CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.6
The Standard
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature
What This Standard Means
Students need to notice who is telling a story or poem, what that narrator or speaker knows, and how their feelings shape the way events are described. They should compare the same event through different viewpoints and explain how word choice, details, and tone reveal bias, distance, or limited knowledge.
Mastery looks like a student saying, “The narrator makes the argument sound unfair because she feels left out,” then pointing to exact lines as proof. Students often get stuck by naming first person or third person only, without explaining how that viewpoint changes the reader’s understanding of events.
Ways to Teach It
- Hands-on: Give pairs two colored highlighters to mark facts in one color and narrator opinions or feelings in another.
- Prompt: How would this scene change if the quietest character told it instead of the narrator?
- Quick assessment: Show a short passage and ask students to write one sentence explaining how the narrator shapes the event.
- Real-world connection: Compare two short news blurbs about the same school event and discuss how each writer’s viewpoint changes the story.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.6
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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.3.6
Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker 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.