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Common Core ELA6th GradeReading: Literature

RL.6.6: How an Author Builds a Narrator’s Point of View

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 41 6th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 6, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RL.6.6 Means in Plain English

Sixth graders explain how an author builds a narrator’s view of the world: what the narrator notices, the words they pick, and what they miss. A ship’s computer that reports a crying girl as a fluid leak reveals its point of view in a single sentence, and students explain how.

In 5th grade (RL.5.6) students described how a narrator’s point of view shapes the way events are told. Sixth grade asks how the author built that view, choice by choice. In 7th grade (RL.7.6) students contrast the points of view of different characters or narrators in one text.

RL.6.6 I Can Statements

  • I can describe a narrator’s point of view in one sentence.
  • I can point to what the narrator notices, says and misses.
  • I can explain how the author’s choices build that point of view.

RL.6.6 Worked Example

A science fiction story narrated by a ship’s computer that reports everything accurately and understands almost nothing, which the author built on purpose.

Read the Story
Log, day 212. Crew member Tamsin, age eleven, entered the observation deck at 0340. Sleep period. Rule violation noted.She pressed one hand to the glass in the direction of Earth, which at this distance is not visible. I informed her of this. She did not move her hand.Fluid leaked from both of her eyes for six minutes. I ran a diagnostic. No damage found.At 0346 she said, “Goodnight, Grandma,” to the window. There is no crew member named Grandma. I have logged the error.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: How does the author develop the computer’s point of view, and what does the computer miss?
Not Yet“The story is told in first person by a computer, because it says ‘I.’”It names the narrator and the person but not the point of view, and says nothing about how the author built it or what the computer fails to see.
Meets the Standard“The author makes the computer see only facts and rules. It notes a ‘Rule violation’ instead of asking why Tamsin is awake, reports her tears as ‘Fluid leaked from both of her eyes’ and runs a diagnostic, and files her goodnight as an error because no crew member is named Grandma. Every choice shows it measuring a homesick girl like a machine part. The reader understands what the narrator can’t: Tamsin misses her grandmother back on Earth.”It states the point of view, then shows three choices the author made (what the narrator notices, the words it uses, what it misreads) and the gap between narrator and reader.
Question Stems to Use
What does the narrator notice first, and what does that tell you?Which words show how the narrator sees the world?What does the reader understand that the narrator doesn’t?How would a different narrator describe the same moment?Why might the author have chosen this narrator for this story?

Common Mistakes with RL.6.6

Naming the person, not the point of view

“It’s first person.”

Try this: Ask students to finish the sentence “This narrator sees the world as…” before they say anything about first or third person.

Taking the narrator’s word for it

“Tamsin broke a rule and made an error.”

Try this: Have students rewrite one log entry as Tamsin would tell it, then compare what each version notices and what each leaves out.

The view without the author’s choices

“The computer doesn’t understand feelings.”

Try this: Require each claim about the narrator to cite one choice the author made: a word, a detail noticed, or something left out.

Where RL.6.6 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.5.6Describe how a narrator’s point of view shapes how events are described.
AlongsideRI.6.6Find an author’s point of view or purpose in nonfiction and explain where it shows.W.6.3Write a narrative whose narrator’s view comes through in the details.
Comes NextRL.7.6Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators.

Practice RL.6.6

Quick Check

  1. What rule does Tamsin break, according to the computer?
  2. How does the computer describe Tamsin crying?
  3. Why does the computer log “Goodnight, Grandma” as an error?

RL.6.6: Other Names

RL.6.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.