Virginia SOL 5.C.1.A.iii
The Standard
Asking and answering relevant questions to build on others’ ideas, clarify ideas, and acquire or confirm information.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Communication, Listening, and Collaboration
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students prepare for group discussions by reading, taking notes, and forming questions. They ask and answer relevant questions to extend ideas, clear up confusion, and confirm information.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students come prepared with notes and questions about the topic or text. They listen closely, ask useful follow-up questions, answer clearly, and connect their comments to ideas already shared.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may ask questions that change the subject or repeat information already shared. They may answer without evidence, interrupt, or state their own idea without connecting it to a classmate’s point.
How to Assess It
- Give pairs a short paragraph and ask them to discuss, “What is the author’s main message?” Check whether each student asks one relevant question and builds on an answer.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups question-stem cards labeled Build, Clarify, and Confirm, then have students use each card during a discussion about a shared text.
Ask, “Which character made the best choice?” Students write a claim, discuss it, then revise their claim using a classmate’s idea.
Play Question Relay, where each student must answer the previous speaker and ask a related follow-up question before passing a token.
Have students role-play a school committee deciding how to improve recess, using questions to clarify proposals and confirm costs, rules, and benefits.
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Printable 5.C.1.A.iii Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 3.C.1.A.iii
Asking and responding to questions that acquire or confirm information on a topic and link their comments to the remarks of others.
- 8.C.1.A.iii
Asking clarifying questions and responding appropriately to others’ questions to encourage discussion, foster understanding, and maintain focus on the topic.
- 4.C.1.A.iii
Asking and answering specific questions to clarify concepts, share, or follow up on information, make connections, and confirm new understanding(s).
- 2.C.1.A.iii
Asking and responding to questions that acquire or confirm information on a topic.
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