CCSS RL.6.3: How to teach it + Lesson and activities

This should be the first standard that you teach when introducing literary analysis, because plot is the most important aspect of (narrative) literature. CCSS RL.6.1 has students making claims — but does not explain what students should be making claims about. 

By working through the “Key Ideas and Details” grade 6 standards in reverse order, middle school students will begin literary analysis with the first principle of literature and arrive at making their own claims with plenty to write about.

Sequence

After this standard, teach these:

• RL.6.2: Theme and Summary
• RL.6.1: Claim-evidence-reasoning with explicit and inferred evidence
  

How to teach CCSS RL.6.3

There are 2 components to this standard: plot and plot-character interaction. From CoreStandards.org (emphasis my own):

Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s [1:] plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as [2:] how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Both require input and practice.

How to teach plot for RL.6.3

• Define plot as the series of logically connected actions in a story.
• Make sure they understand that plot is the most important part of every story. Without plot, there is no story.
• Walkthrough a simple story together, paraphrasing the events that occur.
• Afterwards, establish that all of these events lead to the next. This is what it means to be logically connected.
• Have students do the same.
  

Do not feel the need to introduce “Freytag’s Pyramid” or other plot charts at this point. These can be introduced in later grades. For now, focus on ensuring that students can logically outline a plot.

How to teach plot-character interaction for RL.6.3

• It helps to first establish with students that events in our own lives change who we are.
• Ensure that students understand what a “character” is in a story. For example, ask students to list the characters in a story you’ve read together.
• Now, review the plot outline you’ve already made for a story. Pay attention to character actions at different points of the story. At least 1 character should act differently at the beginning than he does at the end.
• Establish the way in which the character has changed: was he cruel at the beginning but considerate at the end?
• Review your plot outline to find events that may have caused this change.
  

How to use this resource

This digital worksheet/escape room is designed to serve as a lecture guide, guided practice, and a template for freer practice. Review the input with students, possibly complete a game together, then allow them to complete a game on their own, and finally let them create their own game.

Here is a video of me talking through it.