RL.6.6: How Authors Develop a Narrator's or Speaker's Point of View
In plain English: RL.6.6 is the Common Core grade 6 ELA standard that asks students to explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a story or poem. Students show how what the narrator notices, thinks, feels, says and does reveals the way he or she sees events and people.
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Reading Standards for Literature · Cluster: Craft and Structure · Official standard
Students learn to explain how an author develops the point of view of a narrator or speaker: who tells the story, and how that teller sees events and people. The main text is Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped (1886), told in the first person by 17-year-old David Balfour. Three short passages follow David as he leaves home full of hope, grows uneasy on the road to his uncle's house, and meets the strange man inside.
Between the novel passages, students read Stevenson's poem "My Shadow" (1885), whose child speaker does not understand what a shadow is. Because the reader knows more than the speaker, the poem shows clearly how an author builds a point of view on purpose. Students then trace David's changing view on their own, and the homework asks them to analyze how Stevenson develops David's view of his uncle.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Identify the narrator or speaker of a text and tell first-person from third-person point of view
Explain how a narrator's or speaker's point of view is shown through what the narrator notices, thinks, feels, says and does
Explain how word choice and the narrator's limits (what he or she does not know) develop a point of view
Trace how a narrator's point of view changes across a text, supported by quotations
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Describing how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described RL.5.6
Citing textual evidence to support an analysis RL.6.1
Describing how characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution RL.6.3
Explaining the connotations of words, the feelings they carry RL.6.4
"Your class goes on a field trip, and it rains all day. Write one sentence about the trip as a student who loves rain would tell it, and one as a student who hates rain would tell it."
Read a few pairs aloud. Point out that the events are the same but the two tellers notice different things and feel differently about them. Tell students that the way a teller sees events is called point of view, and that authors build a teller's point of view on purpose, word by word.
Direct Instruction15 minutes
Teach these words and leave them on the board:
Narrator: the voice that tells a story. Speaker: the voice that talks in a poem. Neither one is the same as the author, the real person who wrote the text.
Point of view means two things. First, who tells the story: in first person, the narrator is a character and says "I" and "me"; in third person, the narrator is outside the story and says "he," "she" and "they." Second, how the narrator sees things: what he or she knows, thinks, feels and believes about the events and people.
A first-person narrator knows only what that character sees, hears and figures out. The reader sometimes understands more than the narrator does.
How authors develop a point of view (Diagram 1): through what the narrator notices, the thoughts and feelings the narrator shares, what the narrator says and does, the words the narrator uses to judge people and places, and when and from where the narrator tells the story.
Introduce the text: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish writer who also wrote Treasure Island. Kidnapped (1886) is told by David Balfour, a 17-year-old in Scotland in 1751. His parents have died, and the village minister, Mr. Campbell, gives him a letter from his father to deliver to a relative, Ebenezer Balfour of the house of Shaws. Words to know: manse (a minister's house), affecting (moving, full of feeling), smote (struck hard), gentlefolk (people of high rank), ingratitude (not being thankful) and fie (an old word meaning "for shame"). Read the passage aloud.
1I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of my father’s house. The sun began to shine upon the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and by the time I had come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the valley in the time of the dawn was beginning to arise and die away.
[...]
2With that he got upon his feet, took off his hat, and prayed a little while aloud, and in affecting terms, for a young man setting out into the world; then suddenly took me in his arms and embraced me very hard; then held me at arm’s length, looking at me with his face all working with sorrow; and then whipped about, and crying good-bye to me, set off backward by the way that we had come at a sort of jogging run. It might have been laughable to another; but I was in no mind to laugh. I watched him as long as he was in sight; and he never stopped hurrying, nor once looked back. Then it came in upon my mind that this was all his sorrow at my departure; and my conscience smote me hard and fast, because I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away out of that quiet country-side, and go to a great, busy house, among rich and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood.
3“Davie, Davie,” I thought, “was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name? Fie, fie; think shame.”
Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped (Chapter I, David leaves home) (1886; this edition 1905). Public domain (published 1905). Source text.
First person, told looking back
The novel opens: "I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain morning early in the month of June, the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for the last time out of the door of my father's house." What does this sentence show about the point of view?
Result: The narrator says "I" and "my," so this is first-person point of view: the narrator, David, is a character in the story. "I will begin the story of my adventures" also shows that he is telling it later, after the adventures are over. "For the last time" tells the reader that David already knows this was a farewell.
What the narrator notices
David describes Mr. Campbell's goodbye: "looking at me with his face all working with sorrow; and then whipped about, and crying good-bye to me, set off backward by the way that we had come at a sort of jogging run." What does Stevenson show by having David notice these details?
Result: David watches the minister's face and his odd, hurried way of leaving. These are details a fond, watchful young person would see. They show that David pays close attention to the minister, and they let the reader see the goodbye through David's eyes.
Thoughts and feelings shared directly
"My conscience smote me hard and fast, because I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away out of that quiet country-side." What does this sentence reveal?
Result: David tells the reader two feelings at once: he is excited to leave, and he feels guilty for being excited while the minister is sad. By sharing a feeling that does not make him look good, the narrator seems honest, and the reader trusts his view.
The narrator's inner voice
"Davie, Davie," I thought, "was ever seen such black ingratitude? Can you forget old favours and old friends at the mere whistle of a name? Fie, fie; think shame." How does this thought develop David's point of view?
Result: Stevenson lets the reader hear David scold himself, calling himself "Davie" as the minister does. The harsh words "black ingratitude" show that he values loyalty and gratitude. This inner voice shows a narrator who judges himself as well as other people.
Model the five tools with Diagram 1. For each tool, ask: "What does this show about how David sees events and people?" Point out that every example comes from David's own words, because in first person the reader has no other window on the story.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Stevenson also wrote poems for children. In "My Shadow," from A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), the speaker talks about his shadow. Read it aloud twice. Words to know: india-rubber ball (a bouncy rubber ball), notion (an idea), nursie (a nanny, a woman hired to care for young children) and arrant (complete, total).
1I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
5The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-- Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, 10And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; 15But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
Robert Louis Stevenson, My Shadow (1885). Public domain (published 1885). Source text.
Who is speaking? Pairs find two clues to the speaker's age. Teacher key: the speaker is a young child. He compares the shadow with "proper children" (line 6), and he has a "nursie" (line 12). The poem is written in the words a child would use.
Speaker and reader. Pairs read Diagram 2 and add one more line to it. Teacher key: the speaker gives the shadow a personality: "he likes to grow" (line 5), he is "a coward" (line 11), he is "lazy" (line 15). That is a child's way of seeing. The reader knows how light makes shadows, so the reader understands more than the speaker does.
Name the tools. Pairs choose two tools from Diagram 1 that Stevenson uses in the poem and quote a line for each. Teacher key: answers vary. Strong answers include the speaker's word choice ("he," "him," "coward") and the speaker's feelings, such as "The funniest thing about him" (line 5), which shows he is amused, not afraid.
Ask: "Would the poem be funny if the speaker understood shadows?" Lead students to see that the humor comes from the child's point of view, which Stevenson built on purpose.
Independent Practice15 minutes
Students read this passage from Chapter II on their own. David has walked for two days and is near Cramond, the parish where the house of Shaws stands. Each time he asks the way, people react oddly. Words to know: parish (a church district), habit (here, clothing), consorted ill with (did not fit with), illusions (false beliefs or hopes), indistinct (unclear), fancy (imagination), ill-fame (a bad reputation), current (here, passed around), desist (stop), put the matter to the touch of proof (find out for sure) and barred (covered with bars). Essen-Waterside is where David's father's house stood.
