Standards Alignment Guide: Grade7 Reading Literature and Informational Text

Reading Literature:

Key Ideas and Details
RL 1:Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Should I use this text for this standard?
Does the author include key details which can help a reader ask and answer questions?
Does the story have enough substance for students to draw inferences? For example, is a character developed enough? Also, a poem that is purely descriptive may not be appropriate for comprehension questions. / Questions to ask students:
  • What explicit and inferential analysis can be drawn the text? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • What conclusions can be drawn from the text? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • Which evidence is most relevant to support claim(s)?
  • What can be inferred from paragraph ___ (ex. #)? Explain the thinking behind inferences.
/ Students will be able to:
  • Make, test and revise predictions as they read
  • Make inferences about author’s decisions and literary elements in a text
  • Identify/cite appropriate text support for inferences about author’s decisions and literary elements in a text
  • Use the combination of explicitly stated information, background knowledge, and connections to the text to answer questions they have as they read
  • Make critical or analytical judgments to make generalizations
  • Create self-motivated interpretations of text that are adapted during and after reading
  • Draw conclusions about characters and events in a text
  • Identify how author’s choices affect the text

RL 2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
Should I use this text for this standard?
Is there a lesson or a central message worth identifying?
Does the character change which might lead a reader to identifying a theme?
Is the main conflict resolved? / Questions to ask students:
  • What is the theme or central idea? Cite evidence from the text to support the theme/central idea.
  • What aspect of the text (title, character, scenes, word choice, etc.) best captures the theme? Cite specific evidence from the text to support assertion.
  • How is the theme developed over the course of the text?
  • What makes a summary objective? How can the text be objectively summarized?
/ Students will be able to:
  • Describe or graphically represent the relationship between central ideas and supporting details.
  • Determine a theme or central idea of a text
  • Analyze how particular details reveal a theme or convey the central idea
  • Summarizea text capturing the most important parts of the original piece.
  • Create an objective summary (excluding personal opinions)
  • Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of a text; provide an objective summary of the text

RL 3:Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
Should I use this text for this standard?
Does the text have clear literary elements that interact?
Is there significance between these interactions? / Questions to ask students:
  • What can be inferred about the plot based on the setting? Cite specific evidence to support claim.
  • Provide an example of how events in the plot shape the development of a character.
  • What can be inferred about the character based on the setting? Cite specific evidence to support claim.
  • How does the use of dialogue help the reader understand character and plot? Cite specific evidence to support claim.
/ Students will be able to:
  • Identify and describe the story elements in a literary work
  • Identify and describe elements of drama in a literary work
  • Explain character types and roles
  • Explain how the characters interact to develop the story/drama
  • Explain changes in setting.
  • Identify various types of conflict (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. society)
  • Explain (tell, write, or graphically represent) how characters, events, setting, and plot elements interact and create mood
  • Analyze the relationships between and among characters, their conflicts, events, setting, and plot elements

Craft and Structure
RL 4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g.,alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama. (See grade 7 Language standards 4-6 for additional expectations.)
Should I use this text for this standard?
Are there words-worth-knowing where meanings can be determined from…
  • Context clues?
  • Greek/Latin roots and affixes?
  • Word relationships with antonyms and/or synonyms?
Does the author use of diction (figurative language and/or connotation) serve to help determine meaning?
Are there rhymes and/or other repetition of sounds? / Questions to ask students:
  • What does the word/phrase ______mean in this selection?
  • What can be inferred from the use of ______(word/phrase)? (Consider connotative meanings.)
  • Without changing the meaning of the sentence, what word can best be used to replace the underlined part?
  • How does the author’s use of repetition of sounds impact the tone of the text?
  • Find and interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions).
/ Students will be able to:
  • Read and reread other sentences, paragraphs, and non-linguistic images (e.g., illustrations) in the text to identify context clues
  • Use context clues to help unlock the meaning of unknown words/phrases
  • Determine the appropriate definition of words that have more than one meaning
  • Differentiate between literal and non-literal meaning
  • Identify and use genre-specific terms to explain author’s language choices
  • Identify and interpret figurative language and literary devices
  • Explain how figurative language and literary devices enhance and extend meaning
  • Explain the impact of specific language choices by the author
  • Explain how authors use language choices to create an effect (e.g., mood and tone)
  • Analyze how specific language choices impact meaning and tone
  • Analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds on a
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specific verse or stanza or a poem or section of a story or drama
  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama

