Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction25 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Students write for three minutes, then compare with a partner. Collect four or five answers and list on the board what the media did in each: showed evidence, or made the viewer feel something, or both.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a time a video, a chart or a photo changed your mind about something, or nearly did. Was it showing you evidence, or was it making you feel something? How could you tell the difference?"

   Students usually find that the most powerful media did both, and that the ones they later distrusted made them feel something the facts did not support. That is the line SL.11-12.5 asks presenters to walk: use digital media strategically to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning and evidence, and to add interest, while keeping the evidence accurate. Show Diagram 1.

2. Direct Instruction25 minutes

   Part 1: The media plan. At grades 11-12, presentations make an argument: a claim, reasoning, evidence, and a fair account of the opposing view, which the companion standard SL.11-12.4 requires. A media plan lists every element of the presentation with the part of the argument it serves, as in Diagram 1. The standard names five kinds of elements: textual (words and numbers on screen), graphical (charts, graphs, data maps), audio (recordings and clips), visual (photos, video, diagrams) and interactive (anything the audience does, such as a poll, a slider or a map to explore). Then each element faces a four-question stress test: is it accurate, is it needed, is it accessible to every listener, and is it timed to the point being spoken? An element that fails is changed or cut, however striking it is.

   Part 2: A model presentation. The page cannot show slides or play clips, so students work from a transcript with every media element described in brackets. Read Model Presentation A aloud: four seniors present an audit of their campus's ramps and accessible routes to the school board of an invented district. As you reach each bracketed cue, students write its kind and the part of the argument it serves.

   1[Video: a 15-second clip filmed from wheelchair height along the accessible route from the bus zone to the science wing, captioned "Accessible route, bus zone to science wing, filmed March 4."] Good evening, members of the board. We are four seniors from the civics research seminar, and that is the route one of our classmates takes to her first class. This spring we audited every ramp and accessible route on campus. Our finding is that the accessible routes work on paper but not on a school schedule, and two changes would fix most of the problem.

   2[Slide 2: the claim in one sentence: "Three of our nine ramps are steeper than the 1:12 slope that federal standards set for new ramps, and the accessible route between two of our main buildings takes longer than a passing period."] Each part of that sentence has its own evidence, and each piece is coming up.

   3[Slide 3: a bar chart of the slope of each of the nine ramps, with a dashed line at 8.3 percent, the 1:12 limit. The bars start at zero. The three ramps above the line are dark blue and labeled with their locations; the other six are light blue.] We measured each ramp with a digital level at three points along its length, three times at each point, and averaged the nine readings. Six ramps are at or under the line. The three that are not, by the library, the theater and the gym, are the three that students told us they avoid. Older ramps can fall under different rules than new ones, so this is a finding about how hard the ramps are to use, not a legal ruling.

   4[Audio: a 10-second clip from our interview with Dana, a junior who uses a wheelchair and agreed to be recorded, captioned on screen: "On the gym ramp I need someone to push, so I plan my whole day around who's free."] A steep ramp is not only a number. For Dana, it decides whom she has to ask for help, and when.

   5[Slide 4: a campus map with two routes from the math building to the science wing: the shortest route, 2 minutes, in gray with a stair symbol, and the accessible route, 7 minutes, in blue. A clock beside the map shows the passing period: 6 minutes.] Here is the schedule problem. The only step-free way from math to science goes around the theater and down the library ramp. Dana timed it with us five times, and the average was 7 minutes. The passing period is 6.

   6[Slide 5: the district's position, quoted from its facilities plan: "Ramp replacements are scheduled for the 2028 bond program." Beside it, two costs: one interim ramp at the gym, $8,500; the full ramp program, $640,000.] We are not asking you to move the bond program. We are asking for two things before 2028: an interim ramp at the gym, which costs about 1.3 percent of the full program, and a schedule pass that gives students who need the accessible route three extra minutes.

   7[Interactive: a route finder on the screen. Pick any two buildings, and it draws the shortest route and the accessible route, with the time we measured for each.] Of the 12 building pairs we timed, three accessible routes take longer than a passing period, and all three use the library ramp.

   8[Slide 6: the two requests in two short lines, under a small copy of the ramp chart.] An interim ramp and three extra minutes. Thank you. The route finder stays open for your questions.

   The measurements behind Slide 3 (invented data)

   Ramp	Average slope (percent)	Steeper than 1:12 (8.3 percent)?
   Bus zone	6.8	No
   Cafeteria	7.2	No
   Field	7.6	No
   Math	7.9	No
   Science	8.0	No
   Office	8.1	No
   Library	9.6	Yes
   Theater	10.4	Yes
   Gym	11.1	Yes

   Diagram 2 draws Slide 3 to scale from this table. A 1:12 slope rises 1 unit for every 12 units of length, which is 1 divided by 12, or about 8.3 percent; the federal ADA Standards for Accessible Design use it as the steepest running slope for a new ramp. Work through the examples below one cue at a time.

   • Visual element that opens with evidence (paragraph 1)

     "a 15-second clip filmed from wheelchair height along the accessible route from the bus zone to the science wing, captioned 'Accessible route, bus zone to science wing, filmed March 4.'"