1A little farther on, and I was told I was in Cramond parish, and began to substitute in my inquiries the name of the house of Shaws. It was a word that seemed to surprise those of whom I sought my way. At first I thought the plainness of my appearance, in my country habit, and that all dusty from the road, consorted ill with the greatness of the place to which I was bound. But after two, or maybe three, had given me the same look and the same answer, I began to take it in my head there was something strange about the Shaws itself.
[...]
2I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions. The more indistinct the accusations were, the less I liked them, for they left the wider field to fancy. What kind of a great house was this, that all the parish should start and stare to be asked the way to it? or what sort of a gentleman, that his ill-fame should be thus current on the wayside? If an hour’s walking would have brought me back to Essendean, I had left my adventure then and there, and returned to Mr. Campbell’s. But when I had come so far a way already, mere shame would not suffer me to desist till I had put the matter to the touch of proof; I was bound, out of mere self-respect, to carry it through; and little as I liked the sound of what I heard, and slow as I began to travel, I still kept asking my way and still kept advancing.
[...]
3The night had begun to fall as I got close; and in three of the lower windows, which were very high up and narrow, and well barred, the changing light of a little fire began to glimmer. Was this the palace I had been coming to? Was it within these walls that I was to seek new friends and begin great fortunes? Why, in my father’s house on Essen-Waterside, the fire and the bright lights would show a mile away, and the door open to a beggar’s knock!
Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped (Chapter II, the road to the house of Shaws) (1886; this edition 1905). Public domain (published 1905). Source text.
On the handout, students (1) find two places where David's view of the house of Shaws changes and quote each; (2) find one thought David shares directly and explain what it shows; (3) find one detail David notices at the house and explain what it shows; (4) write one sentence explaining how Stevenson makes the reader see the house through David's eyes. The quiz uses this passage, the Chapter I passage and "My Shadow."
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Name the point of view of Kidnapped and of "My Shadow," and give one clue for each. (2) Choose one tool from Diagram 1 and explain, with a quotation, how it shows how David sees the house of Shaws.
Teacher note on language and content: the texts keep the British spellings and older words of their printings, such as "favours," "country-side" and "to-night." Kidnapped is set in Scotland, and many characters speak in Scots dialect; the passages on this page were chosen for David's own narration, which is mostly standard English. Later in the novel David is kidnapped and taken to sea, and the book includes fights and a murder; teachers who assign the whole novel may want to preview it.
For homework: students read the passage below, from Chapter III. A man with a gun has let David into the house of Shaws. David does not know yet who he is; a few lines later the man says he is David's uncle, Ebenezer, and then takes over the porridge David has started eating and finishes it himself. The last paragraph comes after the uncle has locked David in a dark bedroom for the night. Words to know: flannel (soft wool cloth), waistcoat (a vest), daunted (made afraid), fathom (understand), serving-man (a male servant), board wages (money paid to a servant left to watch an empty house), home-spun (made at home), in a muse (deep in thought), timidity (shyness), peat-hag (a wet hole left where peat, a kind of soil burned for fuel, was dug), plaid (a long wool cloth used as a cloak or blanket) and under lee of (sheltered by).
1As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me. He was a mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced creature; and his age might have been anything between fifty and seventy. His nightcap was of flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore, instead of coat and waistcoat, over his ragged shirt. He was long unshaved; but what most distressed and even daunted me, he would neither take his eyes away from me nor look me fairly in the face. What he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than I could fathom; but he seemed most like an old, unprofitable serving-man, who should have been left in charge of that big house upon board wages.
[...]
2To this I returned no answer, standing stiffly on my two feet, and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart. He, on his part, continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time, and to throw out little darting glances now at my shoes and now at my home-spun stockings. Once only, when he had ventured to look a little higher, our eyes met; and no thief taken with a hand in a man’s pocket could have shown more lively signals of distress. This set me in a muse, whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human company; and whether perhaps, upon a little trial, it might pass off, and my uncle change into an altogether different man. From this I was awakened by his sharp voice.
[...]
