Question

Read the beginning of Michelle`s story.

The ten summer camp kids I`m teaching are seated around a weathered-gray wood picnic table in Woodland Park, paper squares at the ready. I explain to them that Japanese paper folding, or origami, is an art, a skill, a tradition. I say that our fingers know more than our eyes, and that there must always be balance – a fold this way and then that, on both sides. It`s the folding and unfolding in the metaphorical sense as well as the actual sense, if you really put your heart and hands into it, that causes your square of paper to transform into a bird or a fish.

Michelle wants her next paragraph to establish the narrator`s point of view.

Which paragraph will most effectively achieve this goal?

1. Origami is an ancient art form. Still, I`d never even heard of it before last year. The first origami object I made was a boat, and after that I made a swan.

2. Some kids just stare up at home. Others seem to have ignored what I`ve just said about origami and are already busy folding their squares into paper airplanes.

3. I am trying hard to sound like an export. Yet, I feel like a fraud. The sum total of my knowledge about origami came from a book I bought at a neighbor`s garage sale.

4. I imagine that some kids will probably be better at origami than others. It`s too early to tell which kids will struggle with origami and which kids will just instinctively understand it.

Answer 1

The paragraph that will most effectively establish the narrator's point of view is:

I am trying hard to sound like an expert. Yet, I feel like a fraud. The sum total of my knowledge about origami came from a book I bought at a neighbor's garage sale.

This paragraph gives insight into the narrator's thoughts and feelings about teaching origami. They admit to feeling like a fraud, indicating a lack of confidence in their own expertise. This establishes a personal perspective and adds depth to the narrator's point of view.