CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.9a
The Standard
Apply grade 6 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres [e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories] in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics").
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students write about literature using accurate details and quotations as evidence. They analyze theme, character, plot, structure, point of view, or differences between literary forms.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student makes a clear claim, selects relevant evidence, and explains how the evidence supports the claim. When comparing texts, the student explains how each develops a shared theme or topic.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often summarize the plot instead of analyzing the author’s choices. They may add quotations without explaining them or compare only surface features, such as length. Some name a theme as one word rather than stating a message.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Using today’s poem and short story, write one claim about how they treat the same theme. Support it with one detail from each text.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs evidence cards from a poem and short story; students sort them by theme, then build one supported claim.
Read a fable and a poem about honesty, then discuss: How does each form develop the message differently?
Play Evidence Match: teams pair claim cards with quotation cards, explain each match, and discard one irrelevant quotation.
Compare a novel scene with its film adaptation, then write how each medium shapes the audience’s view of the conflict.
Free download
Printable W.6.9a Worksheet

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.9a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.9a
Apply grade 8 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, t...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.9b
Apply grade 6 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are sup...
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.