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Texas Standards

6th Grade ELA TEKS

All 63 Texas English language arts standards for 6th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

63 standards

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language

4 standards
The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion.
6.1(A)
Listen closely to figure out what a speaker means, ask questions to clear up anything confusing, and reply in a fitting way.
Official wording
listen actively to interpret a message, ask clarifying questions, and respond appropriately;
6.1(B)
Carry out spoken directions that have several steps, and give classmates clear multistep directions out loud, like how to set up a lab.
Official wording
follow and give oral instructions that include multiple action steps;
6.1(C)
Give a well-organized talk that takes a clear position, using eye contact, a steady pace, good volume, clear speech, natural gestures and correct grammar.
Official wording
give an organized presentation with a specific stance and position, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, natural gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively; and
6.1(D)
Take part in discussions run by students, inviting and weighing others' ideas, jotting notes, and naming where the group agrees and disagrees.
Official wording
participate in student-led discussions by eliciting and considering suggestions from other group members, taking notes, and identifying points of agreement and disagreement.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary

3 standards
The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.
6.2(A)
Look up a word in a print or online dictionary to learn its meaning, syllables, pronunciation, history and part of speech, like for the word migrate.
Official wording
use print or digital resources to determine the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin, and part of speech;
6.2(B)
Work out an unfamiliar word from clues around it, like a definition, a comparison or examples given in the same sentence.
Official wording
use context such as definition, analogy, and examples to clarify the meaning of words; and
6.2(C)
Use Greek and Latin roots like mit, bene, man, vac, scrib and jur to work out and use academic words, like transmit, benefit, manual or jury.
Official wording
determine the meaning and usage of grade-level academic English words derived from Greek and Latin roots such as mis/mit, bene, man, vac, scrib/script, and jur/jus.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--fluency

1 standard
The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.
6.3
Read grade-level text at a pace and with expression that suit the purpose, like slowing down to study a science passage.
Official wording
adjust fluency when reading grade-level text based on the reading purpose.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading

1 standard
The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently.
6.4
Choose books independently and keep reading them alone for long, focused stretches, like a novel read across several weeks.
Official wording
self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

9 standards
The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.
6.5(A)
Decide on a reason for reading before starting an assigned or self-chosen text, like learning facts for a report or reading for fun.
Official wording
establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected text;
6.5(B)
Ask questions before, during and after reading to understand a text better and learn more, like wondering why a character lied.
Official wording
generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;
6.5(C)
Predict what comes next using headings, genre clues and the way a text is built, then check and revise those guesses while reading.
Official wording
make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;
6.5(D)
Picture scenes, people and events in the mind while reading to understand a text more deeply, like imagining a story's stormy setting.
Official wording
create mental images to deepen understanding;
6.5(E)
Link a text to personal experiences, to other books and to the wider world, like comparing a story about friendship to a real event.
Official wording
make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;
6.5(F)
Read between the lines to draw conclusions and back them up with details from the text, like figuring out why a character feels left out.
Official wording
make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;
6.5(G)
Weigh the details in a text to decide which ones matter most and point to the key ideas, like sorting important facts from interesting extras.
Official wording
evaluate details read to determine key ideas;
6.5(H)
Combine ideas from different parts of a text, or from several texts, to form a new and fuller understanding of a topic.
Official wording
synthesize information to create new understanding; and
6.5(I)
Notice when understanding slips and fix it by rereading, using what is already known, asking questions or marking up the text.
Official wording
monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

9 standards
The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
6.6(A)
Tell how different sources, including books chosen independently, relate to personal life, like a story that recalls a family trip.
Official wording
describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;
6.6(B)
Write responses that show a text was understood, including comparisons of sources in the same or different genres, like a poem and an article.
Official wording
write responses that demonstrate understanding of texts, including comparing sources within and across genres;
6.6(C)
Back up answers about a text with evidence from it, like quoting a line that shows a character's change of heart.
Official wording
use text evidence to support an appropriate response;
6.6(D)
Retell a text's ideas in original words and sum up its main points, keeping the meaning and the order of events accurate.
Official wording
paraphrase and summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;
6.6(E)
Engage with what is read by taking notes, marking up the text, freewriting or drawing, like sketching a scene from a novel.
Official wording
interact with sources in meaningful ways such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating;
6.6(F)
Use new vocabulary words learned from reading when talking or writing about texts, like describing a character as resilient.
Official wording
respond using newly acquired vocabulary as appropriate;
6.6(G)
Talk and write about both what a text says directly and what it only suggests, like the hidden lesson in a fable.
Official wording
discuss and write about the explicit or implicit meanings of text;
6.6(H)
Respond aloud or in writing with the formality, word choice, tone and voice the situation calls for, like a formal book talk versus a casual chat.
Official wording
respond orally or in writing with appropriate register, vocabulary, tone, and voice; and
6.6(I)
Rethink and revise a response when new evidence comes up, like changing an opinion of a character after a later chapter.
Official wording
reflect on and adjust responses as new evidence is presented.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements

4 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts.
6.7(A)
Infer more than one theme in a text or across texts and back each with evidence, like courage and loyalty in an adventure novel.
Official wording
infer multiple themes within and across texts using text evidence;
6.7(B)
Analyze how characters' inner thoughts and outward actions shape the plot, like a character's hidden fear leading to a rash choice.
Official wording
analyze how the characters' internal and external responses develop the plot;
6.7(C)
Analyze how a plot builds through rising action to a climax, then winds down to a resolution, and how flashbacks break the time order.
Official wording
analyze plot elements, including rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and non-linear elements such as flashback; and
6.7(D)
Analyze how a story's time and place, including its history and culture, shape the characters and the plot, like a novel set during the Dust Bowl.
Official wording
analyze how the setting, including historical and cultural settings, influences character and plot development.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

6 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
6.8(A)
Show understanding of what defines genres like realistic fiction, adventure, historical fiction, mystery, humor and myth.
Official wording
demonstrate knowledge of literary genres such as realistic fiction, adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, humor, and myths;
6.8(B)
Analyze how rhythm and structure, like where lines break, affect the way different kinds of poems sound and feel.
Official wording
analyze the effect of meter and structural elements such as line breaks in poems across a variety of poetic forms;
6.8(C)
Analyze how playwrights reveal characters through what they say and through stage directions for movement and setting.
Official wording
analyze how playwrights develop characters through dialogue and staging;
6.8(D)
Analyze an informational text's thesis and evidence, extras like a foreword or references for background, and patterns like definition or pros and cons.
Official wording
analyze characteristics and structural elements of informational text, including:ithe controlling idea or thesis with supporting evidence;iifeatures such as introduction, foreword, preface, references, or acknowledgements to gain background information; andiiiorganizational patterns such as definition, classification, advantage, and disadvantage;
6.8(E)
Analyze an argument by finding the author's claim, explaining how different kinds of evidence support it, and naming who it is written for.
Official wording
analyze characteristics and structures of argumentative text by:iidentifying the claim;iiexplaining how the author uses various types of evidence to support the argument; andiiiidentifying the intended audience or reader; and
6.8(F)
Analyze the features of texts that combine words, images, sound or links, like websites, infographics and videos.
Official wording
analyze characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.; and

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

7 standards
The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.
6.9(A)
Explain why an author wrote a text and the message it is meant to send, like a story written to warn about peer pressure.
Official wording
explain the author's purpose and message within a text;
6.9(B)
Analyze how the way a text is organized helps the author reach a goal, like a problem and solution structure in a persuasive article.
Official wording
analyze how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose;
6.9(C)
Analyze why an author uses print and graphic features, like bold words, captions, charts or maps, and what they help accomplish.
Official wording
analyze the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes;
6.9(D)
Describe how an author's metaphors, personification and other figurative language create effects, like making the wind seem angry.
Official wording
describe how the author's use of figurative language such as metaphor and personification achieves specific purposes;
6.9(E)
Identify how an author uses literary devices, including an all-knowing narrator or one limited to a single character, to achieve a purpose.
Official wording
identify the use of literary devices, including omniscient and limited point of view, to achieve a specific purpose;
6.9(F)
Analyze how an author's word choices create mood and a distinct voice, like short, harsh words building a tense feeling.
Official wording
analyze how the author's use of language contributes to mood and voice; and
6.9(G)
Explain the difference between persuasive techniques authors use on purpose and logical fallacies, which are errors in reasoning.
Official wording
explain the differences between rhetorical devices and logical fallacies.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process

