Maryland ELA RL.7.1

ELA7th GradeReading Literature

The Standard

Cite multiple pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

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

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify what a story states directly and what they can figure out from clues. They use at least two details from the story to support an idea about a character or event.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student makes a clear claim, points to two separate passages, and explains how each one supports it. The student can tell the difference between a fact in the story and an inference.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat a guess about a character as a fact the story states. Some copy a long paragraph or list two quotes without explaining how either supports their claim.
How to Assess It: After today's story, ask: Why does the main character make one choice? Use two separate details from the story and explain how each supports your answer.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a printed scene and two highlighters; have them mark stated facts in one color and clues for an inference in another.
Ask students to write: What does the character want but never say aloud? Support your answer with two lines from the scene.
Make cards with claims and short quotes from yesterday's story; teams match each claim with two quotes and explain their choices.
Have students write a book recommendation that makes one claim about a character and supports it with two passages.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to RL.7.1, 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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