The technique of character perspectives requires students to put themselves in the mindset of a character from the story and answer questions from that character's point of view. Choose a simple story where the conflict occurs between two parties and assign students to small groups. Within each group, half the students must pretend to be one party while the other half pretends to be the other. Each group must explain the conflict from the perspective of the party they represent. This gives students the chance to judge how the conflict first occurred and the personalities and actions of the characters involved.
One way to help students make judgments in reading is to help them realize which parts of a passage they do not immediately understand. After reading the passage during class, ask students for any questions regarding what they read. Once a student asks a question, open up discussion to the rest of the class and instruct students who think they know the answer to share their thoughts. If no one can answer the question, explain it. If few or no students ask questions during class, instruct them to write down three questions and answer the most crucial aloud in class the following day. By forcing students to think up questions, you encourage them to approach the story critically.
Instruct students to draw their favorite scene or character from a reading passage. Many third graders enjoy drawing, and this activity allows them to exercise their visual creativity while encouraging them to consider the story's events and characters for an extended period of time. On the back of each drawing, on a separate sheet of paper or out loud in front of the class, have students explain why they judged the scene or character they chose as their favorite.
Ask students to gather specific information from the story after reading through it once or twice. List specific elements for them to find, such as setting, major characters, minor characters, imagery, foreshadowing, conflict and resolution. After they gather this information, ask them to explain how each detail is vital to the story as a whole. For example, instruct them to speculate how the story would turn out with a different setting or if a particular character did not exist. This allows students to judge the importance each element plays in the reading.