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Language Arts

Seeing From All Sides: Writing Point of View
Monologues
by Mindy Hardwick

Subject: Language Arts/Drama/Art/Conflict Resolution

Grade Level: High school

Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to understand an event from all points of view by writing monologues. Students will identify how character voice and point of view influence the telling of a story.

Time Needed: A 50-minute class period

Materials:

Pictures of art, which can show a painting, a sculpture, or a historical fashion like shoes or jewelry.

Books with sample one-page monologues like:

Monologues for Teenagers and More Monologues for Teenagers by Roger Karshner.

Instructions

Inform students that a "fictional crime" has been committed. A piece of art work has been stolen! However, each person in the "crime" has a side. Students are going to write monologues for each side of the story.

Read sample monologues from the above mentioned books.

Discuss with students:

          1. How do monologues show character voice?

          2. How do monologues show character emotion?

          3. What do we learn about character with a monologue?

Option: Depending on the type of art work chosen, a lesson about the art work might also be inserted here.

Place students into small groups of four students.

Hand out the pictures of art. Tell the students that someone has stolen the art. Each person in the group is going to take a different point of view of the crime and write a monologue in the voice of the person involved.

Assign the writing roles by numbering students 1 - 4. Tell them that their number corresponds with one of the following:

          1. Detective

          2. Criminal

          3. Falsely accused

          4. Artist

Ask the students to write a one-page monologue about the crime from the point of view of their assigned role. Encourage them to create a likeable human with feelings and emotions, not a stereotypical character. In order to make each believable, the following guidelines should be used:

The detective monologue should include three clues and one red herring (a path the detective followed that threw him off track). He may solve the mystery or not.

The criminal monologue should focus on the motive. We should feel sympathetic to the criminal. He needs to include a deeper motive beyond money. If the motive is money, why did the criminal need the money? For example, the criminal may have needed money to help pay for his mother's funeral. We should see the criminal as human, not as a bad guy.

The artist monologue should tell us about his passion for art. Why does he make art? Why did he make this piece? What did it mean to him? Explore a bit about the process of being an artist. What is challenging? Make us care for this piece of art work.

The falsely accused should tell us how he felt about being wrongly accused and what he did to prove his innocence. The problem should be solved by the falsely accused, not by hiring an outside lawyer or another person to take care of the problem. What talents or abilities did the falsely accused rely on to help prove his innocence?

Allow 15-20 minutes for students to write. They should write without sharing in their groups. After students have written their monologues, have them read the writing to the small groups.

Discussion:

What do you learn from writing in different point of views?

In what ways did this exercise change your perceptions about an event?

How can you apply this to your life?

How can you apply this to other writings? Or readings?

Option: Monologues can be performed or collected together into a book for the whole class to read.

Mindy Hardwick is a writer-in-residence at Lake Stevens High School. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College and has published short stories for teens and articles about writing. Currently, she is working on a young adult romance novel told in alternating view points.