Multiple Perspectives: Building Critical Thinking Skills

1. To begin the exploration of perspective, explain to students that you are going to give them a small piece of a larger picture, which has been cut into pieces.
   
   
2. Model how to create a picture based on a small part of the photograph.
   
   
3. Organize students into small groups of 3–4 students. After groups have been formed, distribute pieces of the photograph to the members of each group. Have students draw what they think the rest of the photo might look like, without looking at the other pieces. (Remind them to focus on their part only.)
   
   
4. Have the members of each group share their illustrations with one another. Engage students in discussion about the similarities and differences of their illustrations. Ask them to predict what the entire picture might be.
   
   
5. Assemble all of the pieces of the picture to reveal the entire image.
   
   
6. After completing the photograph activity, introduce the concept of perspective. Explain that perspective is point of view: how someone sees a situation, their feelings about a situation, their opinions of a situation, and the like. Make connections and provide examples, such as the following:
   
   
   • Connect to photograph activity, where each student formed a different idea of the original photograph because each was seeing it from a different perspective.
     
     
   • Point out that there are always at least two sides to every story, which is why people go to court and why teachers ask each student involved in a disagreement to tell his or her side of a story.
   
   
7. Relate the idea of perspective to reading: Explain to students that when we read, we see the story from the perspective of the narrator, such as  whoever is telling the story at a particular point. Sometimes the narrator is a character in the story. Some stories have more than one narrator, so we get different perspectives on the story.
   
   
   • Explain that we come to understand a character’s perspective by creating mental images.
     
     
   • When we pay attention to a character’s perspective (or all of the characters’ perspectives), we are engaging in critical thinking, and this kind of thinking helps us be better readers.
   
   
8. Sum up the explanation of perspective with the analogy of “walking in someone else’s shoes.” In the case of reading, you are taking off your own shoes and putting on the narrator’s shoes to walk through the story.

1. Introduce the book Seven Blind Mice by telling students that it shows the perspective of seven different characters. Explain that they will first take apart (deconstruct) the story and sketch it from each character’s perspective and then put together all of their images and see if they can get an idea of the entire picture.
   
   
2. Distribute a copy of the Sketch to Stretch sheet to each student and explain that each block is to be used to depict the perspective of one of the mice in the story.
   
   
3. Activate students’ schema by having them briefly discuss how a mouse’s perspective is different from a human’s. Before reading, have students pretend to take off their shoes and imagine that they are putting on a mouse’s shoes.
   
   
4. Read aloud Seven Blind Mice. Stop after each mouse’s description of the object (pillar, snake, spear, cliff, fan, rope) and have students complete a box on their Sketch to Stretch sheet.
   
   
5. Before reading the ending of the book, have the students try to put together the images from the different perspectives to infer what the entire picture might be. After this discussion, finish the book.
   
   
6. To close the lesson, have the students complete the self-assessment form Can I See Different Perspectives?

1. Introduce the book Fish Is Fish and ask students to predict what the book might be about. Also encourage them to ask questions about the book and think about what kinds of pictures they might see in the book. Encourage students to explain their thoughts as they discuss.
   
   
2. Review the idea of perspective and connect it to Fish Is Fish. Ask students whose perspective they think Fish Is Fish will be told from and why. Then explain to the students that Fish Is Fish is told from the very different perspectives of a fish and of a tadpole that turns into a frog.
   
   
3. Create student partnerships (2 students—if an odd number of students, one group of 3 and modify the activities as necessary). Students will complete the remaining sessions and activities with this partner.
   
   
4. Distribute copies of the Fish Is Fish Venn Diagram and explain how students will fill in the characteristics of Fish and Tadpole/Frog in the appropriate spaces as they read.
   
   
5. Distribute copies of the Fish Is Fish Script. The students will verbally read aloud the script with their partners. Note to students that whoever reads Fish’s part also must read as Narrator 1 and the partner who reads Frog’s part must also read Narrator 2. Provide students with the appropriate labels for their baseball caps (optional).
   
   
6. Circulate and observe as students read through script with their partners.
   
   
7. When students have read through about half of the script (about the halfway mark where Fish and Frog say good night), ask them to stop and jot down their thoughts about each character’s perspective. After they finish the book, they will complete the Fish Is Fish Venn Diagram and discuss as a pair.
   
   
8. Have students discuss in their pairs which character (Fish or Frog) had a more positive perspective of life and why. Then, share thoughts as a class.
   
   
9. To close the lesson, ask students whether playing the part of the fish and the frog after learning about perspective helped them feel as though they were thinking like the fish or frog.

1. Tell students that during the next two lessons they will complete a project using their skills of thinking from the perspective of someone or something else.
   
   
2. Introduce Diary of a Spider, Diary of a Worm, and Diary of a Fly, and ask students how the books are similar. (Make sure students’ response is that they are all the diary of something.) Also ask students to predict what kind of project they think they will be working on (creating a diary from the perspective of an insect/animal).
   
