Who Is the Narrator?

At a Glance:

Grades:	4
Subject:	ELA (English Language Arts)
Topic:	Points of View (First and Third Person Narratives)
Lesson Length:	30 - 45 mins

Standards / Framework:

Students will learn about first and third person points of view by narrating comics of their own.

This lesson serves as an introduction to first and third person points of view.

Read and discuss the sample comic.
- Have students compare how each character in the comic is telling the story about the party.
- What do they notice?
Discuss that stories can be told from different points of view. Authors often use either first-person or third-person narrations to tell their stories. What is the difference?
In first-person narratives the narrator is a character in the story. They talk about themselves because the story is told from their own point of view. The pronouns "I" and "me" are often used.
In third-person narratives the narrator isn’t a character in the story. They don’t talk about themselves. They talk about the events and characters like a storyteller, telling the story from afar. The pronouns he, she, them, they, it, etc. are used in this type of narrative.

Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create an original comic showing both types of narration.
Have students narrate the story they created using both first-person and third-person narratives in their comics.

Share the comics with the class and continue to compare the types of narratives used in stories.