This lesson will focus on the students using first person perspective to personify an animal or object of his/her choice and the students will write a letter to themselves from the animal or object of their choice to themselves. I will review first person perspective by reiterating to the students what I had previously taught my students on how to write in first person perspective. I will display the singular and plural first person perspective pronouns on a piece of classroom chart paper (Appendix C). I will also provide the students with a brief description, definition, and example of first person perspective. I will do this by reading aloud the poem
Sick
by Shell Siverstein, chapter one from
A Dog’s Life: An Autobiography of a Stray Dog
by Ann M. Martin, and
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
by Jon Scieska. These examples of first person perspectives will refresh and reinforce that in the first person perspective narrative the reader is allowed to relate to the story one dimensionally. The story is presented to the reader from the view point of a character in the story.
In the text
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
by Jon Scieska, the author bases the text on the wolf’s perspective on how things occurred in the familiar fairy tale the
Three Little Pigs
. The wolf tells the reader his side of the story as he sees it. This book serves as a rebuttal to the way he was portrayed in the fairy tale. My students will be able to observe how different this version is as compared to the original fairy tale version.
My purpose for using these three texts is to show my students how first person perspective is used by writers. By listening to the three texts the students will have a clearer idea of what will be expected of them when they are completing a writing activity using first person perspective.
After reviewing first person perspective, I will review and reinforce personification by defining and providing examples of personification. I will use a short story containing dialogue between a little boy and an ant called
Hey, Little Ant
by Phillip and Hannah Hoose. This short story not only demonstrates personification by giving the ant character human qualities but also allows the reader to view the story from both the ant and the boy’s perspective. The story demonstrates the perspective of the ant by having the ant explain to the boy why he should not be stepped on by the boy. After reading the story aloud I will have the students get into pairs and have the students each take on the role of the characters in the short story. The pair of students will read the assigned dialogue of their character. The students will recite the story aloud. The reciting of the story aloud will allow the students to practice the use of intonation when reading aloud.
The lesson activity will begin by the teacher sharing an exemplar/model letter. The model letter is a letter to a student from their pencil. This letter will serve as a model for the students. The students will observe the use of first person perspective pronouns. The will have a clearer understanding of how to write the letter to themselves from a personified animal or object. The model letter will demonstrate the perspective of the pencil; for example, the letter will provide examples of the pencil’s likes and dislikes, the pencil’s view on how it is treated, and how it feels overall to be a pencil.
The students will then be asked to brainstorm some common objects and/or household pets that they would like to personify by giving it a perspective. The students are only allowed to choose an animal or object that they have contact with or use of on a daily basis. Once the brainstorming has concluded the students will choose one of the brainstormed items to write their letter. This letter to themselves from the animal or object the student must meet these requirements:
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The letter must have three or more paragraphs
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The letter must be in friendly letter format (Appendix E)
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The personification of the animal or object must be realistic.
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When the letters are complete each student will read his/her letter to the class and the listening students will try and figure out what is writing the letter before the closing of the letter.
