Teaching Point of View

Written and developed by Steve Kinney and Kathleen Aghalarpour

This purpose of this unit is to teach students in 4th and 5th grade how to understand
and identify different points of views taken by characters within fictional texts. It is
crucial for students to understand how every event, whether fictional or real, could be
interpreted through many different points of views. Students will therefore learn to see
any event as a multi-layered, complex incident that needs to be analyzed at a much
deeper level. The ability to identify different points of views within fictional texts will
enable students to understand the different points of views of events that they witness or
partake in their own lives.
This unit is primarily guided by Hunter College School of Education’s social
justice conceptual framework sphere. Teachers within this unit are fully dedicated and
bonded to the idea that students will be successful. Students will be asked to analyze how
all events are complex since they involve many different perspectives from different
people. Students will also be asked to observe their own neighborhoods and determine
what components are needed to have a healthy and thriving neighborhood. In addition
students will also be expected to read their revised children’s books to different
kindergarten classes in their school.
Through out this unit students are expected to meet New York State English
Language Arts Standards.
 Standard 1- Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and
understanding. Students will meet this standard by reading and listening to
Seedfolks, The Whipping Boy, and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
Students will be expected to understand and identify the different points of views
presented in each text.
 Standard 2- Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and
expression. Students will meet this standard by discussing the different points of
views found in Seedfolks, The Whipping Boy, and The True Story of the Three
Little Pigs, with their classmates. Students will also re-write a children’s book
through a different point of view.

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 Standard 3- Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and
evaluation. Students will meet this standard by critically analyzing Seedfolks,
The Whipping Boy, and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by explaining
how a character’s identity influences his/her point of view of an event.
 Standard 4- Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.
Students will meet this standard by having literature circles with their peers about
The Whipping Boy and Seedfolks.

Unit Objectives
 Students will learn and understand how all events have different points of views
and perspectives
 Students will learn how to identify the perspectives of different characters in
different stories
 Students identify first person and third person point of views
 Students will understand and identify how a character’s identity influences a
character’s point of view.
 Students will re-write a favorite children’s book based on a different point of
view.

Unit Overview
Lesson 1- Students will understand how an event or story can be interpreted by different
points of views and perspectives. Students will read Seedfolks and identify the different
perspectives of that story.
Lesson 2-. Students learn the differences between first person and third person point of
view. Students read the Whipping Boy and identify the third person’s point of view.
Lesson 3- Students will read Seedfolks and identify and discuss how each character’s
identity influences his/her point of view
Lesson 4- Students will hear a read aloud of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and
will then begin to re-write a new version of a favorite children’s book based on a new
perspective

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Lesson 1
Teaching Point: Students will understand how an event or story can be interpreted by
different points of views and perspectives. Students will read Seedfolks and identify the
different perspectives of the story.

Materials:
o Copies of Seedfolks for each student
o Copies of introductory activity handout for each student
o Copies of literature circle directions for each student
o Copies of assessment tool for each student
o Reader’s notebooks

Introductory Activity:
Students will read three different perspectives of a fictional event created by the teacher
about a two students who got into a little rumble after school the day before. Students
will have to discuss and analyze why there are three different versions of one event.
Teacher will then explain how for every event, whether fictional or real, there will be
different perspectives or points of views. Teacher will then define the term perspective
(point of view) to the class. Perspective (Point of View): the distinct way one person
views and interprets an event or story. Students will record this definition into the
glossary of their reader’s notebook.

Group Work Practice:

Students will be in literature circle groups of 3-4. Within each literature circle students
will be expected to assign each member of the group with a particular group role. The
group roles are: facilitator (responsible for making sure that everyone gets an opportunity
to answer questions and pose their opinions), researcher (responsible for finding evidence
within the text), recorder (responsible for recording the groups responses to the
discussion questions in his/her reader’s notebook) and presenter (responsible for sharing
the group’s discussion with the rest of the class during share time). Students will read

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chapters 1-3 in Seedfolks and will answer the following discussion questions: Why are
there so many different perspectives on Kim’s planting moment? Which perspective do
you believe the most and why? What text-to-self, text-to-text or text-to-world
connections can you make?

Follow Up Activity:
The small literature circle groups will become a whole class discussion on Seedfolks.
Teacher will ask each presenter to share a response from their group’s discussion.
Teacher will ask the students to notice how even within the classroom there are many
different perspectives on interpreting Seedfolks.

Homework:
Students will also be asked to read chapters 4-6 for homework and write a journal
response that explains how the characters of the next three chapters have different
perspectives of one event.

