Virginia SOL 8.RI.2.A
The Standard
Evaluate an author’s use of text features (e.g., boldface and italics; type set in color; underlining; indentation; sidebars; illustrations, graphics, and photographs; headings and subheadings; footnotes and annotations) to enhance and support the reader’s comprehension.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Craft and Style
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify how specific text features help readers find, interpret, or remember information. They evaluate whether each feature supports understanding and explain their judgment with evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students explain how a specific feature directs attention, adds information, or clarifies an idea. They judge whether the feature works well and support that judgment with evidence from the article.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name a feature without explaining its effect. They may assume every feature helps equally or confuse decoration with useful information. They may also ignore how features connect to the main text.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short article with three text features. Ask: “Which feature best helps you understand the article, and what specific information does it add or clarify?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed article, sticky notes, and scissors; have them label each feature, then cover one and record what understanding is lost.
Ask students to choose the most useful feature in an article and defend their choice with two details from the text.
Play Feature Match with cards showing article excerpts and purpose cards; students pair them and explain how each feature guides comprehension.
Compare a news site and its printed story, then note how layout choices change what readers notice and understand first.
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Printable 8.RI.2.A Worksheet
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Related Standards
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- 7.RI.2.A
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- 6.RI.2.A
Determine the purpose of text features (e.g., boldface and italics type; type set in color; underlining; graphics and photographs; and headings and subheadings)...
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