CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.6

ELA6th GradeCraft and Structure

The Standard

Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

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

What This Standard Means

Students need to name what the author thinks, wants, or wants readers to understand. They also need to prove it with choices from the text, such as loaded words, repeated ideas, facts selected, examples included, or details left out.

Mastery means students can say, “The author’s purpose is to persuade readers that school gardens are worth funding,” then point to exact sentences that show it. Students often confuse topic with purpose. They may also give a vague answer like “to inform” without explaining how the author’s words and evidence create that effect.

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs two colored highlighters, one for opinion words and one for evidence, then have them label the author’s purpose in the margin.
Ask students to write: What does the author want me to think, and which three words or lines make that clear?
Use a three-question exit ticket: purpose, point of view, and one quoted phrase that shows it.
Bring in two short articles about the same school issue and compare how each author’s word choices shape readers’ reactions.