Assessment Strategy:
In preparation for the New York State English Language Arts exam students will read
one passage and will be asked to determine the point of views of different characters
through multiple choice questions.

Differentiation of Lesson for All Learners:

o Definition of perspective (point of view) will be written through a colorful power
point presentation.
o All directions will be presented orally on handouts and on the chart paper in the
classroom.
o Teacher will target specific students when reading Seedfolks

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Lesson 2

Teaching Point: Students learn the differences between first person and third person
point of view. Students read the Whipping Boy and identify the third person’s point of
view.

Materials
o Copies of Whipping Boy for each student
o Copies of introductory activity handout for each student
o Copies of perspective graphic organizer for each student
o Copies of HW directions
o Copies of assessment tool for distinguishing between first person and third person
o Reader’s notebooks

Introductory Activity:
Introductory activity handouts are distributed to the students. Students read two different
versions of the same incident. One version is written through a first person point of view
while the other version is written through a third person’s point of view. Ask the students
to identify the similarities and differences between these two different versions of the
incident. Explain to the students that the telling of a story can vary depending on who is
speaking or writing about it. Define first person’s point of view and third person’s point
of view and have the students record these definitions into the glossary section of their
reader’s notebooks.

Group Work Practice:

Students will be in literature circle groups of 3-4. Within each literature circle students
will be expected to assign each member of the group with a particular group role. The
group roles are: facilitator (responsible for making sure that everyone gets an opportunity
to answer questions and pose their opinions), researcher (responsible for finding evidence
within the text), recorder (responsible for recording the groups responses to the
discussion questions in his/her reader’s notebook) and presenter (responsible for sharing

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the group’s discussion with the rest of the class during share time). Students will read
chapters 1-2 of The Whipping Boy and will discuss and complete a perspective graphic
organizer in which they will be asked to analyze the differences between how Jemmy’s
(first person’s) point of view compares to the Prince’s (third person’s) point of view of
Jemmy’s position as the whipping boy.

Follow Up Activity:
The small literature circle groups will become a whole class discussion on The Whipping
Boy. Teacher will ask each presenter from each literature circle group to share their
graphic organizer. Teacher will then ask students to discuss why it is important to hear
different perspectives of any event, incident or story.

Homework:
Thirteen students will be assigned to read particular chapters on particular characters
since they will act as one of the thirteen characters from Seedfolks the next day in an
Oprah Winfrey interview activity. The remaining ten students of the classroom will
prepare questions they would like to ask the characters from Seedfolks.

Assessment Tool:
In preparation for the New York State English Language Arts exam students will read
one passage and will be asked to determine whether the point of view is third person or
first person.

Differentiation of Lesson for All Learners:

o Definition of first person and third person point of view will be written through a
colorful power point presentation.
o All directions will be presented orally on handouts and on the chart paper in the
classroom.
o Teacher will target specific students when reading The Whipping Boy.

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Lesson 3
Teaching Point: Students will understand and identify how a character’s identity
influences a character’s point of view in Paul Fleischman’s Seedfolks.

Materials
o Chairs lined up in a row on either the right or the left of the teacher’s desk.
o Chairs set up in an audience style for the remainder of the students.
o Small signs with string with the names of each of the characters in Seedfolks.
1. Kim 8. Sae Young
2. Ana 9. Curtis
3. Wendell 10. Nora
4. Gonzalo 11. Maricela
5. Leona 12. Amir
6. Sam 13. Florence
7. Virgil
o Chart paper to record responses during the literature circle share out.
o Chart markers.

Introductory Activity:
As students enter the room they are welcomed to the Seedfolks talk show. The teacher
takes the role of the talk show host at first. The host interviews the characters about their
lives. The teacher should begin with very broad questions for the guests to allow them to
feel comfortable with the activity. Some examples might include:
o “Tell me about yourself Wendell.”
o “What do you do for the living Sam?”
It should be noted that you do not need to have all 13 of the characters if it is not feasible
in your class. Choose characters at your discretion based on the discussions you’ve had
about the book in class prior to this lesson. After you have asked a few general
preliminary questions, model more specific question that address specific situations in the
book.
o “Ana, what did you first think when you saw Kim visiting the empty lot each
morning?”

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o “Kim, did you feel proud when you saw what your garden had turned into?”
o “Florence, what did you think when you saw Kim visiting the garden the next
winter?”
Encourage other characters to respond and react to what is said by each character.
Students should become the characters in the book. Feel free to ask a character how he or
she feels about what another character had just said in order to encourage this kind of
dialogue1.

