CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.9

ELA6th GradeIntegration of Knowledge and Ideas

The Standard

Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature

Teacher's field guide

What This Standard Means

What Students Need to Do: Students identify a topic both works share and state the message each work gives about it. They compare how genre features, structure, characters, imagery, or point of view shape those messages. They support each comparison with details from both works.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can name a meaningful similarity and difference in how two works handle the same topic. The student explains how structure, imagery, characters, or point of view affects each message. Each claim uses accurate evidence from both works.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat a topic, such as friendship, as a theme instead of stating a message about friendship. They may summarize each work separately without making direct comparisons. They may compare length or format but not explain how those choices affect meaning.
How to Assess It: After reading a short poem and fable about courage, ask: “How does each form present courage differently?” Require one shared idea, one difference, and one detail from each text.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs color-coded evidence strips from a poem and short story, then have them sort details under shared message, poem, or story.
Ask students to write: Which work makes its message about belonging clearer, and what feature of its form creates that effect?
Play Compare-and-Contrast Relay: teams add one supported similarity or difference to a chart, without repeating an earlier response.
Compare a song lyric and spoken-word poem about pressure, then explain how sound, repetition, and structure shape the message.

Free download