In this post about how to teach RI.1 in middle school ELA, we’ve included the standards for each grade level, learning targets, and key concepts, as well as resource suggestions and activity and assessment ideas!
As students begin diving into informational texts, it can be easy to just focus on citing, but using informational texts is actually so much more than just citing.
The first informational reading standard (RI.1) focuses on finding and supporting information, but also being able to cite it once it’s found.
In this post, we’ll dive deeper into this standard and figure out exactly what you should be focused on when you teach RI.1 in middle school and what resources you can use to make it a lot easier.
Let’s start by getting organized!
Learning Targets
Learning targets are one way of breaking down a standard into digestible pieces that we can focus on to make sure that we are fully covering each standard.
In this post, we talk about how we break down each standard and make a plan for learning, practicing, and reviewing the standards throughout the year using the checklists below.
Each checklist includes the standard and gives you space to make notes and plans as you figure out how you’ll organize your year.
When breaking down our standards into learning targets, we try to break up the standard into 3-5 parts that make up the whole standard. Each of these parts becomes one of the learning targets for the standard.
Here are the learning targets on which we developed our resources for RI.1.
Teaching RI.6.1 (6th Grade)
6th Grade Standard: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
6th Grade Learning Targets
- I can determine what the text says explicitly.
- I can make an inference based on what the text says implicitly.
- I can cite a text to support my analysis.
Teaching RI.7.1 (7th Grade)
7th Grade Standard: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences drawn from the text.
7th Grade Learning Targets
- I can determine what the text says explicitly.
- I can make an inference based on what the text says implicitly.
- I can cite from a text to support my analysis.
Teaching RI.8.1 (8th Grade)
8th Grade Standard: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences.
8th Grade Learning Targets
- I can make an inference with strong supporting details for inferences made.
- I can judge what the text says explicitly and analyze its meaning.
- I can cite text with the strongest information to support an analysis and explain its relation.
Growing through Middle School
The RI.1 standard actually doesn’t change too much in middle school in regards to citing sources, as citing sources, is citing sources, is citing sources. Instead, this standard grows as it relates to what students are doing with the text and what kind of information they are pulling from an informational text.
Citing Sources
It is good to start teaching the citing (correctly) from the very beginning. If you try to teach citing sources in steps, then students begin to think there is a grey area when it comes to citation when, in actuality, citing sources according to MLA or APA style guidelines is actually very black and white.
Make sure to teach citations fully each year. Practice each type of citation over and over, and be very purposeful in pointing out WHY each piece of information is needed.
Try to get your students running on all cylinders as it relates to citing as soon as possible, as this is the piece of the RI.1 standard that will not change from year to year.
Using Informational Texts as Evidence
Although citing doesn’t change throughout middle school, how students are expected to use and pull information from an informational text definitely does.
In 6th and 7th grade, students are expected to determine what a text says explicitly and to begin making inferences about the text, but in 8th grade, this expectation grows.
In 8th grade, rather than just stating what the text says, we start to put a lot more emphasis on supporting details and analyzing for meaning. This means that although a singular statement from a text in 6th or 7th grade may meet this standard, in 8th grade, it will take a lot more effort from students to show how an informational text actually supports their point.
Resources for teaching RI.1
When picking resources to help teach RI.1, you’ll want to make sure the resource teaches, practices, and reviews the standard at the appropriate level for the students you’re teaching.
When we create resources for each ELA standard in middle school, we focus on making sure that we have accounted for grade-level reading expectations and activities that are appropriate to grade level.
Click on the links below to take a closer look at the resources we have available for the RI.1 standard.
The resources include a lesson/activity for each specific learning target or concept and also include assessments, posters, and answer keys.
Activities and Projects for Practicing and Assessing RI.1 in Middle School
- In 6th grade, students can practice writing explicit statements by writing very basic warning labels for common items like scissors, pencils, etc. Find this activity in the 6th grade RI.1 resource.
- In 7th grade, reading passages and focusing on the goal of the passage can be a strong (almost daily) activity that students can engage in. If you end up downloading the RI.1 resource for 7th grade, you can model this process after the handout that is included for the first activity.
- To blend writing and reading, ask students to create a step-by-step ‘How to’ guide teaching someone else how to complete a task. This will require students to practice writing explicit information. By being able to write their own steps, they can also observe how others write explicit information. We have this activity in our 7th-grade resource!
- I love teaching students about making inferences using social media because of the way that people choose to portray themselves. In one of our activities focused on the 2nd learning target, at both the 7th-grade and 8th-grade levels, students are asked to take a look at a series of fictional social media profiles and make inferences based on the information given.
- Once students are in 8th grade, activities that ask them to provide an analysis and then provide a list of supporting details is great practice. We do this exact activity in our 8th-grade resource, but rather than stopping there, we also ask students to pick the BEST details to support their point.
Ensuring your students understand and master the standards feels like a huge challenge, and we understand that. That is why we create standards-focused resources for standards like RI.1 that provide teachers with activities, lessons, and assessments that explicitly teach each of the middle school ELA standards.
Remember, RI.1 isn’t just a standard about citing; it is about taking a closer look at informational texts and figuring out the best way to use them to support our points.
Two end-of-year activities that you maybe haven’t thought of…
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