Group Work Practice:

After the teacher models how the show is run by asking the first series of questions, he or
she turns to the audience who prepared questions in advance for homework. The teacher
takes the role of a moderator as the audience asks the questions.

Follow Up Activity:
After the show concludes, students meet up in their literature circles to discuss the
following questions:
o In Seedfolks, how does the author create different personalities for each
character?
o Name an event that occurs in the book that has been explained differently by two
different characters.
After each group has had sufficient time to discuss each questions, groups share out notes
from their discussions.

Homework:
In your reading log, write a letter from one character to another discussing that characters
perspective on one of the situations that we listed during our literature circle share out.
What might the character to whom you’re writing to say in response?

Assessment Tool:

1
This activity was adapted from Cunningham and Allington, Classrooms that Work:
They Can All Read and Write (2007, Pearson Education).

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During this lesson, the teacher will have many opportunities to assess the comprehension
of the students in his or her class. It is important to take notes during the audience led
portion of the talk show. Collect the prepared questions at the end of the show to get a
better idea of each student’s understanding of the text by looking at the quality of the
questions asked.

Differentiation of Lesson for All Learners:

For students who may have difficulty responding during the talk show portion of this
lesson, consider preparing a character card with a short bulleted list of facts about the
character the student is playing. The students who need to can refer to this card as a
reference during the talk show segment. For students who are not playing the role of a
particular character, consider creating a template with sample questions that students can
use to base their own questions on. They may be able to ask some of the more general
questions such as, “Tell me about yourself, Ana.” This will allow them to participate in
the conversation.

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Lesson 4
Teaching Point: Students will hear a read aloud of The True Story of the Three Little
Pigs and will then begin to re-write a new version of a favorite children’s book based on
a new perspective.

Materials
o Student access to the internet or printouts of assorted fairy tales from SurLaLune
Fairy Tales website2.
o The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka.
o A printout of the original story of the three little pigs from SurLaLune.
o A very large Venn diagram, either on the board, on chart paper, transparency, or
projected from a computer via Inspiration 8.
o Blank Venn diagrams for the class.
o Loose-leaf paper.

Introductory Activity:
Begin by asking students if they remember the story of the three little pigs. Have one of
the students briefly recount the story. In the event that there was a lunar eclipse in the
southern sky recently and none of them remember the story, briefly recount it using the
printout from SurLaLune. Read aloud The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! to the
class.

Group Work Practice:

In groups or pairs, have students complete the Venn diagram worksheets. What was the
same and what was different about the pig’s point of view and Alexander T. Wolf’s
version of the tale? Have students share out and complete the large class Venn diagram.

Follow Up Activity:

2
SurLaLune Fairy Tales website can be found at http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ and
contains many popular fairy tales along with illustrations and cross-cultural connections.

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In groups or in partnerships, students select one of the stories from the SurLaLune
website and retell the story from another character’s point of view in the style of The
True Story of the Three Little Pigs! Students should provide illustrations. Completed
books can be uploaded to http://www.lulu.com or other site that allows for one-off book
publishing.

Homework:
This lesson is the launching point for a culminating project that will most likely take
more than one lesson to complete. We suggest setting benchmarks for where students
should be at in the creation process at the end of each lesson. If they have not reached the
benchmark set by the teacher, they should make it up for homework. Having benchmarks
discourages students from spending four days on the illustrations.

Assessment Tool:
Use the Venn diagrams created by the students to gauge their understanding.
Alternatively, you can use the stories produced by the students as a chance to gain an
understanding of their comprehension skills beyond the scope of point of view as well as
their writing skill.

Differentiation of Lesson for All Learners:

Consider bolder projects for students who on a higher end of the spectrum of ability in
your classroom. One suggestion is to have them model their story off of Seedfolks or The
Whipping Boy instead of a fairy tale. Alternatively, they can use any of the independent
reading books they have read so far this year.

