This standard contains several words that students may have to look up in order to make any sense of it at all - so it’s going to help keep them on track with their language standards, too! According to this standard, students are expected not only to “get” what a text says, but to also be able to explain, using examples from the text itself, how and why they reached their conclusions and why they are plausible. There are several ways to read any text; this standard isn’t so much about figuring out what the “right” one is as it is about explaining why whichever one the reader chooses seems right to him or her.

Some literary characters also have multiple or conflicting motivations. The ones who do are by far the most interesting and are in the best stories. The third Common Core Standard for Literature challenges readers to figure out how characters are thinking and feeling - what they want, what they’re afraid of, and what they won’t admit even to themselves.