child writing thoughts in a notebook

Resources to Teach Children How to Express Their Point of View Through Writing

Writing is part of everyone’s life, even though not all might feel they have the talent to write engaging stories or novels.

However, since we learn how to write in school, lots of assignments will revolve around this skill set. Getting an education does not only mean that you need to go to that class, learn that lesson, and start that course.

It also means that you need to complete assignments, and many of these involve writing. Teachers want to foster the development of children across their study years, so they design homework that helps them do this. 

And many of these assignments involve writing essays or other paper types where students are asked to express their point of view on a given topic.

Everyone has a point of view on something specific, and if they do not have it, they will contour and define it after research.

However, expressing it through writing might feel more challenging than doing it verbally. So, as a teacher, you want to encourage children’s writing skills development.

But how can you do it? How can you teach them to express their point of view through writing? 

child writing thoughts in a notebook

The Different Types of Points of View 

Before delving more into the resources and activities you can do within a class to encourage students to learn how to express their points of view through writing, it would be crucial to understand the differences between them.

When you think about a point of view, you mainly think about yours. You have a given topic so you need to write your opinion on that topic, not someone else’s. However, if we take a broader view of this topic, we can notice that there are many points of view.

From a narrative point, there is the first-person point of view which might be the most common. But there is also a third-person point of view, which can be objective, limited, or omniscient. 

These mostly apply when children have to create and write a story or when they want to detach from the action and present it objectively. And there is also the second-person point of view, where you need to use the pronoun “you”.

But when it comes to writing essays, children will need to express their personal point of view, so the first-person one. This might feel confusing at the beginning, especially when there is so much information about the distinct perspectives one can express through writing.

An essay examples collection can help you show examples of essays where distinct points of view are used. Here you can find a sample essay that will clarify the theory and help children understand how they can play with these perspectives. 

As an educator, you want to use the best resources to help children understand what a point of view is and learn when and how to use the distinct types.

Children need to understand, through these activities and games, that there can be more points of view to the same story. That they can either agree or disagree with them, but they need to do it respectfully in each case.

They need to understand that there is no right or wrong and that these differences reside in many things. 

The culture you have grown up in, the country you come from, and even the beliefs of your parents and family can shape your point of view. But finding out other points of view and understanding them can help you define your own, so the activities should revolve around this. 

Point of View Bookmark 

One effective way to help children learn how to express their point of view through writing is to design and share a point of view bookmark.

You can adapt this depending on the grade and experience of children, but it should include a few tips and tricks on how to make the difference between the first-person and third-person point of view.

Then, you can have a table where children can organize their thoughts, with the evidence and consequences or influences of their point of view. 

Graphic Organizers 

Another way to help children learn how to express their points of view through writing is to have graphic organizers. With the help of these organizers, they can easily identify the point of view in a story. But it helps them organize their thoughts too.

To support your point of view in an essay or any paper you write, you need evidence. You need arguments. And you can design these graphic organizers in such a way that they can easily organize their thoughts. After that, it will be easier to transform them into text. 

Encourage them to Outline

The core of every successful paper is the outline. Many students actually skip this step as they do not see its importance or relevance. However, when you need to write an essay or any other paper on a given topic and you need to express your point of view, you need to consider many things. 

And a crucial part is to back up your point of view with arguments that support it, with evidence. But doing this through writing might seem challenging and you need to deliver a logical and smooth paper.

So, an outline is like the structure of a paper and you can help children understand this. You may give them an outline structure to have as a model and try to use it in their homework. 

Final Thoughts 

Expressing your point of view through writing might feel more challenging than doing it verbally.

As an educator, you want to support the development of children and the improvement of their skills. So, you can do this by having distinct sheets they can use to learn more about distinct points of view in stories.

But you can also encourage them to use an outline when they start writing a paper or their homework, as this will help them do it smoothly and logically.

Do not forget to explain to them the differences between distinct points of view and the particularities of each.