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Annotated Bibliography
Title: Seedfolks
Author: Paul Fleischman
Publisher: HarperTeen: 1997, 2004
Pages: 80
ISBN: 0064472078
Summary: Seedfolks is not told from the perspective of a
single character. Instead, each chapter is told from a different
point of view and is named after the character that narrates the
chapter. Some of the characters are young while others are
older. Some immigrated to the Cleveland (where the story
takes place) from outside the United States and others were born there. The first chapter
is narrated by a young, Vietnamese girl named Kim who plants a few seeds in an empty
lot on the memorial of her father’s death.
As the story progresses, the few small seedlings Kim planted on a cold April
morning inspire a community garden in an otherwise desolate Cleveland neighborhood.
Ana, an older woman who was born in raised in Cleveland, became suspicious of the
little girl who visited the empty lot every morning. She went to the lot one afternoon and
dug up the spot Kim had been visiting expecting to find whatever she’d be hiding. When
she discovered the seedlings, she felt guilty and replanted them. Wendell, a Kentucky
farmer turned school janitor who had lost his wife to car wreck and his son to a gunshot
wound saw the seedlings growing near an unused junk pile in the lot and decided to grow
his own garden.
As additional characters stumble upon the garden, they all become interested for
different reasons. The Gibb Street Garden becomes the epicenter of the neighbor. It
serves a source of community and of frustration as neighbors bicker over turf in the
garden. The story ends by coming full circle. Florence, an older woman who grew up in
Colorado, recounts how the garden that thrived during the summer was barren during the
winter. On the final page, she notes only a small Asian girl planting seeds on a cold April
morning.

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Title: The Whipping Boy

Author: Sid Fleischman3
Publisher: HarperTrophy: 1986, 2003
Pages: 112
ISBN: 0060521228
Summary: The Whipping Boy focuses on two main
characters, Jemmy and Prince Horace (more popularly known
as “Prince Brat”). The book takes place during the Middle
Ages. Prince Brat is a troublemaker. He loves pulling
practical jokes. His other hobbies also include slacking off on his studies. His behaviors
drive his father, the king, furious. Mind you, this isn’t twenty-first century New York.
Corporal punishment is perfectly acceptable and the king has no problem evoking it. So,
why then, is the prince such a royal pain? Because the rule state, that the prince cannot be
hit or harmed in any way. Instead, a common boy is appointed as the prince’s whipping
boy. Whenever the prince does something wrong, the whipping boy takes the heat for
him. It’s a pretty good deal for the prince, not such a good deal for Jemmy, the chosen
whipping boy.
Jemmy was a simple boy. He enjoyed assisting his father in his rat catching
venture. One day he was plucked off the street by the royal guards and assigned to be the
prince’s whipping boy. In return, he gets dressed in royal garb and gets fed royal meals.
Regardless, it’s not a particularly pleasant job when you’re taking the beatings for
someone as troublesome as prince brat.
There’s one thing about Jemmy that Prince Brat cannot stand. When Jemmy is
getting spanked, he doesn’t make a peep. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t yell, and he doesn’t
complain. This behavior infuriates the prince. The prince thinks Jemmy has a pretty
sweet deal eating royal meals and wearing royal pajamas. He threatens that if Jemmy
doesn’t “bawl” next time he gets beaten that the prince will have him thrown back on the
street. Jemmy here’s this and is elated. He’d like nothing more than to be relieved of his

3
An interesting side note: Sid Fleischman just so happens to be Paul Fleischman’s father.
Father and son both sport incredibly lush beards.

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duties. It is the same situation with two different perspectives (that’s why it fits in so well
with our unit).
One night the Prince decides he’s going to run away because he’s bored. He
decides to drag Jemmy along with him. Not soon after escaping the castle do they get
pulled aside by two vagabonds who, after the prince shoots his mouth off, decide to
kidnap them and hold them for ransom. Prince Brat double-crosses Jemmy, but
eventually they escape only to get themselves lost in the forest. In their travels, they
befriend a dancing bear and Captain Nips, who sells hot potatoes for a living. With their
help, the two boys make it back to the city. Upon arriving home Prince Brat has a change
of heart and decides to appreciate Jemmy for his loyalty and friendship. The prince
changes his ways and everyone lives happily ever after.

Title: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!

Author: Jon Scieszka
Publisher: Viking Juvenile: 1999
Pages: 32
ISBN: 0670888443
Summary: It’s the classic story of the three little pigs told
from a completely different perspective –the big, bad wolf’s
point of view. Now, Alexander T. Wolf will have you
believe otherwise about the whole big and bad part. The True Story of the Three Little
Pigs! is told from the wolf’s perspective. According to Mr. Wolf, he was simply trying to
borrow a cup of sugar. His endeavor was complicated by the fact that it was allergy
season. Mr. Wolf testifies that he cannot and should not be held responsible for the fact
that the first two pigs built such flimsy houses. A simple sneeze managed to decimate
their house and unfortunately lead the both pig’s early demise. At which point, the wolf
found himself clearly in the right to consume them, as they had perished as a result of
their own faulty architecture. He claims the cops framed him. The story is told from
Alexander’s prison cell is seems very suspicious.

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