"Shorty start a fire on the dancefloor"

Point of view (POV) is fairly straightforward to teach by definition; analyzing a text and determining point of view is not always easy. My students were doing fairly well comprehending POV, but I needed an activity to strengthen clarity.

Thursday morning I set my alarm for 4 A.M because I had promised my students we would do a role playing activity to practice POV determination. I created four skits: "The Pirate" (Third Person Omniscient), "The Teacher"(First Person), "The Rodeo" (Third Person Limited Omniscient), and "The Dance" (Third Person Limited Omniscient). The students loved the activity! The bold ones had the opportunity to express themselves through drama, and the shy ones had the opportunity to laugh shamelessly at them. The following is the script to "The Dance". The real CMS "Welcome Back to School Dance" is September 23rd. The theme of the back to school dance this year is to dress like a nerd. I thought this would be a fun way to link learning to a true life event:

"The Dance"

Narrator: Chris picked Denisha up for their date. After a short ride, they arrived at Crossett Middle School for the "Welcome Back to School Dance". Out on the dance floor Denisha was thinking, "Chris is rocking that nerd outfit!" Denisha says to her friend,

Denisha: "I've got a feeling...that tonight's going to be a good night...that tonight's going to be a good, good night."

Narrator: Standing with his buddies at the edge of the dance floor, Chris smiles back at Denisha. He's standing there in his high water pants, pencils in his shirt pocket, suspenders, and black rimmed glasses held together with tape at the bridge of his nose. While watching Denisha dance, Chris says to his buddies,

Chris: "Someone call 911...Shorty start a fire on the dance floor."

The skits were a hit! The boisterous bunch bellowed brazenly as the brave boys and girls boldly blared their blurbs. The students cackled with laughter, and of course, there were many that broke out into different refrains of each of the two songs quoted in our skit. Triumphantly, the students were able to tell me that this skit was written in third person limited omniscient since only Denisha's mind was read. It made for a really fun day!