CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1c
The Standard
Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
What This Standard Means
Students need to keep a serious discussion moving. They ask questions that press for evidence, explain their own reasoning, and respond to others with care. They also make room for different views, not just the loudest or most familiar ones.
Mastery looks like a student who can ask, “What evidence supports that?” or “How would that change if…?” and then build on the answer. Students often get stuck by agreeing too quickly, debating to win, or staying silent when a viewpoint is missing or unclear.
Ways to Teach It
- Run a fishbowl discussion where outer-circle students track who asks for evidence, clarifies a claim, or invites a quieter voice in.
- Use the prompt, “Which viewpoint has not been fully heard yet, and what question would help us understand it?”
- Give students three discussion moves on cards, then score a two-minute talk for one strong question, one clarification, and one challenge.
- Connect the skill to a city council meeting by having students role-play residents with different concerns about a proposed curfew.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1c
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7.1c
Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topi...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1c
Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1d
Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and unders...