Anticipatory Set (30 min): As students walk into the room, instruct them to turn their desks toward the person sitting in front of them, so that they are in groups of two facing one another. After this has been done, pass around a piece of blank white paper to the people sitting in the back. Ask the people in the front to come to the front of the room and choose a magazine picture from the pile I have provided. When they have all returned to their seats, Explain that the people with the paper will be the “drawers.” Make sure the artists in this class (focal students) are in this position! The other people are responsible for describing the picture they chose to the other person without showing it to them or gesturing in any way. The drawer may not ask any questions of the describer. After allowing someone to describe for about 15 min, have the describers rotate to the right, so that a new person is describing the same picture to the drawer. Do this once more before you call “time’s up.”

Direct Instruction/Lead-in to direct instruction: Ask students what frustrated them about this activity. Did it bother them that they could not ask questions? Did they notice that as the describers switched, they described different things to them? Perhaps one person focused on “the big picture” while the other person only focused on one specific element of the picture. Tie all of their comments into a brief Powerpoint presentation on “Point of View.” This should include: first, second, third, objective, limited, and omniscient (intrusive/unintrusive) point of view as well as the idea of the unreliable narrator.

NAME (drawer, describer): _____________________________

Drawer: Did it bother you that you could not ask questions?  Did people leave out information that you thought was crucial?

Did you notice that as the describers switched, they described different things? Perhaps one person focused on “the big picture” while the other person only focused on one specific element of the picture.  Where some people better than others at describing the picture?

Overall, was this activity easy or difficult?

Describer: What was difficult for you?  Were some pictures easier to describe than others?  Were things ever too complicated (or awkward) to describe so you left them out completely?

Overall, was this activity easy or difficult?

Both: Define the term UNRELIABLE NARRATOR (you can look the works up separately in the dictionary).  How does this relate to the activity we just completed?

Define these narrative viewpoints as well.  You may know some of them… use a dictionary to help you speculate if you do not (we’ll talk about it more tomorrow).
First Person POV

Second Person POV

Third Person POV

Objective POV

 Limited POV

 Omniscient (intrusive/unintrusive) POV