CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4

ELA7th GradeCraft and Structure

The Standard

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

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 use context to work out what words and phrases mean in a poem, story, or play. They explain how figurative language and repeated sounds affect meaning, mood, rhythm, or emphasis.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can explain a word or phrase using evidence from nearby lines. They can identify repeated sounds and explain how those sounds add emphasis, rhythm, mood, or connection between ideas.
Common Misconceptions: Students may choose the first dictionary meaning instead of using clues from the passage. They may label a metaphor, rhyme, or alliteration without explaining how it shapes tone, emphasis, or meaning.
How to Assess It: Give students a four-line poem with one metaphor and repeated consonant sounds. Ask them to explain the metaphor and describe one effect of the repetition.

Lesson moves

Ways to Teach It

Give pairs a printed poem, colored pencils, and sticky notes to mark context clues, figurative phrases, and repeated sounds.
Ask students to write: How does one repeated sound or phrase change the mood or emphasize an idea in this passage?
Play a card sort where students match short excerpts with meanings and effects such as tension, humor, rhythm, or emphasis.
Collect song lyrics, slogans, or headlines and have students explain how word choice and repeated sounds make each example memorable.

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