7.9 POV

7.9 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a literary text.

I can:
• Explain how the author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker

• Describe how different points of view affect the plot

• Identify the narrator’s point of view and how it affects the events in the text

• Describe the difference between first- and third-person narrations

• Define point of view

Replace this with your body text. Duplicate this text as many times as you would like. All provided templates can be reused multiple times. Wish you a good day.

Happy teaching!

​Point of View

Point of view is the perspective that the narrator holds in relation to the events of the story.

The first person is the I/we perspective. The second person is the you perspective. The third person is the he/she/it/they perspective.

An author develops a point of view through personal experience, research, and imagination.

Anticipation & Prior Knowledge activation

In what ways can feelings about the way we look affect our self-esteem or identity?


How can we learn to accept ourselves?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8mFpqt753M

Read and Annotate

1. Use context clues to analyze and determine the meaning of the bolded vocabulary terms and note unfamiliar vocabulary.

2. Ask questions about passages of the text that may be unclear or unresolved.

3. Identify key details, events, characters, and connections between them.

Text Talk

1. What questions does Miss Saunders write on the blackboard?

2. What is Malcolm’s response to Miss Saunder’s question?

3. What happens when Miss Saunders asks the class, “What does my face say?”

4. How does Maleeka respond to Miss Saunders sitting on her desk?

5. What does Miss Saunders do or say after she responds to the students’ questions about her face?

6. What does Miss Saunders think about her own face? How does this affect her self-esteem and identify?

Discussion

1. What is a story or novel you’ve read that was told from the first-person point of view, or perhaps by more than one narrator?

2. Do you prefer stories and novels that are written from the first-person or third-person point of view? Why?

Example: Let’s look at how one reader identifies and analyzes the point of view of the narrator:

When the second bell rings, I run to Miss Saunders’s class like somebody set my shoes on fire. It don’t help none. Soon as I walk in, I know I’m in trouble. Everybody’s got their head down and they’re writing. Miss Saunders nods for me to take out paper and get to my seat. “What does your face say to the world?” is written on the blackboard. I laugh, only it comes out like a sneeze through my nose.

It seems as if Maleeka’s face says something funny or bad to the world because she laughs when she reads the prompt. Maybe Maleeka doesn’t like the way she looks.

​The narrator uses the pronoun I, so Maleeka must be the narrator and is telling the story. She’s only revealing her thoughts. It must be a limited point of view.

Continued:

First, the reader identifies that the story is told from a limited point of view. He concludes that Maleeka is telling the story and is revealing only her thoughts. The reader then analyzes Maleeka’s point of view about her appearance, based on her thoughts and how she reacts to the prompt on the board. The reader notes that she does not seem to like her face. 

Example: Now analyze how the author conveys the teacher’s point of view about self-acceptance. 

“Liking myself didn’t come overnight,” she says, “I took a lot of wrong turns to find out who I really was. You will, too.” Everybody starts talking at once, asking her questions. Miss Saunders answers ’em all. Some kids even go up to her face and stare and point. She lets them do it too, like she’s proud of her face or something.

​Miss Saunders’s actions and dialogue show that she has a lot of self-confidence! I can tell from Maleeka’s thoughts that she still has a contrasting view. Maleeka seems surprised that the teacher is proud of her appearance.

Continued:

The reader highlights Miss Saunders’s actions and dialogue. He then explains how this reveals her point of view on self-acceptance. Miss Saunders thinks she is beautiful just the way she is. The reader notes how the author contrasts the teacher’s point of view with Maleeka’s inner thoughts. Maleeka seems shocked. Noticing how the author develops or conveys contrasting points of view can help deepen your understanding of the characters and conflicts in stories. 

Before Close Read:

1. Who is telling the story?

2. What does the narrator reveal about herself or other characters?

3. How does the narrator talk about herself?

Before Close Read:

1. The term Point of View refers to who is telling a story. Character point of view refers to the different points of view of two characters in a story, or how a reader’s and a character’s awareness may differ

Before Close Read:

In The Skin I’m In, Maleeka and her classmates are asked to think about what their face says to the world. Tell the students they are going to create self-portraits. Ask the students to think about who they are and what their face shows the world. Then ask them to create images of their own faces that show the world who they really are.

As students are drawing/creating, have them think about the following:

• How does what you look like affect how you feel?

• How does what you look like affect how others feel about you?

• How do you see yourself, and how does that differ from how you actually look?

Write

The limited point of view tells us ________

Maleeka’s point of view is different from those of the other students because__________

Miss Saunders’s point of view is different because__________