RL 5:Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
Should I use this text for this standard?
Are there significant sentences, paragraphs, chapters, stanzas, etc. that impact the text as a whole?
Do the text’s structures contribute to its meaning? / Questions to ask students:
  • How does the structure of the text contribute to its meaning?
  • How does the development of a sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fit into the overall meaning the drama/poem?
/ Students will be able to:
  • Identify genre
  • Identify text structures
  • Identify text’s purpose and theme
  • Make predictions about text based on text structures
  • Explain how structure enhances the text’s purpose and theme
  • Describe the relationship between text structure and development of ideas
  • Describe the relationship between form/structure and meaning in text
  • Analyze/make connections between author’s choice of text structure and the text’s purpose and theme
  • Analyze how a drama’s or a poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning

RL 6: Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
Should I use this text for this standard?
What stories are told in first person?
If told in the third person, is there a sense of a narrator relaying the events?
Does the character’s point of view influence the message of the story?
Are their multiple perspectives evident in the text? / Questions to ask students:
  • How/why does ______’s point of view differ from that of another character?
  • Cite relevant evidence that demonstrates the narrator’s point of view as reliable/unreliable.
  • How does the author’s word choice help to develop the narrator’s or speaker’s point of view?
/ Students will be able to:
  • Describe the author’s overall purpose for writing a text
  • Describe the differences between various points of view
  • Identify the different characters’ or narrators’ view points
  • Describe how point of view affects a literary text
  • Explain how chosen point of view helps the narrator or speaker develop the story to achieve the author’s purpose
  • Analyze how an author develops different characters’ or narrators’ view points.
  • Analyze how an author contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL 7: Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
Should I use this text for this standard?
Does the text have a drama, visual, or oral version of itself?
NOTE: This standard refers to a presentation of text—not the audio CD. / Questions to ask students:
  • What medium most impacts your understanding of the selected work? Cite evidence from both media.
  • Select an event from the book and compare it to a scene from the production. How are they different and why?
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of the media techniques used to portray the work. Cite evidence from both media.
/ Students will be able to:
  • Identify and explain the visual and multimedia elements in a literary text
  • Identify and explain the unique choices the author/director makes in relationship to the media
  • Compare and contrast author’s choices in written text to the audio, video or live version of the text
  • Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium

RL 8: (Not applicable to literature)
RL 9: Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.
Should I use this text for this standard?
Is there an historical account of the same time period and topic?
Does the fiction piece directly correlate to that historical time period? / Questions to ask students:
  • How are historical events and the fictional event the same and/ or different? Cite specific evidence from the text(s).
  • How does the author’s portrayal of the character compare to historical accounts? Cite specific evidence from the text(s).
  • What could the author have done to provide a more accurate portrayal of the time period/place? Cite specific evidence from the text(s).
/ Students will be able to:
  • Identify and explain the connection between the fictional and historical accounts.
  • Identify and explain the unique choices the author (s) makes in the relationship between the texts.
  • Compare and contrast the difference (s) between the fictional account and the historical account

Reading Informational Texts:

