Skip to main content
Common Core ELA7th GradeReading: Literature

RL.7.7: Compare a Story with Its Film or Stage Version

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.7 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 41 7th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

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

What RL.7.7 Means in Plain English

Seventh graders compare a story, play or poem with its film, stage or audio version and explain what each medium does that the other can’t. A story can say “I did not believe me.” A film builds dread with silence, a creaking stair and a camera that waits.

In 6th grade (RL.6.7) students compared reading a text with hearing or watching it. Seventh grade names the techniques unique to each medium, like lighting, sound and camera angle, and their effects. In 8th grade (RL.8.7) students judge how faithful a production is and weigh the director’s choices.

RL.7.7 I Can Statements

  • I can name a technique only a film or stage can use.
  • I can explain what a story’s words do that a film cannot.
  • I can compare the effect of one scene in two media.

RL.7.7 Worked Example

The same attic scene twice: first as a short story, then as a film, with each shot described line by line.

Read the Story
The short story: I climbed the attic stairs slowly. I told myself the scratching was only the maple branch against the window. I did not believe me.The short story: At the top, the window was shut, the branch was still, and the scratching was coming from inside the trunk.The film: A low camera follows her sneakers up the stairs. No music. Only the creak of each step and a faint scratching that grows louder.The film: A wide shot of the attic in gray moonlight. The camera holds on the trunk for five full seconds before she sees it.The film: Cut to her face, lit from below by her flashlight, as the scratching stops.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Both versions build fear. What can each medium do that the other can’t, and how does that change the scene’s effect?
Not Yet“The film is scarier because you can actually see the attic.”It gives a preference, not an analysis. It names no technique from either version and never says what the story does that the film can’t.
Meets the Standard“The story puts the fear inside her head. Only words can give us ‘I did not believe me,’ a girl arguing with herself. The film can’t hear that thought, so it builds fear outside her: ‘No music,’ just creaking, and a camera that ‘holds on the trunk for five full seconds before she sees it,’ so we know where to look before she does. Her face ‘lit from below’ uses lighting the page can only describe. The story makes you feel her doubt. The film makes you wait.”It names a technique unique to each medium, words for inner thought against sound, camera timing and lighting, and explains the different effect each creates.
Question Stems to Use
What does the written version tell you that the camera can’t show?What does the film add through sound, lighting or camera angle?Where does the film slow down or speed up compared with the text?Which version lets you know something before the character does?How would this scene change on a stage with no close-ups?

Common Mistakes with RL.7.7

Picking a favorite

“I liked the movie better.”

Try this: Replace “which is better” with “what can this version do that the other can’t,” and require one named technique per claim.

Listing differences without effects

“In the film she wears sneakers, and the story doesn’t say.”

Try this: After each difference students list, ask what effect it has on the audience, and drop any difference that changes nothing.

Watching without listening

Analyzes every shot but never mentions the missing music or the creaking

Try this: Play the clip once with the screen covered so students hear only the soundtrack, then ask what the sound alone accomplished.

Where RL.7.7 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.6.7Compare reading a story, play or poem with hearing or watching a version of it.
AlongsideRI.7.7Compare the text of a speech with its audio or video delivery.SL.7.2Analyze the main ideas and details presented in diverse media and formats.
Comes NextRL.8.7Judge how faithful a filmed or live production is to the text, weighing the director’s and actors’ choices.

Practice RL.7.7

Quick Check

  1. What does the narrator tell herself the scratching is?
  2. What sound does the film leave out on purpose?
  3. How does the film show the trunk before she notices it?

RL.7.7: Other Names

RL.7.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.7

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.