrator or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described. 

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One of my favorite approaches is using classic stories like fairy tales to help build their schema. They can make connections a lot quicker which only makes it easier for them to describe how each point of view changes how events are described.

The first time I tried this approach, I used what was easily available to me, The Three Little Pigs. Instead of reading the classic, I played the Disney animated short film I found on Youtube which the students enjoyed and found hilariously silly (not always easy to entertain fifth graders). I then read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!

We discussed differences as a whole class, then students worked with a partner to compare and contrast the details in the events. By comparing and contrasting, students not only practice another vital skill, but they are also able to describe the differences in the events according to the point of view. 

Other books I later learned about that would be great to practice the skill and incorporate for small groups are as follows:

• No Lie, Pigs (and Their Houses) Can Fly!: The Story of the Three Little Pigs as Told by the Wolf written by Jessica Gunderson,
• No Lie, I Acted Like a Beast!: The Story of Beauty and the Beast as Told by the Beast written by Nancy Loewen
• Seriously, Cinderella Is SO Annoying!: The Story of Cinderella as Told by the Wicked Stepmother written by Trisha Speed Shaskan
• ...and many more of these types of books for other classics written by these authors.  (You might also like these other fiction books that can be used to teach point of view.)  

These types of books allow you to focus more on the skill rather than comprehension of events from an unfamiliar story. Once they master it using familiar stories, then you would continue the skill using other texts such as grade-level texts and paired passages.

As students begin to master the skill, it's best to challenge them to apply it to grade-level texts. 

A popular fifth-grade level read-aloud that works perfectly for many skills, including theme and point of view, is Wonder. The chapters are already written from the different points of view of August, Via, Summer, Jack, Justin, and Miranda.  Also, R.J. Palacio published Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories, which continues to offer new points of view on the same events but this time from Julian, Christopher, and Charlotte.

I also shared a point of view writing unit that incorporates Wonder that would be worth checking out as an extension and as a way to tie reading and writing together smoothly.