Your Literacy Standards Companion, Grades 6-8. Jim Burke
through examples or anecdotes).
7 Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
8 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
Science/Technical Subjects
6 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
7 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
8 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
Source: Copyright © 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Common Core Reading Standard 3: What the Student Does
Literature
6 Gist: Explain how the plot of a story or play progresses, noting how characters evolve as the plot develops and approaches resolution.What are the key moments in the story?How do the characters respond or change as the plot develops over time?How are the series of events in the story organized?
7 Gist: Examine the interplay between specific narrative elements (e.g., setting, plot, characters), noting how they affect each other and thus contribute to the story’s meaning.Which story elements matter most?Which elements affect others most?How does each element affect the others?
8 Gist: Examine specific events or lines of dialogue to determine how they advance the plot, uncover character details, or force characters to act (e.g., make a decision).Which events or specific lines of dialogue most affect the story?How do these events or specific lines affect the story the most?What does this event or dialogue reveal about the character?
History/Social Studies
6 Gist: Determine which steps matter most in a process studied in history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes a law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).What process are you studying?How is the process structured?Which step(s) in the process matter most?
7 Gist: Determine which steps matter most in a process studied in history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes a law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).What process are you studying?How is the process structured?Which step(s) in the process matter most?
8 Gist: Determine which steps matter most in a process studied in history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes a law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).What process are you studying?How is the process structured?Which step(s) in the process matter most?
Informational Text
6 Gist: Explain in detail how the author introduces, illustrates, or develops a salient person, incident, or idea (e.g., by using examples or anecdotes).What are the key moments, characters, or ideas in the story?How does the author introduce or develop this idea, event, or person?How does this idea, event, or person evolve over the course of the text?
7 Gist: Explain how specific people, incidents, or ideas in a text interact with and influence each other (e.g., how an idea or event can influence a person).What are the key moments, characters, or ideas in the story?How do these different elements interact with and influence each other?What evidence or examples can you provide to support your claim(s)?
8 Gist: Explain the techniques (e.g., analogies, categories) used to connect and distinguish between people, ideas, and events.What is the subject, content, or focus of this text—people, events, or ideas?What connection is the author trying to make in this text?What techniques does the author use to make connections or distinctions between different elements?
Science/Technical Subjects
6 Gist: Complete a multistep process with precision during an experiment (e.g., take measurements, perform technical tasks).What is the procedure?What are the precise steps in the procedure?What tools or other items do you need to complete the procedure?
7 Gist: Complete a multistep process with precision during an experiment (e.g., take measurements, perform technical tasks).What is the procedure?What are the precise steps in the procedure?What tools or other items do you need to complete the procedure?
8 Gist: Complete a multistep process with precision during an experiment (e.g., take measurements, perform technical tasks).What is the procedure?What are the precise steps in the procedure?What tools or other items do you need to complete the procedure?
Common Core Reading Standard 3: What the Teacher Does
To have students analyze how complex characters develop and interact, do the following:
Have students generate a list of all the characters, and then determine, according to the criteria they create, which ones are complex and the nature of that complexity.
Have students build a plot map—individually, in groups, or as a class—noting each time certain key characters interact; analyze who does or says what, in each situation, and its effect on the text.
Have students identify the motivations of key characters and those points where their motivations conflict with other characters’ motivations; then examine what those conflicts reveal about the characters and how they affect the text as a whole.
To have students analyze how dialogue and events affect the story, do the following:
Ask students to locate specific passages or key moments in the text where complex characters do or say something that affects the plot or develops a theme; ask them to make a claim about how this element affects the text and provide textual evidence.
Create a graphic chart or plot diagram with students and ask them to analyze the plot for moments when characters do something that affects the plot—increase tension, cause change—in a measurable, discernible way. This is sometimes called a “fever chart” to represent the rising and falling action of events in the story.
To have students identify key steps in a text’s description of a process, do the following:
Provide students with a set of scrambled steps in a process or procedure, asking them to sort them based on some principle; then consider, if time allows, having them write a paragraph with appropriate transitions for each step.
Direct students’ attention to the words or other indicators that signal steps or a sequence, especially in those texts that are not arranged as a numbered list (e.g., a paragraph with transition or other signal words).
To have students analyze how an author makes connections and distinctions, do the following:
Ask students to use some sort of graphic organizer with columns for what the author connects and how (The author links A to B by doing C to show D). Do the same for distinctions, providing appropriate academic language to help students articulate these distinctions clearly (The author differentiates between A and B by pointing out C to emphasize D).
To have students analyze in detail how authors introduce, illustrate, or elaborate, do the following:
Direct students’