CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.4
The Standard
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
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 shape writing to fit the assigned task, purpose, and readers. They develop ideas clearly, organize information logically, and choose an appropriate tone and level of detail.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students choose relevant details, organize ideas in a logical order, and use a style that fits the assignment. A lab explanation sounds precise, while a historical argument states a claim and supports it clearly.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may use the same tone and structure for every assignment. They may include accurate facts but arrange them poorly, omit needed context, or add details that do not serve the purpose.
How to Assess It
- Give students a mixed-up paragraph from a lab report or history explanation. Ask them to reorder it, remove one irrelevant sentence, and explain their choices.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups sentence strips from a scrambled technical explanation, then have them arrange the strips and label how each sentence supports the purpose.
Ask students to rewrite a paragraph for two audiences, a subject expert and a younger student, then explain which words and details changed.
Play Audience Match by having teams pair sample openings with task cards such as lab report, historical argument, or procedure manual.
Have students turn school safety instructions into a clear notice for students, choosing an effective order, tone, and level of detail.
Free download
Printable WHST.9-10.4 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.4, 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
See the whole path on the Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects progression map.
What This Unlocks
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