CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9

ELAGrades 9–10Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

The Standard

Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington's Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"), including how they address related themes and concepts.

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

What This Standard Means

Students need to read major American nonfiction closely, not just for facts, but for argument, theme, purpose, and language. They compare how different writers speak to ideas like freedom, unity, justice, duty, equality, and citizenship.

Mastery looks like using specific lines from two or more texts to explain how each author develops a shared idea. Students often get stuck treating the documents as history notes, summarizing instead of analyzing, or missing how audience and occasion shape the message.

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs excerpts from two speeches and have them color-code claims, repeated ideas, and emotionally loaded words.
Ask students to write: How do two authors define freedom differently, and what lines prove it?
Use an exit ticket with one shared theme, two quoted details, and one sentence comparing the authors’ approaches.
Connect to a current public speech or editorial and ask students to identify one theme it shares with an earlier document.