As teachers, we all understand the importance of laying strong literary foundations early on. One of the key components for building a strong foundation in reading is to understand point of view.
If a student understands point of view then they can more effectively understand the entire structure of a story. This helps each student become a more effective reader, and writer! Get more familiar with how to teach point of view by using the teaching resources and activities below.
Activities to Teach Point of View
At the center of the best teaching resources for point of view is an effective read aloud. This is because read alouds are carefully designed to have students explore all of the important elements of a story.
The emphasis on each story element can vary from book to book. It will depend on the focus of each individual story. Therefore, you may have one read aloud that asks several questions about character development while another focuses on the order of events in the story. Regardless of what the primary focus is, point of view can always be explored.
Whether you are reading a picture book, a fairy tale, or a nonfiction text, every story has a point of view. The point of view will simply vary depending on what story is being told.
Using Read Alouds to Teach Point of View
Many read alouds will include a chance to explore which point of view is being expressed: first person point of view, second person point of view, third person point of view, or third person omniscient point of view.
For some stories, simply looking at things from the character’s point of view will be sufficient. However, if you want to dive into point of view more with your students you can extend the conversation to include if the character’s point of view is first person, second person, or third person point of view.
Let’s look at some examples of different activities you can use to teach point of view. You might be surprised that many of the activities that are effective for teaching point of view are simple activities you already use in the classroom.
Point of View Graphic Organizer
A graphic organizer can be used to teach point of view in several different ways. If you are teaching students about the different types of point of view then using a simple two, three, or four, column graphic organizer can help students compare different points of view.
For example, you could use a 3 column chart that has 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person listed. Then, under each point of view students will list specific characteristics for each different perspective:
- 1st Person Point of View: I, me, my
- 2nd Person Point of View: You
- 3rd Person Point of View: They, he, she
In addition to using a graphic organizer to compare and contrast each different point, a graphic organizer can also help students organize examples of point of view in a specific story.
Point of View Venn Diagram
When teaching point of view, another helpful strategy is a venn diagram. Like a graphic organize, this is a simple yet effective way to help students see different elements that make up point of view.
A three column chart that focuses on the differences of each point of view. The venn diagram allows you to teach students that even though each point of view is shown from a different perspective there can still be some similarities in how characters see things.
This might be particularly helpful in comparing the different points of view for two different characters in a book. It could also be used to look at the point of view of a character in one book compared to a different character in another book that has the same theme.
Point of View Anchor Charts
Another helpful strategy to use for teaching point of view is a venn diagram. Like a graphic organize, a venn diagram is a simple yet effective way to help students see different elements that make up point of view.
However, in contrast to a three column chart that focuses only on the differences of each point fo view, the venn diagram shows that there can also be some similarities when looking at different points of view.
This may be particularly helpful in comparing the different points of view for two different characters in a book. It could also be used to look at the point of view of a character in one book compared to a different character in another book.
Point of View Lesson Plan
Just like any literary element, point of view is something that is important to teach continuously. That’s why read alouds are so important in elementary school because they provide a weekly opportunity to revisit literary elements all year long.
However, while you will explore point of view all year long it is helpful to set students up for the year with a focused lesson on point of view. That’s where using one or more of the activities above will be helpful.
After you have explicitly taught point of view you can then use any read aloud lesson plan to continue to teach students about a different point of view. Students encounter each new character while reading, providing a new opportunity to teach point of view.
Point of View Read Alouds
As we mentioned, read alouds are the best way to continue teaching point of view. Therefore, we put together a list of our favorite books that teach point of view and then created read alouds for them. Each of these read aloud lesson plans provides activities to teach point of view as well as several other literary elements.
Moreover, each read aloud is designed to increase student comprehension and reading skills. This is accomplished through carefully created text dependent questions that begin prior to reading the book and continue throughout.
In addition, the text dependent questions in each read aloud encourage students to return to the text for close reading. This close reading skill is important because it teaches students to revisit a text and gather important textual evidence, which is an important skill for further developing literacy and critical thinking.
Books That Teach Point of View
Now that you have an idea of what to expect from our ready to teach read alouds, here are some of our favorite books that focus on point of view:
