Virginia SOL 10.W.1.A.ii
The Standard
Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan and arrange ideas so readers can follow how each point connects to the next. They group related information, choose a fitting structure, and use transitions to signal relationships.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student chooses an order that fits the purpose, such as cause and effect, comparison, or claim and evidence. Paragraphs build on one another, and transitions make the connections clear.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may arrange paragraphs in the order ideas occurred to them rather than by a clear plan. They may also use transitions without showing how one claim, reason, example, or counterclaim connects to another.
How to Assess It
- Give students six paragraph summaries from an essay in mixed order. Ask them to arrange the summaries, then write one sentence explaining how their order clarifies the ideas.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups paragraph cards from a sample essay to sort, label, and connect with arrows showing each relationship.
Ask students to explain which structure best fits an essay on school start times and why.
Play Structure Switch by having pairs reorganize one set of notes into comparison and cause-and-effect outlines.
Have students map the sections of a news article and explain how the order helps readers understand the issue.
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Related Standards
- 9.W.1.A.ii
Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.
- 11.W.1.A.ii
Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.
- 12.W.1.A.ii
Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.
- 10.LU.1.D
Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate the relationship between ideas clearly.
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