Virginia SOL 11.RL.3.B
The Standard
Relate themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works to contemporary stories, poems, or drama.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Integration of Concepts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify a shared theme, event pattern, or character type in an older source and a contemporary literary work. They explain how the newer work preserves, changes, or challenges that element, using details from both texts.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can trace a clear connection between an older source and a newer literary work. The student selects precise evidence from both texts and explains how the newer work preserves, revises, or challenges the original element.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat any surface similarity as a meaningful connection. They may confuse a shared plot detail with a shared theme or treat character types as fixed stereotypes. Some cite only the contemporary work instead of both texts.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short myth excerpt and a contemporary story excerpt. Ask them to identify one shared element, cite one detail from each, and explain one meaningful change.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs sort source and contemporary plot cards into matches, then attach sticky notes naming the shared pattern and one change.
Discuss: When a modern writer changes an old hero, villain, or quest pattern, what new message does the change create?
Play Archetype Match: teams pair brief source passages with modern synopses and earn points only when their evidence supports the match.
Ask students to connect a current film, song, or television episode to an older story and present two precise parallels.
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Printable 11.RL.3.B Worksheet
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