Interestingly, the third person point of view is the preferred choice for a majority of students when it comes to writing their narrative. However, before students make this choice, it is necessary to decide what point of view they will take to tell their story. Will it be the first-person, third-person, third-person omniscient point of view, or even the second-person narrative point of view (although rarely used).
Third Person Point of View and First Person Point of View Effect
In order to write from one narrative point of view or a single perspective, students must first know what each point of view entails as each point of view has its own desired effect depending upon the writing genre.
So, when writing a personal narrative, it would be common knowledge to write in the first-person point of view. This way the narrator can truly express his or her emotions and connect to the reader as a result.
Narrating a story from a single character’s perspective would justify the use of the third person point of view. In this case, the narrator is outside of the story. The connection is still strong as this single character often becomes the hero of the narrative in the eyes of the reader.
While in the third person omniscient point of view, the narrator narrates from the perspective of many characters in the story. The reader gets a glimpse of the viewpoints of many characters rather than just one and often may not feel a strong connection to just one character in the narrative.
Understandably, each point of view has a different effect upon the reader.
Third Person Point of View and First Person Point of View Pronouns
Students also need to know the pronouns they need to use to write from a specific point of view. Be it first-person pronouns when writing a personal narrative, or third-person pronouns when writing a third-person, or third-person omniscient narrative.
Once students are familiar with the different narrative points of view, the next step would be to have students practically apply their gained knowledge by identifying the different points of view in the context of a sample text.
Now that students have a clear idea of the different narrative points of view together with the use of specific pronouns, it’s time for them to practice writing from each narrative point of view.
Making the Decision
Given a writing prompt, students can change from a third-person narrative point of view to a first-person narrative point of view.
Or from a first-person narrative point of view to a third-person narrative point of view.
From writing narrative points of view on given sentence prompts, students can then extend their writing skill to writing paragraphs on a given topic by adopting a specific narrative point of view.
Point of View Quiz
Finally, giving students a fun quiz would be an effective way to gauge students’ understanding of the different narrative points of view.
Multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blanks, and short answer responses can enable students to reflect on the learned content.
Now that students have a thorough understanding of the different narrative points of view, they can be more confident about choosing the right point of view when writing a personal narrative, an opinion essay, or a third-person realistic fictional narrative.
Narrative Point of View Resource
Looking for all these steps when teaching the narrative points of view? You’ll find them in this print and digital resource (Google Slides).
Both US and British English spellings included.
And a bonus Boom Cards Deck comprising of 40 cards.
Click on the image link below to access:
If you use this resource with your students, I would be thrilled if you tag me on Instagram @teachtotell
Stay safe! Until next time…
Looking to teach persuasive /opinion writing to students in grades 2-3? This blog post outlines how writing can be taught and submitted digitally by students using google slides. Click here to read this post.
