CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9
The Standard
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6—12
What This Standard Means
Students need to read several sources about the same historical topic and notice how each one handles it. They should compare details, point of view, purpose, evidence, and what gets left out. They need to separate firsthand accounts from later explanations and use both to build a fuller picture.
Mastery looks like a student saying, “These sources agree on the event, but they explain the cause differently,” then backing that up with evidence. Students often get stuck summarizing each source separately instead of comparing them. They may also treat a textbook as neutral and a primary source as automatically true.
Ways to Teach It
- Give pairs two speeches, a photo, and a textbook excerpt on the same event, then have them fill a compare-and-contrast evidence chart.
- Ask students to write: Which source would you trust most for understanding public reaction, and why?
- Use an exit ticket with two short excerpts and ask for one similarity, one difference, and one reason for the difference.
- Have students compare a news article, a government statement, and a witness post about the same current event.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9
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What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.9
Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.9
Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, ...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.9
Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.