CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1

ELAGrades 9–10Text Types and Purposes

The Standard

Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Writing Standards

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students make a clear, focused claim about a meaningful topic or text. They select relevant evidence, explain how it supports the claim, and respond fairly to another viewpoint.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student states a precise claim, supports it with enough relevant evidence, and explains the reasoning clearly. The student addresses a counterclaim and keeps a formal, organized tone.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat a strong opinion as a strong argument or list evidence without explaining it. They may ignore counterclaims, use unrelated examples, or rely on weak sources.
How to Assess It: Use this exit ticket: “Should schools limit student phone use? Write one claim, one counterclaim, and two relevant pieces of evidence. Explain how each supports your claim.”

Lesson moves

Give groups claim, evidence, and reasoning cards to sort into strong arguments, weak arguments, and unrelated information.
Ask students to write: “Which school rule should change, and what evidence would convince a skeptical principal?”
Run an evidence auction where teams spend points on source cards, then defend which evidence best supports a given claim.
Have students analyze a local editorial, identify its claim and evidence, then write a short response that challenges one point.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1, 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

See the whole path on the Writing progression map.

If students are struggling here, check these first.

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.