3I did not know whether to laugh or cry. The room was as cold as a well, and the bed, when I had found my way to it, as damp as a peat-hag; but by good fortune I had caught up my bundle and my plaid, and rolling myself in the latter, I lay down upon the floor under lee of the big bedstead, and fell speedily asleep.
Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped (Chapter III, David meets the man at Shaws) (1886; this edition 1905). Public domain (published 1905). Source text.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a chart with the five tools from Diagram 1 as rows and a column for quotations, and fill in the first row together
Before Independent Practice, retell the Chapter II passage in plain words, then have students find the matching sentences
Let students highlight every "I" and "me" in the first passage to see first-person narration
For Advanced Students
Ask them to find a sentence in the Chapter II passage where the older David, telling the story, seems to judge his younger self
Have them rewrite the last paragraph of the Chapter II passage in third person and explain what is lost
Ask them to write a fifth stanza of "My Shadow" that keeps the child's point of view
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Check that students name the narrator or speaker correctly and do not confuse the narrator with the author. Look for explanations that name a specific tool (a detail noticed, a thought shared, an action, a word choice, a limit of knowledge) and say what it shows about how the narrator sees events or people. Strong answers quote the words with paragraph or line numbers and notice when the point of view changes. Watch for answers that only summarize what happens.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Narrator Clue Cards
15 minPairs
Pairs read eight one-sentence cards, each from a different story. For each card, they decide whether it is first or third person, what the narrator thinks or feels, and which tool from Diagram 1 shows it.
The 8 Cards (written for this activity)
1. "I told myself the dog was friendly, but I kept the gate between us."
2. "Marcus grinned at the scoreboard, though his knees were still shaking."
3. "The new kid's shoes were spotless, which told me everything I needed to know about him."
4. "Of course I would win the spelling bee. Everyone said so, even my little brother."
5. "Lena waited by the window all afternoon, and each car that passed was not her mother's."
6. "Looking back now, I can laugh about that haircut. At the time, I wanted to hide under my bed."
7. "My grandmother's kitchen smelled of cinnamon, and I felt safe there."
8. "Nobody noticed Theo slip out of the room, and nobody asked where he had gone."
Procedure
Pairs sort the cards into two piles, first person and third person
For each card, they write the narrator's feeling or attitude in one or two words and name the tool that shows it
Pairs mark any card where they trust the narrator's judgment less, and explain why
Answer key for the teacher: first person, cards 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7; third person, cards 2, 5 and 8. One reasonable reading of the feelings: 1 nervous (action against thought), 2 proud but shaky (details an outside narrator notices), 3 quick to judge (word choice), 4 overconfident (thoughts), 5 lonely and worried (details), 6 embarrassed then amused (telling from later), 7 comforted (senses and feeling), 8 unnoticed (details)
Discussion Questions
On which cards might the narrator be wrong about something? How can a reader tell?
Card 6 has two points of view in one person. What are they?
Modification
For students who need support, start with only the first-person cards and the question "How does the narrator feel?"
2
Change the Narrator
15 minIndividual, then pairs
Students rewrite a plain paragraph as a first-person narrator with a strong point of view, changing what is noticed, thought and felt. Partners then name the tools the writer used.
The Plain Paragraph (written for this activity)
"The class walked into the science museum. A whale skeleton hung from the ceiling. A guide gave each student a map. The group stopped at the planetarium door."
Procedure
Each student picks a narrator: a student who is nervous about the trip, or one who has waited all year for it
They rewrite the paragraph in first person in four to six sentences, adding at least one thought, one feeling and one detail their narrator would notice
Partners swap, guess the narrator's attitude, and underline the words that gave it away
Model for the teacher (a nervous narrator): "I stayed at the back of the line as we walked into the museum. Above us, a whale skeleton hung from thin wires, and I hoped they were strong. The guide handed me a map I could not read, and I folded it small. At the planetarium door, everyone else rushed forward. I counted the exit signs."
Variation
For a challenge, students write the same moment from the guide's first-person point of view and compare the two versions.
