CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.6

ELA3rd GradeCraft and Structure

The Standard

Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify the author’s view about a topic in an informational text. They state their own view and explain whether it matches or differs from the author’s view.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students state what the author thinks or believes and point to words in the text that support that answer. They state their own view separately and explain how it agrees with or differs from the author’s view.
Common Misconceptions: Students may confuse the author’s view with a fact stated in the text. They may also assume their own opinion must match the author’s or name different topics instead of different viewpoints.
How to Assess It: Give students a short paragraph that clearly favors school uniforms. Ask them to write the author’s view, their own view, and one sentence explaining the difference.

Lesson moves

Give pairs two highlighters to mark the author’s opinions in one color and facts in another, then add their own view on a sticky note.
Read a short article about longer recess, then ask, “What does the author think, what do you think, and how are the views different?”
Play Viewpoint Sort with cards labeled Author, Reader, or Fact, using statements from a shared informational passage.
Compare a restaurant review with students’ own reactions to the menu, price, and photos, then discuss why viewpoints may differ.

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