Choose several short stories or excerpts of stories or novels that you will use as a basis for teaching point of view in writing. Have your students read these ahead of time. If they are short you might read them as a group during class.
Describe the concept behind point of view. Between the reader and the story is the narrator --- and that narrator has a point of view. The story will be told differently depending on who's doing the telling and how.
Outline the different points of view available to writers. Link these to the pronouns usually employed when writing in that point of view. First person uses the "I" pronoun. Third person uses "she" or "he."
Expand these definitions with descriptions of the third person omniscient and third person limited omniscient points of view. The third person omniscient point of view can describe the actions, thoughts, feelings and intentions of all characters in all time periods. The third person limited omniscient sticks to the thoughts and feelings of one character, and does not describe the thoughts of others. The first person narrator point of view is limited to the person telling the story and the reader can never know more that what that character knows at any point in the story.
Ask students to identify the points of view used in the writing samples you read ahead of time. Allow them to re-read works if necessary.
Discuss the advantages and limitations of using each type of point of view in writing. The third person omniscient allows the writer to describe the thoughts and feelings of all characters. It is, however, not used much in writing these days. The first person is a challenge to write as the character can't know all the information. Keep in mind that the first person narrator may not be reliable. The third person limited omniscient is the easiest to write, and possibly the most commonly used point of view in writing.
Assign writing exercises to the class so that they may practice using each point of view. A sample writing exercise might be: imagine a disagreement has taken place between a waiter and a restaurant patron over the quality of the food and service. Write the story first from the patron's point of view, then from the waiter's point of view, then in limited omniscient, then in the omniscient points of view. You may wish to ask students to pick only two points of view.