CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.9b
The Standard
Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g. "Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims").
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read essays, speeches, memoirs, or other literary nonfiction and examine how authors support ideas. They use details from those texts to support their own analysis, reflection, or research.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students identify an author’s claim, trace the reasons, and judge whether the evidence is relevant and sufficient. In their own writing, they cite details accurately and explain how each detail supports the analysis.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may copy a quotation without explaining how it supports their point. They may confuse a strong opinion with sound reasoning or accept evidence that is interesting but unrelated.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short nonfiction paragraph with one claim and two pieces of evidence. Ask them to choose the stronger evidence and explain their choice in two sentences.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups claim, reason, and evidence strips from an essay, then have them arrange the strips and remove any irrelevant evidence.
Ask students to write: Which claim is best supported, and what specific evidence makes it convincing?
Play Evidence Match by having pairs connect claim cards to supporting details, then challenge one weak or mismatched connection.
Compare claims in a school policy announcement with the evidence provided, then write one question that would test the policy’s reasoning.
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Printable W.7.9b Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.9b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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Where This Standard Sits
Before This Standard
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.9b
Apply grades 9—10 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reas...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.9a
Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the ...
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