In this activity, students will examine the narrator’s point of view and identify what it reveals about the characters using textual evidence.
In this example, the narrator knows Zlateh’s, Aaron’s, and the family’s thoughts and actions.
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Due Date:
Objective:Create a storyboard that illustrates the narrator’s point of view and identify what it reveals about the characters using textual evidence.
Student Instructions:
Show students how to spot point of view by reading short stories or excerpts aloud and thinking aloud about who is telling the story and what they know. This helps students recognize clues in the text about the narrator’s perspective.
Encourage students to ask questions like, Whose thoughts do we know? or What information is hidden from us? as they read. This practice helps them actively notice the narrator’s knowledge and limitations.
Collaborate with your class to list signal words, phrases, and examples that reveal point of view. Display the chart as a visual reminder during reading activities.
Assign students to rewrite a scene from Zlateh the Goat from another character’s perspective. This helps them understand how point of view shapes what readers know and feel.
Organize small group or partner discussions where students share how point of view affected their understanding of the story. Encourage them to support their ideas with evidence from the text.
The narrator in 'Zlateh the Goat' uses a third-person omniscient point of view, revealing the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters, including Zlateh, Aaron, and his family. This viewpoint helps readers understand each character's emotions and motivations throughout the story.
Students can identify the point of view by looking for narration that describes characters’ thoughts and feelings, not just actions. In 'Zlateh the Goat', quotes like Aaron dreaming of spring or Zlateh expressing love through actions show the narrator knows their inner experiences.
Examples include Zlateh scratching her neck and expressing love, Aaron dreaming of warm weather, and the family fearing Aaron and Zlateh are lost. These details reveal what each character is experiencing and feeling during the story.
Understanding point of view helps students analyze how the narrator shapes our perception of the characters. It also encourages deeper reading by connecting textual evidence to character development and story events.
A helpful activity is to have students create a storyboard showing each character’s thoughts and actions, using direct quotes from the text. This visual approach reinforces the concept of perspective and evidence-based analysis.