How to Teach Point of View in ELA

Point of view shapes how students understand a text. It tells them who’s speaking, what the narrator knows, and how much the reader can trust what they see on the page.

When students can identify and compare points of view, they read more closely. They also make stronger writing choices because they understand how a narrator’s lens changes a story.

[What is point of view?](id-what)

Point of view (POV) is the lens a writer uses to tell a story or share information. It helps students figure out who’s speaking, what the narrator knows, and how the narrator’s choices shape what readers understand.

Why point of view matters for students

Learning about point of view gives students a way to ask better questions while they read. Instead of just considering what happened, they can ask “Who’s telling me this?” and “What does the narrator know or leave out?”

This skill supports more than story comprehension. It helps them notice bias, compare perspectives, and explain why two readers or characters might understand the same event differently. Teaching it can help students become both better readers and better writers.

Point of view in fiction and nonfiction

Teaching point of view isn’t just for fiction. Students can study it in news articles, informational texts, speeches, and even media.

In fiction, POV helps students track the narrator’s role in the story. Is the narrator a character or are they outside the action? Do they know one character’s thoughts or many characters’ thoughts?

In nonfiction, POV helps students notice the way the writer or speaker frames information. A news article may use the third person to report events from outside the action. A speech may use “we” to build a shared sense of purpose. An opinion piece may use the first person to make the writer’s stance clear.

When students learn to look for these choices, they can better explain how a text’s purpose, audience, and voice work together.

[What are the types of point of view?](id-types)

Most classroom instruction focuses on first-, second-, and third-person points of view. Students may also see fourth-person POV in speeches or writing with a collective voice. Each type changes who speaks, what readers know, and how close readers feel to the text.

First-person point of view

First-person POV often feels close and personal because the narrator speaks from their own experience. When working with first-person texts, push students to ask questions like “What can this narrator understand, and what might they miss?” This question helps students see that first-person narration can build connection, suspense, bias, or uncertainty.

You can use Newsela ELA resources to show students how first-person POV can work in different ways.

Second-person point of view

Second-person point of view helps students understand the audience and purpose. When they spot the pronouns “you” or “your,” they’ll know a text is in second-person POV. Then you can push them to ask why the writer wants to speak directly to the reader.

That question can lead students into deeper conversations about tone, persuasion, and the relationship with the audience. When writing directions, “you” may make the steps feel clear and personal. In a speech, direct address can make listeners feel included or challenged. 

You can use the Speeches Collection in Newsela ELA to help students look for moments when a speaker addresses the audience directly. Ask students to explain how second-person language affects the speaker’s purpose and the audience’s role.

Third-person point of view

Working with a third-person point of view gives students a chance to ask a different question: How much does the narrator know? This allows them to look more closely at whether the narrator reports only what can be seen and heard, follows one character closely, or knows what multiple characters think and feel.

Third-person POV can create very different reading experiences. A third-person objective narrator feels more distant, like a reporter describing events. A third-person limited narrator keeps readers close to one character’s understanding. Finally, a third-person omniscient narrator can move perspective across characters, settings, and information.

You can use Newsela ELA resources to help students understand and practice reading texts in different versions of third-person POV.

Fourth-person point of view

Fourth-person POV is less common, but helpful for students to understand when they’re studying speeches, opinion writing, or texts that create a shared identity. Instead of focusing on one narrator or addressing the reader as “you,” fourth-person POV often uses words like “we,” “us,” or “anyone” to speak from a collective or general viewpoint.

When teaching the fourth person, ask students to look closely at who gets included in the “we.” Does the speaker mean a classroom, a community, or all people?” That question helps students connect the point of view to the audience, purpose, and persuasion.

Use the Speeches Collection in Newsela ELA to help students find moments when speakers use collective language to bring an audience together. They can compare those choices with first-person moments where a speaker shares personal experiences, and then explain how the shift changes the message. 

[Point of view vs. perspective](id-perspective) 

Point of view and perspective are closely related, but they aren’t the same. Point of view is how the story or information is told. Perspective is the narrator’s or speaker’s position, background, beliefs, and experiences that shape how they understand what happens. 

[How to teach point of view](id-how)

Teaching point of view works best when students move from easy clues, like pronouns, to deeper questions about narrator position, perspective, and reliability. Start with what students can see on the page, then help them explain why the writer chose that point of view.

Start with pronouns and narration

Teach students to use pronouns as a starting clue to find the point of view. Once they notice pronouns, have them check whether those clues appear in the narration or only in dialogue. This distinction matters because a third-person story can still include “I” or “you” when characters speak. The strongest evidence of a point of view comes from the narration.

