Two Reports of the Same Power Outage
Two fourth-grade reporters describe the same school concert power outage. Version A (first person): “At 7:12 p.m., the lights went out. We froze. My trumpet was still at my lips. Mr. Ruiz clicked on a flashlight and said, ‘Keep playing.’ We did.” Version B (third person): “At 7:12 p.m., the auditorium lost power. The band continued playing after the director, Mr. Ruiz, used a flashlight to signal them. The concert finished at 7:40 p.m.” The teacher asks the class to choose one version for the school newspaper and one for a personal memory book, and to explain how point of view affects each choice.
1. Which version fits the school newspaper? Explain using point of view and text details.
Read the worked answer
Version B fits the newspaper better. It uses third person and reports what happened to the group: the auditorium lost power, the band continued, and the concert finished at 7:40. It gives times and an outcome without using “I” or “we.” Version A is first person and includes “We froze,” which is a feeling rather than a fact everyone could verify. A newspaper usually aims for neutral reporting, so B is the safer choice. The paper could still quote A for color, but the main report should be B.
2. How does first-person point of view shape the reader’s understanding in Version A?
Read the worked answer
Version A puts the reader inside the narrator’s experience. “My trumpet was still at my lips” shows surprise and closeness, and “We froze” tells the reader how the moment felt. The first person also limits what we know: the narrator does not say how long the outage lasted or what the whole audience did. That limit is useful for a memory book because it creates tension and a personal voice, but it is less useful for a complete news report.
3. If Version B appeared under the heading “Power Out? Band Plays On,” how would the heading shape the reader’s understanding?
Read the worked answer
The heading would frame the event as upbeat and resilient. “Plays On” emphasizes that the band continued, so readers would be primed to see the outage as a small obstacle rather than a scary interruption. A neutral heading such as “Concert Interrupted by Power Outage” would frame the same facts differently. This shows that text features like headings guide interpretation before the body is read, even when the facts in the body stay the same.