3
Narrator in the Hot Seat
15 minGroups of 3-4
One student in each group sits in the "hot seat" as David Balfour, standing at the door of the house of Shaws at the end of the Chapter II passage. The others interview him. Every answer must be supported by words from the Chapter I or Chapter II passage.
Procedure
Groups write four interview questions, such as: "How did you feel when you left home?" "What did you expect to find at Shaws?" "Why didn't you turn back?" "What do you think of the house now?"
The student playing David answers in first person and points to a sentence in the passage for each answer
After the interview, the group lists two things David cannot know yet, such as who is inside the house
Groups switch the hot seat so at least two students play David
Discussion Questions
Which answers were easiest to support from the text? Which were hardest?
What does the reader wonder about that David wonders about too?
Variation
For a challenge, one student plays Mr. Campbell and answers the same kind of questions. Discuss which details from Chapter I show his feelings, even though David is the narrator.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Five Tools That Develop a Narrator's Point of View
Five ways an author builds a narrator's point of view, each shown with words from the Kidnapped passage in Direct Instruction (Chapter I).
Diagram 2: What the Speaker of "My Shadow" Says and What the Reader Knows
Three places in "My Shadow" where the child speaker's view and the reader's understanding differ. Line numbers refer to the poem in Guided Practice.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
RL.6.6 Homework: David's Point of View at the House of Shaws
Directions: Read the passage from Chapter III of Kidnapped at the end of the lesson plan (in Closure). Its paragraphs are numbered 1-3. Answer in complete sentences, put words you copy in quotation marks, and give the paragraph number.
Part 1: First Impressions (Problems 1-2)
In paragraph 1, David calls the man "a mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced creature." Choose two of these words and explain what each one connotes (the feeling it carries). What do they show about how David sees the man?
At the end of paragraph 1, David guesses the man is "an old, unprofitable serving-man." The Closure introduction tells you who the man really is. Explain how Stevenson uses this gap between what David knows and what the reader knows to develop David's point of view.
Part 2: Actions, Thoughts and Feelings (Problems 3-4)
In paragraph 2, David stands "stiffly on my two feet, and looking down upon my uncle with a mighty angry heart." Explain how this action and this feeling together develop David's point of view.
Later in paragraph 2, David wonders "whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human company." What does this thought show about the way David judges people? Explain with one more quotation from paragraph 2.
Part 3: Putting It Together (Problems 5-6)
In paragraph 3, David says, "I did not know whether to laugh or cry," and describes the room with two comparisons using "as." Explain how these sentences show David's feelings and how he handles a bad situation.
Write a paragraph of five to seven sentences explaining how Stevenson develops David's point of view of his uncle in this passage. Discuss at least three tools from Diagram 1, with a quotation for each.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Narrator and point of view
Correctly explains what David knows, thinks and feels, and what he does not know yet
Explains his feelings but not the limits of what he knows, or the reverse
Confuses David with the author or retells events only
Author's tools
Names specific tools (details, thoughts, actions, word choice) and explains what each shows
Names tools without explaining what they show
No tools named
Evidence
Every answer quotes the passage with paragraph numbers
Some answers quote the passage, or quotations lack numbers
No quotations
Analysis paragraph
Five to seven sentences, three tools, each with a quotation, clearly linked to David's view of his uncle
Fewer tools or weak links to David's view
No analysis, or fewer than three sentences
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 3-5 use the Kidnapped passage from Chapter I in Direct Instruction; questions 6-9, 17 and 19 use "My Shadow" in Guided Practice; questions 10-16 use the Chapter II passage in Independent Practice; question 18 uses both Kidnapped passages. Questions 1, 2 and 20 are about point of view in general. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence is told from a first-person point of view?
Answer: B
A first-person narrator is a character who tells the story using "I," "me" and "my," as in Choice B. Choices A and D are third person: an outside narrator tells about Sam, using "his" and "him." Choice C is also third person; a common error is to think a sentence with no names in it must be first person.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Kidnapped, but the story is told by David Balfour. Which statement is correct?
