Students over the past sever weeks have been studying how perspective is used within writing. Examining how a writer uses perspective to inform and persuade the reader, students then used these techniques within their own work. Our 3^rd and 4^th grade students have done tremendous work from analyzing writing to creating their own unique, engaging informative articles.

First students were exposed to how writing can shift between the 3^rd person perspective and the 1^st person perspective. Students worked in pairs debating the difference between a scientific overview of climate change and that of a speech about climate change presented by Greta Thunberg. It became apparent that each student showed incredible analysis skills during the group discussion.

Throughout the typical school day, I have seen the enjoyment students have in reading the series My Weird School Books. Bringing in these books to further broaden students’ understanding of how perspective can change within the same body of writing was the most fitting step. Laughter and meaningful conversation took place as students learned from their favorite characters. During this process students gradually began to write about their interests and that of their peers as practice on how perspective can change. By interviewing their peer and presenting information about them, they quickly became able to incorporate a new writing skill while also growing as public speakers.

The main project for the remainder of the class was dedicated to writing an informative article about a topic of their choice. They began this process by examining informative articles to understand how a writer can present a topic through different means. In preparation students also created their own book covers for their creative stories outside of class to practice presenting a topic. Each student was to select a topic, present an overview of that topic, argue why that topic was important, and present an argument as to why the reader should care about the topic.

Students gradually worked towards meeting this great expectation through peer review, group discussion, and creative writing. Topics ranged from favorite movies to the Olympics, government procedures and 1980’s sitcom characters, each developed with care as well as enthusiasm. Finally, students presented their articles to their peers and we were able to celebrate their friends writing.