Session 5 Whose Story is This, Anyway?

Trouble at Recess I want to talk to you about an argument some students had at recess. A girl named Meg and a boy named Scott got into an argument at recess about what they were going to play.

Trouble at Recess Meg said that she wanted to play soccer, and that Scott had already agreed to play soccer. Scott said he wanted to play football.

Trouble at Recess Both of them were mad. As a teacher, I listened to both of their stories separately before making a decision about what to do.

Trouble at Recess They both agreed that at lunch they had talked about playing soccer and agreed to play it. But Scott did not realize that Sam brought a football to play with until they were outside. At that point, his perspective changed, and he wanted to play football. But from John’s perspective, he felt like he had been disrespected because Scott had already agreed to play soccer, and went against his word. Do you see how the perspective you have on a situation can change everything?

Perspectives Perspectives change in stories too. Each character has his or her own perspective. The author has his or her own perspective. The narrator doing the storytelling has a perspective.

GOAL Today I want to teach you that perspectives are important. They can change a story completely.

Kek and Dave Let’s reread the opening scene of Home of the Brave. As I read it, I want you to think about the perspective of the narrator. When do we finally find out who the narrator is? How would the story have been different if Dave were the narrator? Do you see how perspective/point of view changes everything?

Activity Reread the first parts of your own books, and identify who the narrator is. What is their point of view? How does it effect the story? Now act out the first scene or another scene of the story. Use what you have learned about perspective/point of view to help you get the most from your books today.

Conferencing I am coming around to see you act out your scenes and explain your character’s perspective to me.

SHARE Did you notice how I used perspective and point of view? They do not mean exactly the same thing, but they are very similar. I used both terms because on standardized tests, you may see one term but not the other. Let’s discuss other words you may see on tests that may have synonyms. It is important to understand all of them.