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Common Core ELA7th GradeReading: Literature

RL.7.10: Read Complex Literature in the 6-8 Band

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.10 · Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity.

All 41 7th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 7, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RL.7.10 Means in Plain English

By the end of 7th grade students read stories, plays and poems across the grades 6 to 8 range and understand them, with support only on the hardest. That means untangling a sentence like “not, he assured the supply boat, in the least inclined to begin.”

Seventh grade’s wording matches 6th grade (RL.6.10) exactly. The band stays grades 6 to 8, so the growth is in how far up it students read with less support. In 8th grade (RL.8.10) they read the high end independently, with no scaffolding.

RL.7.10 I Can Statements

  • I can follow a long sentence with clauses tucked inside it.
  • I can explain what a character claims and what he really does.
  • I can name the part I reread and what helped.

RL.7.10 Worked Example

A tale told in long, old-fashioned sentences, read cold. The question checks whether a reader untangled the first sentence and kept track to the last.

Read the Story
The keeper of the Gull Point light had not left his rock in eleven years, and he was not, he assured the supply boat, in the least inclined to begin.Yet when the boy who rowed out the October barrels mentioned that the school in town wanted someone who could teach the stars, the old man set down the barrel he was rolling and did not pick it up until the boat had gone.That night the lamp burned as faithfully as ever; but the logbook, which for eleven years had recorded nothing but wind and weather, held a second line in a careful hand: Orion rising, nine o’clock.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: What does the keeper claim in the first sentence, and what has changed by the last?
Not Yet“The keeper is ready to begin leaving the lighthouse, and at the end he writes in his logbook.”It misreads the first sentence: “not … in the least inclined to begin” means he has no wish to leave at all. It also misses why a star in the logbook matters.
Meets the Standard“First he says he has no wish at all to leave his rock after eleven years. Then news that the school wants someone to teach the stars stops him cold: he ‘did not pick it up until the boat had gone.’ That night his logbook, which held ‘nothing but wind and weather’ for eleven years, records ‘Orion rising, nine o’clock.’ He is already practicing for the job he claimed not to want.”It untangles the long first sentence correctly, then tracks how two later details overturn it, the close reading a cold read of a hard text demands.
Question Stems to Use
Who is doing what in this long sentence? Say it in your own words.Which words did you have to reread, and what helped?What does the character say he wants, and what does he do?What changes between the beginning and the end?What question would you ask the author about this passage?

Common Mistakes with RL.7.10

Losing the subject in a long sentence

“The supply boat didn’t want to begin.”

Try this: Have students set off the tucked-in clause, read the sentence without it, then put it back and explain what it adds.

Scaffolding every text

The teacher paraphrases each hard paragraph before students try it

Try this: Save support for texts at the top of the band, and let students attempt every other text cold before any help.

Only easy books read alone

Every free-choice book sits well below the grades 6 to 8 band

Try this: Pair each student’s free-choice book with one assigned text from the upper band per unit, and confer about both.

Where RL.7.10 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.6.10Read grades 6 to 8 literature proficiently, with scaffolding at the high end of the range.
AlongsideRI.7.10The same reading range for literary nonfiction, like memoirs and speeches.L.7.4Work out unfamiliar words from context, roots or a dictionary while reading.
Comes NextRL.8.10Read literature at the high end of the grades 6 to 8 band independently and proficiently.

Practice RL.7.10

Quick Check

  1. How long has the keeper stayed on his rock?
  2. What news makes him stop rolling the barrel?
  3. What is unusual about the second line in the logbook?

RL.7.10: Other Names

RL.7.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.10

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.