Key Ideas and Details
RI 1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Should I use this text for this standard?
Does the author include key details which can help a reader ask and answer questions?
Does the text have enough substance for students to draw inferences? (For example, students reading about geographical features need to infer how they affected the civilization.) / Questions to ask students:
  • What explicit and inferential analysis can be drawn the text? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • What conclusions can be drawn from the text? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • Which evidence is most relevant to support claim(s)?
  • What can be inferred from paragraph ___ (ex. #)? Explain the thinking behind inferences.
/ Students will be able to:
  • Make, test, and revise predictions as they read
  • Make inferences about content, concrete ideas, and author’s decisions in a text
  • Identify/cite appropriate text support for inferences about content, concrete ideas, and author’s decisions in a text
  • Use the combination of explicitly stated information, background knowledge, and connections from the text to answer questions they have as they read
  • Make critical or analytical judgments to make generalizations.
  • Create self-motivated interpretations of text that are adapted during and after reading
  • Draw conclusions about events and details in a text; analyze what text says explicitly as well as inferentially and cite several pieces of evidence to support the analysis

RI 2: Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
Should I use this text for this standard?
Are there two or more prevailing central ideas of the text? / Questions to ask students:
  • What are the central ideas? Cite evidence from the text to support the central ideas.
  • How are the central ideas developed over the course of the text? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • What makes a summary objective? How can the text be objectively summarized?
/ Students will be able to:
  • Determine two or more central ideas in an informational text
  • Analyze how ideas are organized and developed in an informational text.
  • Describe or graphically represent the relationship between central ideas and supporting details
  • Explain how the central ideas are supported by key details
  • Summarize the main ideas objectively in an informational text, capturing the most important parts of the piece
  • Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text

RI 3: 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).
Should I use this text for this standard?
Are there specific interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in the text? / Questions to ask students:
  • How did ideas or individuals influence events? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • How did a sequence of events influence individuals or ideas? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • How did one individual influence another? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
  • What interaction influenced future events? Cite specific evidence to support claim(s).
/ Students will be able to:
  • Describe the events, key ideas/concepts, procedures, etc. in a variety of informational/technical texts
  • Describe or graphically representthe interaction of individuals, events, ideas/concepts or step/procedures
  • Identify words/phrases that signal interactions between and among ideas, events, procedures, individuals (because, then, as a consequence, etc.)
  • Explain how interactions between ideas/concepts, individuals, and events support and reveal author’s message in informational text
  • Use text details to analyze the interactions between and among individuals, events, ideas/concepts or step/procedures

Craft and Structure
RI 4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone. (See grade7 Language standards 4-6 additional expectations.)
Should I use this text for this standard?
Are there words-worth-knowing where meanings can be determined from…
  • Context clues?
  • Greek/Latin roots and affixes?
  • Word relationships with antonyms and/or synonyms?
Does the author use figurative language and/or specific word choice to create meaning and/or tone?
Does the connotative and/or technical meaning of words to create meaning and/or tone? / Questions to ask students:
  • What does the word/phrase ______mean in this selection?
  • What can be inferred from the use of ______(word/phrase)? (Consider connotative meanings.)
  • Without changing the meaning of the sentence, what word can best be used to replace the underlined part?
  • How does the author’s use of repetition of sounds impact the tone of the text?
  • Find and interpret figures of speech. Cite the text.
  • What does the word/phrase ______mean in this selection?
  • Without changing the meaning of the sentence, which word can best be used to replace the underlined part?
  • The author uses connotation to______.
  • What is the technical meaning of the word?
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  • What message does the author convey?
  • What is the tone of the selection?
  • How does the author’s word choice impact the meaning and tone of the passage?
/ Students will be able to:
  • Read and reread other sentences, paragraphs, and non-linguistic images in the text to identify context clues
  • Use context clues to help unlock the meaning of unknown words/phrases
  • Determine the appropriate definition of words that have more than one meaning
  • Differentiate between literal and non-literal meaning
  • Identify and interpret figurative language
  • Explain how figurative language enhances and extends meaning
  • Explain the impact of specific language choices by the author
  • Explain how authors use language choices to create an effect
  • Analyze how specific language choices impact meaning and tone
  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

RI 5:Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas. a. Analyze the use of text features(e.g., graphics, headers, captions) in public documents.