CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1
The Standard
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6—12
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students make a clear claim about a history, science, or technical question. They support it with accurate evidence and explain how the evidence proves the claim. They also recognize an opposing view and organize the argument clearly.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can make a focused claim, choose relevant evidence from credible sources, and explain why that evidence supports the claim. The response addresses an opposing view, uses clear transitions, maintains a formal tone, and ends with a fitting conclusion.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may state a personal opinion without a defensible claim. They may list facts without explaining their connection, use unreliable sources, or ignore opposing claims.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Provide two short source excerpts about banning plastic bags. Ask students to write one claim, cite one fact, explain the link, and answer one opposing point.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups evidence cards about a historical dispute, then have them sort relevant from irrelevant evidence and build a claim.
Ask students to write which source best supports a given science claim, then defend their choice with two specific details.
Run a claim, evidence, and reasoning matching relay using sentence strips, then have teams reject one weak match and explain why.
Have students use cafeteria waste data to write a recommendation for or against a school composting plan.
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Printable WHST.6-8.1 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1
The Grades 9–10 version of this standard.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.1
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.1
The Grades 11–12 version of this standard.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
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