Common Core Standards

Grade 7

Reading RL.7.3

Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

This Common Core Standard is all about getting students to understand why it's important to understand everything about a story, because you can't have a story without a plot, a setting, characters, conflicts, and themes. All those are interconnected, too, hence why the standard asks students to focus on how a setting affects its characters or how the conflict of a story can change those characters by the end of it. Because students aren't eighth graders yet, they don't have to be super profound in their analysis.

Example 1

Here's a an example lesson to use when students are reading The Call of the Wild.

Students will use a list format to track the plot of the novel The Call of the Wild and analyze the parts of a traditional plotline. They will also use a graphic organizer to analyze the plotlines of short stories and non-fiction articles.

Aligned Resources