CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6
The Standard
Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature
What This Standard Means
Students need to notice the storyteller. They should tell whether the words are coming from a character or from an outside narrator. They also need to track when that changes, especially in books with dialogue, speech bubbles, or repeated lines.
Mastery looks like a child pointing to a page and saying, “The bear is talking here,” or “The narrator is telling us what happened.” Students often get stuck when quotation marks appear, when several characters speak, or when the narrator uses words like I or we.
Ways to Teach It
- Give partners a picture book with sticky notes, and have them label each page speaker as narrator, character name, or not sure.
- Ask students, “How do you know who is talking on this page?” and have them point to the clue in the text or picture.
- Read three short excerpts aloud, then have students hold up narrator or character cards after each one.
- Use comic strips from the newspaper or teacher-made panels to compare speech bubbles with story narration boxes.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.6
Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.