Standard: 6-8.WHST.9 – Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Grade level: Grade 6-8
Subject: English Language Arts
Domain: Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects
Teacher Overview
This standard emphasizes the importance of drawing evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. It is crucial for helping students develop critical thinking skills and the ability to support their ideas with concrete evidence, which is a foundational skill for academic success across subjects. Students should be familiar with identifying main ideas and key details in texts, and have some practice in summarizing and paraphrasing information.
After mastering this standard, students will be able to construct well-supported arguments and explanations in their writing, enhancing their critical thinking and analytical skills across various subjects.
Common Misconception 1
A common misconception is that any detail from the text can be used as evidence. This is incorrect because strong evidence must be relevant and directly support the analysis or claim being made.
Intervention 1
An effective intervention is to provide students with exercises that involve evaluating the relevance and strength of different pieces of evidence, discussing why some pieces are more supportive than others.
Common Misconception 2
Another misconception is that personal opinions can replace textual evidence. This is incorrect because analysis must be grounded in the text to be credible and convincing.
Intervention 2
To address this, teachers can have students practice distinguishing between opinion-based and evidence-based statements, reinforcing the importance of textual evidence in analysis.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Students should have a basic understanding of how to identify key ideas and details in informational texts, as well as initial experience in summarizing and paraphrasing information.
Subsequent Knowledge
Students will develop the ability to construct well-supported arguments and explanations in their writing, enhancing their critical thinking and analytical skills across various subjects.
Instructional Activities
- Analyze primary and secondary sources in history class.
- Write a science lab report using data from experiments.
- Develop a research paper on a chosen topic.
- Create a presentation on a historical event using evidence from multiple texts.
- Engage in a classroom debate using evidence from informational articles.