Answer: A
The author is the real person who wrote the book; the narrator is the character who tells it, here David, who says "I" throughout. Choice B reverses the two roles. Choice C confuses a character with a real writer: David is invented. Choice D is wrong because Mr. Campbell appears in Chapter I, but David tells about him.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"The sun began to shine upon the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and by the time I had come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs" (paragraph 1). What do these details suggest about how David feels as he sets out?
Answer: D
David notices the sunrise, whistling birds and mist that is "beginning to arise and die away," all signs of a fresh start, so the details he picks show a hopeful mood. Choice A has no support: nothing he notices is frightening. Choice B is contradicted by the kind minister waiting for him. Choice C is wrong because it is "early in the month of June," the start of summer.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"It might have been laughable to another; but I was in no mind to laugh" (paragraph 2). What does this sentence show about David's point of view?
Answer: C
David admits that the minister's jogging run could look funny to someone else, but he refuses to laugh, so he respects the old man and is touched by the goodbye. Choice A reverses the sentence. Choice B is contradicted by "I watched him as long as he was in sight." Choice D misreads "overjoyed": David is glad to go to Shaws, not glad the minister leaves.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"Then it came in upon my mind that this was all his sorrow at my departure" (paragraph 2). What does this sentence show about how the story is told?
Answer: A
In first person, the reader knows only what David sees and figures out. He watches the minister hurry off and only then understands that it is sorrow, so the reader understands at the same moment. Choice B is wrong: the minister says only "good-bye." Choice C describes a third-person narrator. Choice D is contradicted by the sentence itself.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"And what can be the use of him is more than I can see" (line 2). What does this line show about the speaker?
Answer: B
"More than I can see" means "more than I can understand": the child wonders what a shadow is for. Choice A invents chores the poem never mentions. Choice C reads "see" literally, but in line 4 he says "I see him jump." Choice D is what the reader knows, not the speaker.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed" (line 4). The word "jump" appears twice. What does the second "jump" help the reader understand that the speaker does not seem to realize?
Answer: C
The line names two jumps, and the second causes the first: the shadow jumps "before me" only "when I jump into my bed." The speaker reports this as if the shadow jumps by itself, but the reader can see that it simply copies him. Choice A invents a friend; no one else is in the poem. Choice B takes the speaker's view as fact, but a shadow cannot race anyone. Choice D adds a fear of the dark that the line never mentions.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, / And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way" (lines 9-10). What do these lines show about the speaker's point of view?
Answer: D
A shadow copies every move, and the child takes that copying as mockery: it can "make a fool of me." He also complains that it does not know "how children ought to play," so he judges it like a badly behaved child. Choice A reverses his complaint. Choice B has no support. Choice C ignores that every word about the shadow here is a complaint.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!" (line 12). What does this line reveal about the speaker?
Answer: A
"I'd think shame" means "I would be ashamed." The child calls the shadow a coward for sticking close, and says he himself would never cling to his nanny like that, so he wants to seem brave and grown-up. Choice B confuses the nanny with the shadow. Choice C reverses the meaning. Choice D mixes in the last stanza, which does not mention shame.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"At first I thought the plainness of my appearance, in my country habit, and that all dusty from the road, consorted ill with the greatness of the place to which I was bound" (paragraph 1). Why does David first think people look surprised?
Answer: C
David first blames himself: his dusty country clothes do not seem to match "the greatness of the place." This shows he is modest and still believes Shaws is grand. Only "after two, or maybe three" people react the same way does he suspect the house itself. Choice A and Choice B are not in the passage. Choice D invents jealousy.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"I cannot well describe the blow this dealt to my illusions" (paragraph 2). What does the word "illusions" show about the narrator's point of view?
Answer: B
An illusion is a false belief. By calling his hopes "illusions," the older David who tells the story shows he now knows they were mistaken. Choice A is contradicted by the word itself and by "the blow." Choice C has no support: David takes the warnings seriously. Choice D confuses "illusion" with a dream.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"The more indistinct the accusations were, the less I liked them, for they left the wider field to fancy" (paragraph 2). What does David mean?
