Maryland ELA RI.9-10.6

ELAGrades 9–10Reading Informational Text

The Standard

Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify what a writer believes or wants readers to think. They find a fact or viewpoint that challenges that position and explain how the writer responds.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can point to words that show the writer's position and identify a competing claim or fact. They can explain whether the writer accepts, disputes, or brushes aside that point.
Common Misconceptions: Students may mistake an opposing view for the writer's own position. They may think that mentioning an objection is the same as answering it.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Read, 'Some say later school start times make sports scheduling difficult, but better attendance matters more than a later practice, so classes should start at 9.' Identify the writer's position and the opposing concern, then explain how the writer answers that concern.

Lesson moves

Print a short editorial, then have pairs mark the writer's claim in blue, an opposing view in red, and the reply in green.
Ask, 'Does the writer answer the opposing view or just mention it?' Have students defend their answer with two lines from the text.
Run a card sort with three strips: 'Keep the library open late,' 'Staff costs will rise,' and 'Volunteers can help'; pairs label each strip.
Show a school board letter about later start times; students mark a scheduling objection and explain how the writer replies.

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