South Dakota ELA 11-12.RH.2.a
The Standard
- 11-12.RH.2
- Determine the central ideas or information of primary or secondary sources.
Evaluate how ideas develop over the course of a text.
South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students track an idea from the beginning to the end of a history or social studies text. They explain how new reasons or examples develop it, then judge whether the parts fit together.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use passages from early, middle, and late in a speech to show how an idea grows or shifts. They can explain whether a later point follows from an earlier one, using words from the text as proof.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name a topic, such as freedom, without explaining what the author says about it. They may treat each paragraph as a separate idea or assume repeated words mean the idea has developed.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In the Gettysburg Address, how does Lincoln move from “all men are created equal” to “unfinished work”? Name one point in between and explain how it connects them.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Cut the Gettysburg Address into three paragraph strips; groups order them and underline words that move the idea of equality toward a call to action.
After reading the Declaration of Independence, ask: How does the opening claim about rights lead to the grievances and the final decision?
Run a quote-order game with four excerpts from Susan B. Anthony’s voting rights speech; pairs arrange them and explain which transition is least convincing.
Print a local city council proposal; students mark its opening claim, later reasons, and closing request, then judge whether its case builds.
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Printable 11-12.RH.2.a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 11-12.RI.2.a
Analyze and evaluate their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another within a complex text.
- 7.RI.2.a
Analyze their development over the course of the text.
- 9-10.RH.2.a
Analyze how ideas develop over the course of the text.
- 6.RI.2.a
Analyze its development over the course of the text.
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