South Dakota ELA 5.RL.6
The Standard
Describe how a narrator’s, speaker’s, or reader's perspective (e.g. point of view, author's purpose) influences how events are described using evidence from the text.
South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify who tells a story or speaks in a poem. They explain how that person's view shapes the words and details used. They use lines from the text to support their explanation.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can point to a word like “sneaked” and explain what it shows about the narrator's attitude. They can describe how another character might tell the same event differently without changing what happened.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name first or third person but not explain why it matters. They may treat a narrator's opinion as fact or assume the author shares it. They may give their own reaction without pointing to the text.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Read, “I grinned when Red entered, certain my disguise would fool her.” How might Red describe this moment differently, and which words show the speaker's view?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs two colored pencils and a story paragraph; mark what happened in blue and words showing the narrator's attitude in red.
After a read-aloud, ask: “Which word shows how the narrator feels about another character?” Have partners defend their choices with a line.
Play perspective switch: pairs rewrite one sentence from a story as another character, then point to the detail they changed.
Hand out two notes about a spilled cafeteria tray, one by the student and one by the custodian; circle details each person notices.
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Printable 5.RL.6 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 6.RL.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator, speaker, and/or the audience.
- 2.RL.6
Describe how the point of view from various characters and/or purpose shapes the content of a text.
- 3.RL.6
Identify the point of view in a text and distinguish the student's perspective from that of the narrator or characters.
- 4.RL.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated and explain the author's purpose using evidence from the text.
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