   
3. Tell students that they will be writing a diary from the perspective of an animal of their choosing. Students will be working with the partners they read with during the last session to create this diary. At this time, students can just begin to think about which animal they would like to “become.” A final decision does not need to be made at this point in time.
   
   
4. Ask students how they think they could learn about the perspective of a particular animal (researching, asking questions, reading about the animal).
   
   
5. Tell students that similarities among an author’s books can be used to form a “recipe” for another story. Distribute one copy of each book to each set of partners. If there aren’t enough copies, give each partnership one book and allow students to skim for about three minutes and then rotate with another group. After students have looked through the books, ask students what similarities they notice among the Diary of a Spider/Worm/Fly books. What is similar in the story lines? The entries?
   
   
6. Distribute copies of Doreen Cronin as Our Mentor. Read through the list of “ingredients,” and have each student identify at least four entries they would like to emulate in their diary. You may want to require that all diaries follow Cronin’s formulas for beginning and ending but that the fifth entry of each student will be either the beginning or the ending. Encourage students to use different diary entry ideas within their pairs and to choose different items to emulate, as they will be writing the diary together.
   
   
7. Distribute a copy of the Research Notes worksheet to each student, and have students go over the different types of facts they should look for about the animal.
   
   
8. Provide students with time to discuss with their partners what animal they will research. You may want to go through your magazines ahead of time so you know which animals you have information for. Different partnerships may choose the same animal as long as information sources are available for each partnership.
   
   
9. Bring students back together for short whole-class instruction. Model how to form additional questions students will need to answer to complete their animal diaries. For example, for a diary entry about the animal at school, you might think aloud, “Hmmm, we learn things in school. What might this animal need to learn when it is young or at some point during its lifetime?” For a diary entry about a nightmare the animal might have, you could think aloud: “Well, when I have nightmares they are always about something I am afraid of, so what might this animal be afraid of—afraid enough to have a nightmare?”
   
   
10. Guide students to begin skimming through the Zoobooks or Ranger Rick magazines to gather some information about animals. Quickly review how the headings on each page can guide the reader to particular information.
    
    
11. To close the session, have two sets of partners meet and share information about what they have found.

1. Ask students what they remember about the concept of perspective from the previous sessions, and review the points covered in the sessions.
   
   
   • When we read a story we see it from the perspective, or point of view, of the narrator, who may also be a character in the story.
     
     
   • Different characters in the story have different perspectives on the events.
     
     
   • Awareness of different perspectives is a type of critical thinking.
   
   
2. Remind students that they will be working to write a diary from the perspective of a chosen animal. If necessary, review research and note-taking techniques.
   
   
3. Have students review the preliminary research they conducted with Zoobooks or Ranger Rick magazines during the last lesson, and formulate some additional questions they would like to answer through their research.
   
   
4. In the computer lab or on classroom computers, have students open the Websites for Research. Explain that students should use these sites to find information about their chosen animals and answer as many questions as possible on the Research Notes worksheet. Assist students in navigating the sites and finding the needed information. Partners can work together to gather the information, or each partner can work separately and compare and combine information in the end.

1. Have students review their Research Notes from the previous session and select interesting facts to include in their animal diaries.
   
   
2. Distribute copies of the Diary Planning Sheet and explain that students should use the sheet to structure their diaries, filling in what will go on each page of the diary. Model for students how to construct a diary entry using the information gathered along with possible types of entries listed on the Doreen Cronin as Our Mentor handout. For example, information about an animal’s young could be presented as a “Family happenings” diary entry. Students will be working with their partners to decide which entries will be used and who will be writing which entries. Make sure that each set of partners does the following:
   
   
   • Decides who will write the opening entry and who will write the closing entry
     
     
   • Decides on dates for entries 1–10 ahead of time so that the entries are in consecutive order when written and then combined to form the diary
   If you prefer, you can provide the Diary Planning Sheet in electronic format and have students complete the worksheet on their computers.
   
   
3. As students finish planning, provide each student with five copies of the Diary Entry Template. Students can begin working on their entries today and complete them in Sessions 7 and 8.

1. If not distributed during the last session, provide each student with five copies of the Diary Entry Template. Allow students 30–40 minutes to work on constructing journal entries from their animal’s perspective. Encourage them to use their skills in thinking from another’s perspective while creating journal entries. Guide and assist students as needed while they create their journal entries.
   
   
2. After students have written all of their entries, they should illustrate the various entries.
   
   
3. Have students create a diary cover including the title (Diary of a ______) and the name(s) of the author(s). Assist students in assembling their diaries, alternating pages by student.

Set aside a class session for partner sets to share their diaries with the class orally. Since students worked in pairs, photocopy the diaries so that each partner has a copy. After sharing, make sure to distribute Self-Assessment: What Did I Learn? form for each student to complete independently.