CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.7
The Standard
Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literature
What This Standard Means
Students need to compare a literary text with a performance or media version of it. They should notice what changes when words on a page become sound, images, movement, or staging. They also need to explain how choices like music, lighting, camera angle, voice, pacing, or costume shape meaning and mood.
Mastery looks like specific comparison, not “the movie was better.” Students cite lines from the text and exact moments from the version they watched or heard. They often get stuck summarizing both versions, naming differences without explaining effects, or focusing only on plot changes.
Ways to Teach It
- Have students annotate a poem, then listen to two recordings and mark where voice, pace, and pauses change the meaning.
- Ask students to write: Which version creates a stronger mood, the text or the performance, and what technique causes it?
- Show a one-minute film clip from a familiar story and have students name one camera or sound choice and its effect.
- Compare a book scene to its movie trailer, then discuss how music, color, and quick cuts try to sell the story.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.7
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.7
Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each versi...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.7
Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium's portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.7
Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contra...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).