5 standards
The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.
6.10(A)
Get ready to write by picking the genre that best suits the topic, reason and readers, drawing ideas from talking, reading up or personal interests.
Official wording
plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as discussion, background reading, and personal interests;
6.10(B)
Turn a draft into a focused piece with a clear opening, transitions, linked paragraphs and an ending, backing a thoughtful idea with precise facts and details.
Official wording
develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by:iorganizing with purposeful structure, including an introduction, transitions, coherence within and across paragraphs, and a conclusion; andiideveloping an engaging idea reflecting depth of thought with specific facts and details;
6.10(C)
Revise a draft so it is clearer, better developed and organized, with a stronger style, sharper words and more varied sentences.
Official wording
revise drafts for clarity, development, organization, style, word choice, and sentence variety;
6.10(D)
Edit for complete sentences and agreement, steady verb tenses, conjunctions, pronouns, capitals for names and acronyms, commas, and mix-ups like its and it's.
Official wording
edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:icomplete complex sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;iiconsistent, appropriate use of verb tenses;iiiconjunctive adverbs;ivprepositions and prepositional phrases and their influence on subject-verb agreement;vpronouns, including relative;visubordinating conjunctions to form complex sentences and correlative conjunctions such as either/or and neither/nor;viicapitalization of proper nouns, including abbreviations, initials, acronyms, and organizations;viiipunctuation marks, including commas in complex sentences, transitions, and introductory elements; andixcorrect spelling, including commonly confused terms such as its/it's, affect/effect, there/their/they're, and to/two/too; and
6.10(E)
Share finished writing with a fitting audience, like posting a story on a class blog or reading it to younger students.
Official wording
publish written work for appropriate audiences.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

4 standards
The student uses genre characteristics and craft to compose multiple texts that are meaningful.
6.11(A)
Write personal narratives, stories and poems using the features and techniques of each genre, like dialogue and vivid description.
Official wording
compose literary texts such as personal narratives, fiction, and poetry using genre characteristics and craft;
6.11(B)
Write informational pieces, including essays of several paragraphs, built around a clear thesis and using the features and craft of the genre.
Official wording
compose informational texts, including multi-paragraph essays that convey information about a topic, using a clear controlling idea or thesis statement and genre characteristics and craft;
6.11(C)
Write arguments of several paragraphs that take a position, using the features and craft of argumentative writing, like a claim backed by reasons.
Official wording
compose multi-paragraph argumentative texts using genre characteristics and craft; and
6.11(D)
Write letters or emails, formal or friendly, that share an opinion, make a complaint or ask for information.
Official wording
compose correspondence that reflects an opinion, registers a complaint, or requests information in a business or friendly structure.

Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

10 standards
The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.
6.12(A)
Come up with research questions, some chosen independently and some guided by the teacher, for formal and informal investigations.
Official wording
generate student-selected and teacher-guided questions for formal and informal inquiry;
6.12(B)
Make a research plan and revise it as the work goes on, like deciding which sources to check first.
Official wording
develop and revise a plan;
6.12(C)
Sharpen the main research question when needed, using answers to smaller follow-up questions as a guide.
Official wording
refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions;
6.12(D)
Find and collect useful information from many kinds of sources, like books, websites and interviews.
Official wording
identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources;
6.12(E)
Tell primary sources from secondary sources, like a diary written at the time versus a textbook written later.
Official wording
differentiate between primary and secondary sources;
6.12(F)
Combine information from several sources into one clear understanding of the research topic.
Official wording
synthesize information from a variety of sources;
6.12(G)
Tell the difference between restating a source in original words and passing off someone else's work as one's own.
Official wording
differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials;
6.12(H)
Judge whether sources are trustworthy, believable and unbiased, and catch weak reasoning like exaggeration, emotional appeals and stereotyping.
Official wording
examine sources for:ireliability, credibility, and bias; andiifaulty reasoning such as hyperbole, emotional appeals, and stereotype;
6.12(I)
Cite sources in an accepted academic format and use others' work honestly, like adding a works cited page.
Official wording
display academic citations and use source materials ethically; and
6.12(J)
Share research results in a fitting format, written, spoken or multimedia, like a report, a speech or a slideshow.
Official wording
use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.

The official Texas documents

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, 19 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 110, adopted by the Texas State Board of Education.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.