CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.3
The Standard
Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Speaking and Listening Standards
What This Standard Means
Students need to listen to a speaker, pick out the main points, and name the reasons or evidence used to support those points. They should separate opinions from support, and notice when a speaker gives examples, facts, details, or personal experience.
Mastery looks like a student saying, “The speaker’s point is that school lunches should change. One reason is that many students throw food away. The evidence is the lunchroom survey.” Students often get stuck by retelling everything they heard, missing the actual point, or calling any detail “evidence” even if it does not support the point.
Ways to Teach It
- Play a short student speech, then have students sort sentence strips into point, reason, and evidence columns.
- Ask students to write: What point did the speaker make, and what proof did they give that matches it?
- After a partner talk, have listeners fill in a three-box exit slip: point, reason, evidence.
- Use a short school announcement or principal message, and have students identify the claim and supporting details.
Plan a Lesson for CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.3
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.8
Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.8
Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s).
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.3
Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.8
Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.