Answer: D
"Indistinct" means unclear, and "fancy" means imagination. Because no one says exactly what is wrong, David's imagination fills the gap, and that is worse. Choice A reverses "the less I liked them." Choice B is not stated; he believes something is wrong. Choice C is contradicted by "I still kept asking my way."
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"Mere shame would not suffer me to desist till I had put the matter to the touch of proof; I was bound, out of mere self-respect, to carry it through" (paragraph 2). Why does David keep going?
Answer: C
David says "shame" and "self-respect" will not let him stop until he finds out the truth for himself, so his pride keeps him going. Choice A has no support. Choice B is contradicted by his thought that he could have "returned to Mr. Campbell's." Choice D is contradicted by his doubts about the house.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
"In three of the lower windows, which were very high up and narrow, and well barred, the changing light of a little fire began to glimmer" (paragraph 3). What do the details David notices here show?
Answer: A
David notices high, narrow, barred windows and only "a little fire," details that make the house look like a prison. The details he chooses show his growing unease. Choice B has no support: only a little light shows. Choice C misreads the small fire in the windows. Choice D is contradicted by "Was this the palace I had been coming to?"
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
In paragraph 2 of the Chapter II passage, David asks, "What kind of a great house was this, that all the parish should start and stare to be asked the way to it?" Explain how Stevenson uses questions like this one to develop David's point of view.
Model answer: The questions let the reader hear David's thoughts as he has them, in his own words. They show that he is confused and worried: people "start and stare" at the name, and he cannot work out why. Because David does not know the answer, the reader does not know it either, so the reader shares his uneasy view of the house. Rubric: 2 points for explaining that the questions show David's thoughts and what those thoughts reveal about his view; 1 point for one of the two; 0 points otherwise.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
"Why, in my father's house on Essen-Waterside, the fire and the bright lights would show a mile away, and the door open to a beggar's knock!" (paragraph 3). What does this comparison show about how David judges the house of Shaws, and about his own values?
Model answer: David compares the house of Shaws with his father's poor but welcoming home, where lights shone far and even a beggar could come in. By that measure, the great house fails: it is big but closed and cold. The comparison shows that David values warmth and kindness to strangers more than wealth. Rubric: 2 points for how David judges Shaws and what the comparison shows about his values; 1 point for one of the two; 0 points otherwise.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
"One morning, very early, before the sun was up, / I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; / But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, / Had stayed at home behind me" (lines 13-16). What do these lines show about how the speaker sees himself compared with his shadow?
Model answer: The speaker is proud of himself: he got up "very early" and went out to see "the shining dew on every buttercup," a small, beautiful sight. He calls the shadow "lazy" and "an arrant sleepy-head," so he sees himself as the good, early-rising child and the shadow as the bad one. The lines show a child who likes to feel better than someone else. Rubric: 2 points for explaining how the speaker sees himself and the shadow, with a quotation for each; 1 point for one of the two; 0 points otherwise.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
In Chapter I, David is overjoyed to go "to a great, busy house, among rich and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood." In Chapter II, he asks, "Was this the palace I had been coming to?" Explain how Stevenson shows David's point of view changing between the two passages.
Model answer: In Chapter I, David imagines the house of Shaws as "a great, busy house" full of "rich and respected" relatives, which shows his hopeful, even proud, view. In Chapter II, people's odd reactions make him doubt, and when he finally sees the house, his question "Was this the palace I had been coming to?" shows disappointment. Stevenson develops the change through what David notices and the thoughts he shares, so the reader's view of the house changes with his. Rubric: 2 points for describing David's view in both passages and explaining how the author shows the change; 1 point for describing the change without the author's tools, or only one passage; 0 points otherwise.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Imagine that "My Shadow" were spoken by an adult scientist who explains exactly how shadows work. How would the poem change? Use one line from the poem in your answer.
