AAE - Your Turn (Lesson)

Your Turn.

View the stories below. Both are discussing the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, but both have very different perspectives. Then review the questions that follow.

Goldilocks, Heiress/socialite. Statement in a 2020 interview in a national magazine regarding an event that happened during her adolescence in 2004

So my parents sent me away to some health spa in the middle of this god-forsaken forest for 2 weeks. They said it was for my own good, but they probably wanted to just dump me off somewhere so they could be alone for a while. Anyway, I got sick and tired of all the yoga and boring stuff so I decided to take off and find something else to do. As I was looking around the forest, I saw a cute little house and decided to see if anything was happening there.

I looked in the window and didn’t see anyone so I just decided to let myself in. I’ve heard in these little communities, everyone is all welcoming. On the table was some grub and I was starving from eating nothing but wheatgrass and protein shakes and stuff so I thought I’d help myself. There was one bowl that was too hot and one that was totally cold, but the other was just right and it really hit the spot.

So then I thought I’d hang out for a while by myself. At least I could ditch all of those boring housewives back at the spa. So I tried to find somewhere to sit. The first chair sucked because there was no cushion or anything and I couldn’t get comfortable. Then (this is so embarrassing), I sat in the second chair and it totally broke. But then I found a chair that was pretty comfy so I hung out there for a while.

Then I started to get really homesick and just felt like curling up for a while and try to forget about how my parents had just dumped me off somewhere to get rid of me. So I decided to check out the rest of the place to see if there was a place where I could catch a snooze for a little bit. After trying out a couple beds, I found one that reminded me of the Swiss down featherbed I had at home and then I was out like a light.

I was just starting to have an awesome dream when I hear this monster growling at me. He went all psycho and started chasing me around the house for no reason. I ran as fast I could back to camp and didn’t leave again until my parents came to pick me up. Then we totally went to the Isle of Capri for a vacay.

D. Bear, Gardner, husband, father, and resident of the enchanted forest. Statement to the police regarding an intruder, 2004.

On Sunday morning, my wife made breakfast for my son and I. She just made a few bowls of porridge. We don’t have much, but we make due. Anyway the food was too hot so I suggested we take a family walk while our breakfast cooled. We’ve never had any problems in this neighborhood before, but ever since they put in that new health spa in there, we’ve had a lot more strangers around than usual.

So we returned an hour later to find that our door had been broken in. Someone had eaten from all of our bowls and had completely devoured my son’s entire breakfast. Looking around, it seemed they must be a dangerous sort, because they had smashed one of our chairs to pieces. I started scouting the house to make sure it was safe for my family.

When I got into our bedroom, I could see a human form LAYING IN OUR BED! I shouted to my wife to get out and take our son to safety. I started shouting at the intruder “what do you want? Leave us in peace! We’ll give you anything you want, just don’t hurt my family!”

I don’t think she spoke bear, because she didn’t say anything, she just started screaming and ran away crying. When she jumped up, I couldn’t believe it was just a little girl. Who’d have guessed that such a little thing could do so much damage to a guy’s house?

Read the question and think about your response. Then download the document below to check your answers.

Look at the sourceline for Goldilocks's version. What can it tell us about possible point of view?
Look at the sourceline for Papa Bear's version. What can it tell us about possible point of view?
Reading through the story, what things may have an influence on Goldilocks's view of the incident?
What might have an influence on Papa Bear's view?
What evidence is there in the stories to support these influences?

Click here to check your answers. Links to an external site.

It is taking this idea of "influence" into account that creates Point of View. When reading a document, you need to take into account how the person's background, the reason for the document, and even the time period shape our interpretation of what is being said. We often consider history to be "dead men and dates," but the reality is there is nothing stagnant about history. It is ever changing, being reinterpreted or new discoveries changing our conceptions about what actually did happen.

How do we determine history?

If you major in History in college, there are a multitude of careers you can follow, one of which, an archivist, helps determine just what exactly happened in the past. Researchers and archivists dig deep into Archives, sifting through old land deeds, wills, newspapers, diaries, and much more. They combine the information found to create a picture of what occurred.

Writing POV.

Acceptable types of POV:

Relating authorial point of view to author's place in society
Evaluating the reliability of the source
Recognizing that different kinds of documents serve different purposes
Analyzing the tone of the document.

While there are 4 main ways of demonstrating POV, there really is no prescribed method for how to construct a POV statement provided you include who said it, what is being said and WHY it might have been said. The fill in the blank examples below may be a good place to start as you begin the process of creating POV. Then move more towards the types of examples you will see in the handouts you can download below.

pov example 1 - authors place pov example 2 - reliability pov example 3 - reliability of source

Click on the names below to download the following handouts:

You will also want to download this resource created by Sigrid Olsen from Sprague High School. Ms. Olsen reviewed 15 years of DBQs and the sourcelines for their documents to determine common themes of POV. All of her findings are here. . . she has separated possible pov clues into categories and listed items to consider when writing pov, plus several examples. It's an amazing resource for you.

Click here to download "Words for POV." Links to an external site.

You should know...

POV is only one of several ways you can achieve the extended analysis point on the national exam. The College Board requires that for at least three documents, you explain how or why the documents point of view, purpose, historical situation and/or intended audience is relevant to an argument.

So if that's the case, then why do we focus so much on POV?

Because it encompasses much of what the other items require. Which means if you fall short on POV in your DBQ, you may have written enough to gain credit for one of the other methods. This will allow you to still get that point on the rubric. POV demonstrates a deeper analysis of the material, which is also a way you can gain the complexity point on the rubric. All in all, it is something that will be of great benefit to you. So while it is a step further than what the College Board requires, it is something we will strive for in this course to set you up for the best possible outcome on both your in-class DBQ assignments and the national exam.

Your Turn...

Can you determine POV? Read the statements in the activity below, and in each instance decide if you think that statement would or would not count as POV. Keep in mind these statements are from a previous DBQ which you have not yet read. As you read the statements, see if each answers the 3 questions we've discussed (who said it, what was said, why they may have said it.

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.