CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4

ELAGrades 11–12Craft and Structure

The Standard

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6—12

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do

Students use context, syntax, and nearby examples to determine what a word or phrase means in a historical text. They track how an author narrows, expands, or shifts a key term across the text.

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can state a term's meaning at different points and cite language that supports each reading. They can explain how the changing meaning advances the author's claim or purpose.

Common Misconceptions

Students often choose the first dictionary definition and ignore historical context. They may treat repeated uses as identical, confuse connotation with definition, or notice a shift without explaining its effect.

How to Assess It

Give students two short excerpts from Federalist No. 10 that use "faction." Ask: "What does faction mean in each excerpt, and what wording proves your answer?"

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

  1. Annotate printed excerpts with three colors: context clues, each use of one key term, and language that changes its meaning.

  2. Discuss how Lincoln refines "dedicated" across the Gettysburg Address, using one quotation from the opening and one from the ending.

  3. Play Context Clue Sort: teams match sentence cards from a historical text to meaning cards, then defend each match.

  4. Compare how a campaign speech and a news report use "reform," then explain what each source wants readers to associate with the term.

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Printable RH.11-12.4 Worksheet

Preview of the CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4 printable worksheet

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Learning progression

Where This Standard Sits

See the whole path on the Reading: History/Social Studies progression map.

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