Virginia SOL 12.RI.3.B
The Standard
Analyze how the author organizes an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Integration of Concepts
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how an author arranges and builds ideas across a text. They explain how sequence, transitions, examples, and contrasts create relationships among the points.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can map the role of each section and explain how one point leads to, qualifies, or contrasts with another. They can judge how the order strengthens clarity or persuasion.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may summarize each paragraph without explaining why the author placed it there. They may confuse text features with structure or name a pattern without analyzing how ideas connect.
How to Assess It
- Give students a five-paragraph editorial and ask: “Label each paragraph’s role, then explain how moving one paragraph would change the argument.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Cut a printed editorial into sections, then have pairs arrange the sections and defend their chosen order using transition clues.
Ask students to write: “Which idea had to come first, and what later point depends on it?”
Play a structure match game where students pair paragraph cards with role cards such as claim, example, counterclaim, cause, or result.
Compare a news analysis with a company press release about the same event, focusing on how each orders facts to shape readers’ views.
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Printable 12.RI.3.B Worksheet
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