My fifth grade class started out innocently enough.
We’ve been studying allegorical fiction, and we’ve studied over a half dozen picture books in the process. Today, I shared an award-winning allegorical animated short called How to Wait for a Very Long Time.
Students began by watching the film a few times, just to figure out what actually happens throughout and at the end. Once I inform them the story is an allegory, we watch it a few more times to discuss the meaning and draw parallels to the real world. During the viewing, students are allowed to ask me to pause the film so they can either discuss or take notes.
It was during one such viewing that a kid said, “Wait, go back. That part was in first person.”
What??
Indeed, that part – and one other brief moment – were told via first-person narration. As in, we saw the world the way the protagonist sees it:
WHOA.
I don’t know why, in all my years of being an avid consumer of animated shorts, I had never, ever stopped to consider narrative point-of-view as a literary device. I don’t know how I have watched this video easily fifty times already, and I had not yet noticed what this kid saw.
And now that I see it, I’ll be thinking about it all the time. And not just in animated shorts. It’s like taking a video and deciding which way the camera’s going to point.
And now that I’m thinking about that, I guess I’ll have to start thinking about all the craft moves I’m missing with film, video, animation.
You know, I always leave class smiling when students experience a mind-blowing moment. Experiencing one for myself today? Well, it made getting out of bed absolutely WORTH it.
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
This, Lainie, is the absolute BEST thing about teaching—what we learn along the way. This classroom narrative unfolds beautifully with detail to put the reader in front of that video with you and your students and to understand the way the lesson unfolds. (Thanks for the link btw. It’s Celebrate Arts in the Schools Month, so what a bonus to have this epiphany today.) An inspiring post, thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Trish! You’re right. Surprises like this are exactly why teaching continues to delight me, even after thirty years. And I’m glad you enjoyed the link. If you haven’t watched it, I’d encourage you to. It’s incredibly powerful.
I love these moments – when kids figure something out, remind us, teach us. It’s amazing!!
Thanks, Ona. It took a goofy day and made it a thousand times better, that’s for SURE.
What a beautiful animation and lesson! And epiphany! And craft lesson from a student. 😂 The point of view of the giant fish under the boat… 😱 The perspective of the bottom of the boat from the deep… with a single bubble or two floating up. Brilliant all around. The teaching, the learning, the animation artistry!
Thanks, Stephanie. I can tell you watched the video. It’s a powerful one. You know, some kids focus on the imagery of the bubbles, others on the fish or the landscape. It’s cool how each different group I’m with finds something new or different to discover or think about.
I did a book study on Katie Wood Ray’s gorgeous book In Words and Pictures. You probably know this book, but if you don’t, she’s a genius at seeing craft moves in artist’s decisions in picture books.
Wahoo- this is cause for celebration!! Not only did you guide your students through a rigorous book study to come to this aha moment, but you also had your own aha! This is teaching and learning at its best!
It absolutely was a cause for celebration. It was one of my best moments in the year to date. There’s something so wonderful and delightful about all of it, and I’m so lucky to be in a job that lets me do stuff like THIS.
This kid deserves a student of the day award. Moments like this are why no other job can compare to teaching.
You’re absolutely right. The kid was pretty proud of themselves. Then again, they were ALL super proud as each of them came up with their own “aha” moments. Having a front seat to discovery is miraculous, to say the least.
I made myself watch the animation before continuing to see if I could have that ‘mind blown’ moment before being told.
And I did. But I also did not – sorta. [In the parlance of the young, let me cook…]
I noticed the change from third-person to first-person in the title image you used at the top of the post. Not as the fisherman himself, but as someone (aka possibly me), in the boat with him, looking over his shoulder. I felt it again, around the one-minute mark, when the first fish was dangling from the hook. That view could have been the fisherman, or the person sometimes with him. It’s only when the fisherman is holding the fish that jumped in that I saw his direct first-person perspective. By then, my brain was in Third-Person Omniscient mode, so it was not the same “ah-ha!” moment, but yeah, I felt it.
The final shot of the school of fish, as all the little things in life that he dismissed in his pursuit of the big whale dream that ‘died’ along with him, was brilliant and heartbreaking.
Raivenne, now you REALLY have me thinking, and considering even more the complexity this video provides. Like, even when the camera is clearly not the man’s view of the world, there are still scenes where I feel right there with him. And there are still others where there’s distance created.
And that final shot…YES. Complete with the stoppage of sound and exhale? (chef’s kiss)