Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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EnglishWonder: kindness and viewpoint24 min★★★ difficulty

Comparing viewpoints: whose story is it?

The same event told by two narrators is not the same event. Wonder uses this to teach that empathy is built by hearing the second voice, not just the first.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Reading: Compare and contrast the treatment of themes and viewpoints across two or more texts

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Compare and contrast the treatment of themes and viewpoints across two or more texts

Key learning points

  • • The same scene, two voices
  • • Via's hidden cost
  • • Comparing with other texts
  • • Writing a comparison

This lesson at a glance

  • 24 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

contrasttreatmentthemesviewpointsacross

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

Watch first

Comparing viewpoints: whose story is it?

An English teaching video on this topic from ClickView. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Compare and contrast the treatment of themes and viewpoints across two or more texts

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 16

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · The same scene, two voices

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 16

Learn

The same scene, two voices

An event at school — say, a remark overheard in the corridor — appears in Auggie's chapter as cruelty, then in Jack's chapter as fear. Comparing the two versions is the skill: you are not deciding who is right, you are seeing that each is incomplete. That recognition is what 'compare viewpoints' actually means.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

Via's hidden cost

Via's chapters reveal that being Auggie's sibling has a cost the first-person-only reader never saw. She loves him and is also, sometimes, invisible. Her viewpoint does not contradict Auggie's; it adds a layer the single voice made impossible. The comparison enlarges the truth rather than settling it.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

When the same scene appears in two narrators, what are you mainly doing?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

What does Via's viewpoint add to Auggie's?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Comparing with other texts

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

Comparing with other texts

The skill generalises. Compare Wonder with Noughts & Crosses (also dual first-person) and you find a shared technique carrying opposite themes: Wonder uses multiple viewpoints to build empathy; Noughts & Crosses uses them to expose injustice. The same form, different work — which is the point of comparison.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 16

Learn

Writing a comparison

A comparison paragraph names the shared element, states the difference, and explains the effect. 'Both novels use dual first-person narration to reveal hidden cost; Wonder uses it to build empathy with a sibling, Noughts & Crosses to expose the cost of prejudice.' That shape — shared, different, effect — is the skeleton of every comparison answer.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

What is the shared technique, and the difference, between Wonder and Noughts & Crosses?

12

Quick check

Part 12 of 16

Quick check

What is the skeleton of a comparison paragraph?

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

That recognition is what 'compare ____' actually means.

Compare Wonder with Noughts & Crosses (also dual first-person) and you find a shared technique carrying opposite ____: Wonder uses multiple viewpoints to build empathy; Noughts & Crosses uses them to expose injustice.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Comparing viewpoints: whose story is it?

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. When the same scene appears in two narrators, what are you mainly doing?

  2. 2. What does Via's viewpoint add to Auggie's?

  3. 3. What is the shared technique, and the difference, between Wonder and Noughts & Crosses?

  4. 4. What is the skeleton of a comparison paragraph?

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Extract

The last bus

The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.

She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.

Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.

Original extract written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
  2. How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
  3. Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.

  • Reading response

    Reading

    Read the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.

    2 paragraphs (PEE)

  • Extended writing

    Writing

    Write your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.

    250–350 words

  • Reading log

    Reading

    Note the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.

    20 minutes' reading

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover

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    Compare and contrast the treatment of themes and viewpoints across two or more texts

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