From here, students can move on to make reading claims: Who’s speaking, where’s the narrator positioned, and what does the narrator know?

Compare narrators, characters, and perspectives

Students often mix up terms like narrator, character, point of view, and perspective. Teaching the terms together can help them compare and contrast meanings and assign labels to texts. The distinction between words like narrator and character may become most confusing when the narrator is also a character. 

In first-person stories, students may assume the narrator’s version is the whole truth. Push them to compare what the narrator says with what other characters say and do. That helps students notice where the narrator’s perspective may be limited, emotional, or missing key information.

Teach narrator reliability

Once students understand who’s telling the story, help them ask whether they can trust the narrator. A narrator may be reliable, unreliable, or limited by what they know. 

This type of analysis works well with first-person texts. Students can compare the narrator’s words with the evidence around them. What do other characters say? Where do their actions and explanations conflict?

Use mentor texts to compare POV choices

After students can identify the point of view, use mentor texts to show why authors choose one POV over another. The strongest comparisons ask students to study how the same event, character, or theme changes when the narrator changes. 

Start small by comparing two passages or chapters with different narrators, or two texts that view a similar topic from different lenses. Ask students what each narrator knows and cares about, and what changes for the reader when the voice changes.

[Point of view activities for the classroom](id-activities)

Once students understand the basics, give them short, repeatable ways to practice. These point-of-view activities help students move from identifying the narrator to explaining how POV shapes what readers see, know, and believe.

Create an anchor chart or POV reference tool

Anchor charts help students keep point-of-view clues visible while they read. Include the main POV types, signal pronouns, narrator position, and one question students can ask for each type.

Keep the chart simple enough for students to use independently. They don’t have to memorize every subtype, but they should be able to move across the chart in complexity from finding the pronoun to explaining who’s speaking and what the narrator knows.

You can build the chart together during direct instruction, then add examples as students encounter new texts. This makes the reference tool useful for all lessons.

Try a POV scavenger hunt

A POV scavenger hunt gives students quick practice in identifying point of view across multiple texts. Use books from your classroom library, short passages, or Newsela ELA texts. Then give students a goal: Find one text that matches each POV type and explain the evidence.

Their explanation should include pronoun clues, narrator position, and what the narrator can or can’t know.

You can run this as an independent activity, partner task, or small-group challenge. At the end, have students share one example and explain how they knew the point of view matched.

Write from an image or artwork

Images are a useful way to show students that the point of view isn’t limited to written text. Start with a painting, a photograph, or an illustration, and ask students what they notice first. They may consider from whose perspective we’re viewing the scene and what information is missing from the viewer’s angle.

Then, have students choose one person, object, or outside observer from the image and write a short first-person version of the scene. After that, ask them to rewrite the same moment in the third person. Students can compare what changed. Which details stayed the same, and which became clearer? What did the reader know in one version that they didn’t know in the other?

Image-based POV activity

Use artwork to practice changing point of view

Show students an image, then ask them to write the same moment from more than one point of view. They can compare how each narrator changes what readers notice, know, and believe.

1. Notice the scene

   Ask students what they see first, where the viewer seems positioned, and what information the image leaves out.

2. Choose a narrator

   Have students pick one person in the image, an object in the scene, or an outside observer looking in.

3. Write in first person

   Students write a short version using “I” and explain what their narrator knows, feels, or assumes.

4. Rewrite in third person

   Students retell the same moment from outside the scene, then compare how the reader’s understanding changes.

Compare two texts with different perspectives

Pairing two texts helps students see how point of view and perspective shape meaning. Choose texts that share a topic, theme, or character type but with different narrators or lenses.

Before students compare, have them name the narrator or speaker in each text. Then ask them to explain what each narrator knows and values and how each one’s perspective changes the reader’s understanding.

Try a printable Venn diagram graphic organizer to track what the texts have in common and what each narrator or speaker reveals.

Rewrite a scene from a new point of view

Students can rewrite a familiar scene to see the point of view as a writer’s choice, not just a label. Choose a short passage that students know well and ask them to retell it from a different narrator’s position. Have them reflect on their updates by explaining what changed and why the new point of view matters.

Teach point of view with Newsela ELA

Point of view gets easier to teach when students can see the skill across different formats. With Newsela ELA, you can give students more ways to notice who’s speaking, what the narrator knows, and how POV shapes meaning.

Use Newsela ELA texts and Novel Studies to help students compare narrators and perspectives. Add multimedia support with the Generation Genius ELA Videos Collection, including “Sam’s First Home Run: Point of View,” to give students a focused example before they apply the skill in reading and writing.

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