South Dakota ELA 9-10.RI.6.a

ELAGrades 9–10Reading Informational Text

The Standard

Analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students figure out what a writer wants readers to believe or do. They find choices such as loaded words, statistics, or direct appeals and explain how those choices support the writer’s aim.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can point to a specific phrase or fact in an article and name the reaction the writer wants. They can explain why that choice helps the writer make a case.
Common Misconceptions: Students may name a statistic or emotional phrase without explaining its effect. They may assume that emotional language is always dishonest or confuse the topic with the writer’s position.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: In a short opinion piece about later school start times, choose one statistic or loaded phrase. Copy it and explain how it helps the writer persuade readers.

Lesson moves

Hand pairs a short school start time opinion piece; color-code its statistics and loaded words, then note the effect of each.
Have students write two sentences explaining why a writer might call early school start times “a health risk” rather than “inconvenient.”
Put four lines from the opinion piece on cards; teams match each to its intended reader reaction and defend one match aloud.
Compare a district bell schedule announcement with a student petition, then identify one phrase each uses to win support.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 9-10.RI.6.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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