8.8.D.i
The Standard
the controlling idea or thesis with supporting evidence
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading · The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify the main claim an author develops in an informational text. They find relevant evidence and explain how it supports that claim.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students state the author’s main claim in their own words. They identify strong supporting details and explain how each detail develops or proves that claim.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may choose the topic instead of the author’s main claim. They may also treat any interesting detail as support, even when it does not connect to the claim.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short editorial. Ask them to underline the main claim, box two supporting details, and explain each connection in one sentence.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups claim and evidence cards from an article, then have them sort each detail under the claim it supports.
Ask students to write the author’s main claim, then explain which supporting detail is strongest and why.
Play Evidence Match by having teams pair claims with supporting details and reject details that are unrelated or too weak.
Compare a product advertisement with a consumer review, identifying each main claim and the evidence used to support it.
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