Model answer: The poem would lose its humor and its charm. The child calls the shadow "him" and says, for example, "The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow" (line 5), as if the shadow chose to grow. A scientist would explain that a shadow's length depends on where the light is, so there would be no choosing, no coward and no sleepy-head. The child's point of view is what turns an ordinary fact into a funny poem. Rubric: 2 points for explaining how the new speaker changes the poem, with a quotation; 1 point for a change without a quotation; 0 points otherwise.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Write two sentences about the same event, a student's first day at a new school: one told by a first-person narrator who is nervous, and one told by a third-person narrator. Then explain one thing the reader learns from the first version that the second does not show.
Model answer: First person: "I held my schedule so tightly it tore, and I was sure everyone could hear my heart pounding." Third person: "Ava walked into the school holding her schedule." The first version lets the reader inside the narrator's head, so we learn how nervous she is and what she believes (that everyone can hear her heart). The third-person version shows only what an observer could see. Rubric: 2 points for two correct sentences and a clear explanation of what the first-person version reveals; 1 point for correct sentences with a weak explanation; 0 points otherwise.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does RL.6.6 mean?
It means sixth graders explain how an author builds the point of view of the narrator of a story or the speaker of a poem. Students show how the details the narrator notices, the thoughts and feelings he or she shares, and his or her words and actions reveal the way the narrator sees events and people.
What is the difference between the narrator and the author?
The author is the real person who wrote the text; the narrator is the voice that tells the story inside it. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Kidnapped, but David Balfour, an invented 17-year-old, narrates it. Keeping the two apart matters because the narrator's views are not always the author's.
What is the difference between first-person and third-person point of view?
In first person, the narrator is a character who says "I," so the reader sees only what that character sees and knows. In third person, the narrator is outside the story and says "he," "she" and "they." A third-person narrator may follow one character closely or know what everyone thinks.
How does an author develop a narrator's point of view?
Authors develop it through what the narrator notices, the thoughts and feelings the narrator shares, what the narrator says and does, the words the narrator uses to judge people and places, and when the narrator tells the story. Students should name the tool and explain what it shows.
What is the speaker of a poem?
The speaker is the voice that talks in a poem. Like a narrator, the speaker is not always the poet. In Stevenson's "My Shadow," the speaker is a young child who does not understand shadows, though Stevenson wrote the poem as an adult.
How is RL.6.6 different from RL.5.6?
RL.5.6 asks students to describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described. RL.6.6 asks them to explain how the author develops that point of view: which choices of detail, thought, action and word build it.
What comes after RL.6.6?
RL.7.6 asks students to analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators. RL.8.6 adds differences between what characters know and what the reader knows, such as dramatic irony, and the suspense or humor they create.
How is RL.6.6 different from RI.6.6?
RL.6.6 is about the narrator or speaker of a literary text, who may be an invented character. RI.6.6 is about the author's own point of view or purpose in an informational text, such as an article or a speech, and how it is conveyed.
Why teach RL.6.6 with Kidnapped and "My Shadow"?
Both are by Robert Louis Stevenson but have very different tellers: a serious 17-year-old narrator and a playful child speaker. Kidnapped shows a point of view changing over a few pages, and "My Shadow" shows clearly how the reader can know more than the speaker. Both are old enough to be in the public domain.
How can parents help with RL.6.6 at home?
While reading together, ask, "Who is telling this story, and how do they feel about what is happening?" Then ask, "What words tell you that?" Retelling a family event from another person's point of view is another quick way to practice.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to RL.6.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
RL.5.6Prerequisite
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view shapes how events are described
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
RI.6.6Parallel
Determine an author's point of view or purpose in informational text and how it is conveyed
Lesson coming soon
RL.6.3Parallel
Describe how a plot unfolds in episodes and how characters respond or change
Lesson coming soon
After this lesson
RL.7.6Next step
Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters
Lesson coming soon
RL.8.6Extends to
Analyze how differences in characters' and readers' points of view create suspense or humor
