Spend a day in my shoes: Exploring the role of perspective in narrative
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=265
A lesson plan for grades 9–12 English Language Arts
Students participate in a writing activity examining point-of-view in this lesson that is based on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. After students read the quote, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” (36) they are challenged to consider what it actually means. Students participate in a discussion of perspective and point-of-view in novels. After being presented a shoe, students brainstorm details about the owner of the shoe based on first impressions. When they have completed a questionnaire about the shoe, the class discusses their assumptions. Using the guiding questions from the handout, students write a narrative about the owner, telling the story of a day in the owner’s life and incorporating the personality traits and lifestyle of the invented owner. Students use an online plot diagram to plan out the sequence of events in their shoe owner’s life. In addition to offering several extension activities, Readwritethink provides links to online resources that can be used with the lesson, and other lessons that can be used with the text.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 9
- Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences.
- Objective 1.01: Narrate personal experiences that offer an audience:
- scenes and incidents located effectively in time and place.
- vivid impressions of being in a setting and a sense of engagement in the events occurring.
- appreciation for the significance of the account.
- a sense of the narrator's personal voice.
- Objective 1.01: Narrate personal experiences that offer an audience:
Grade 10
- Goal 1: The learner will react to and reflect upon print and non-print text and personal experiences by examining situations from both subjective and objective perspectives.
- Objective 1.01: Produce reminiscences (about a person, event, object, place, animal) that engage the audience by:
- using specific and sensory details with purpose.
- explaining the significance of the reminiscence from an objective perspective.
- moving effectively between past and present.
- recreating the mood felt by the author during the reminiscence.
- Objective 1.01: Produce reminiscences (about a person, event, object, place, animal) that engage the audience by:
Grade 11
- Goal 1: The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression.
- Objective 1.01: Create memoirs that give an audience a sense of how the past can be significant for the present by:
- elaborating upon a significant past episode from the student's current perspective.
- projecting the student's voice in the work through reflective interpretation of relationships to people and events.
-writing for a specific audience and purpose.
- Objective 1.01: Create memoirs that give an audience a sense of how the past can be significant for the present by:
Grade 12
- Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text as well as to personal experience.
- Objective 1.01: Compose reflective texts that give the audience:
- an understanding of complex thoughts and feelings.
- a sense of significance (social, political, or philosophical implications).
- a sense of encouragement to reflect on his or her own ideas.
- Objective 1.01: Compose reflective texts that give the audience:
