CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1d

ELA6th GradeText Types and Purposes

The Standard

Establish and maintain a formal style.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students use precise words, complete sentences, and an objective tone in argument writing. They avoid slang, texting language, casual asides, and sudden shifts into conversational language.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student writes an argument with a consistent academic tone suited to the audience. The student uses precise words and complete sentences, then revises informal phrases without changing the meaning.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think formal writing requires long sentences and oversized vocabulary. They may also mix academic language with slang, casual comments, or direct remarks to the reader. Some confuse a formal tone with sounding stiff or unnatural.
How to Assess It: Ask students to rewrite, “I think school uniforms are pretty bad because kids cannot show who they are,” in a formal style while keeping the same claim and reason.

Lesson moves

Give pairs formal and informal sentence strips to sort, then have them revise two informal strips into a consistent formal paragraph.
Compare two versions of the same argument and ask, “Which sounds more formal, and which specific words create that tone?”
Run a tone editor relay where teams replace slang, vague words, and casual asides in short argument paragraphs.
Read a school board letter and identify language choices students could use in their own argument about a school policy.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1d, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Learning progression

Mastery here sets students up for these next.

Keep exploring

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.