     Result: The camera height is the strategy: the board sees the route from the point of view of the people the finding is about, before any number appears. The caption names the route and the date, which turns a striking clip into evidence someone could check. It adds interest in the first seconds and previews the finding. A stock photo of a wheelchair symbol would add nothing either way.

   • Textual element for a two-part claim (paragraph 2)

     The claim slide: "Three of our nine ramps are steeper than the 1:12 slope that federal standards set for new ramps, and the accessible route between two of our main buildings takes longer than a passing period."

     Result: A claim slide earns its place when every part is later supported and the audience is told so: "Each part of that sentence has its own evidence, and each piece is coming up." The first part returns in the ramp chart and the second in the route map. The slide works as a map of the argument that listeners can hold while the evidence arrives.

   • Graphical element built for accuracy and emphasis (paragraph 3 and Diagram 2)

     "The bars start at zero. The three ramps above the line are dark blue and labeled with their locations; the other six are light blue."

     Result: Three choices make the chart strategic. The zero baseline keeps the bars in true proportion, so the gym ramp's 11.1 percent looks about 1.3 times the 8.3 percent limit, as it is. The dashed limit line and the dark bars show the audience where to look. The method (nine readings per ramp) is spoken rather than crowded onto the chart, and the speaker limits the claim: "not a legal ruling." Emphasis and honesty work together here.

   • Audio element that carries a step of reasoning (paragraph 4)

     "a 10-second clip from our interview with Dana, a junior who uses a wheelchair and agreed to be recorded, captioned on screen," followed by "A steep ramp is not only a number."

     Result: The chart shows that three ramps are steep; the clip shows why that matters, the step of reasoning between a slope and a student's day. It is short, the speaker says that Dana agreed to be recorded, and the caption lets listeners who cannot hear it, or anyone in a noisy room, hold her exact words. A three-minute interview would bury the point.

   • Visual element for the key comparison (paragraph 5)

     "the shortest route, 2 minutes, in gray with a stair symbol, and the accessible route, 7 minutes, in blue. A clock beside the map shows the passing period: 6 minutes."

     Result: The second half of the claim is a comparison of three numbers, 2, 7 and 6 minutes, and the map puts them where they happen. The accessible route is 5 minutes longer than the shortest route and 1 minute longer than the passing period, so a student who needs it is late every time without help. The speaker gives the method, five timed trips, so the 7 is evidence and not a guess.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Groups of three reread paragraphs 5-8 of Model Presentation A and run the stress test on Slide 5, the route finder and Slide 6. Each group fills in one row of a media plan per element: the kind, the part of the argument, and a pass or a fix for each of the four questions.

   Debrief with three questions. (1) How does Slide 5 present the opposing view? In the district's own words, quoted from its plan, with the two costs beside it. The comparison is accurate: $8,500 is about 1.3 percent of $640,000. The concession ("We are not asking you to move the bond program") is spoken, and the numbers show why the request is small. (2) Why is the route finder worth the time? It lets board members test the claim themselves on any of the 12 building pairs, and the speakers state a checkable result: three accessible routes take longer than a passing period, all three through the library ramp. Its limit is that every time comes from the students' own measurements, which the board may want repeated. (3) What does Slide 6 do? It restates only the two requests, over a small copy of the chart, so the board ends on the evidence the requests rest on. Nothing in Model Presentation A is there only for effect; its interest comes from choosing vivid forms of the evidence, like the wheelchair-height video.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Model Presentation B, a senior's public comment to an invented city's transit committee, and the fact sheet that follows it, which gives the data and the full recording behind the slides. Some of Nadia's media choices are strategic, and some distort the evidence she has. Students answer the quiz with both texts open.

   1[Video: 20 seconds of a crowded Route 14 bus at 7:10 a.m., riders standing in the aisle, with a slow, sad piano track under it.] Good evening. My name is Nadia Ferris. I'm a senior at Eastside High School, and I ride Route 14 every school day. The city's draft plan would end Route 14 next June. Tonight I want to show you that more people ride it every year, and that for many of them there is no good way to replace it.

   2[Slide 2: two bus icons. The small one is labeled "2022: 310 riders a day." The one labeled "2025: 620 riders a day" is twice as tall and twice as wide.] Ridership on Route 14 has doubled in three years. This is not a route in decline.

   3[Slide 3: a map of Route 14's 18 stops. At each stop, a circle shows the average number of riders who board there on a weekday. Three stops are labeled: the community college, the county clinic and Eastside High.] Here is who rides. Almost half of all boardings happen at these three stops. These riders are students, patients and people going to class after work.

   4[Audio: a 6-second clip from a rider interview, captioned: "Without the 14, I just don't go."] That's Ms. Alvarez, who rides to the county clinic twice a week.

   5[Interactive: a QR code on the screen opens a one-question survey for committee members: "How would you get from Eastside to the county clinic without Route 14?" The answers appear as a word cloud.] Take a moment and answer. [The word cloud fills with "drive," "car" and "rideshare."] Most of you would drive. Many of our riders can't.

   6[Slide 4: a table from the transit agency's trip planner, Eastside High to the county clinic, weekdays at 3:30 p.m.: Route 14, 22 minutes; Route 22 and a 0.6-mile walk, 48 minutes.] Without Route 14, the same trip takes more than twice as long, and it ends with a walk that many clinic patients can't make.

   7[Slide 5: the city's reason for the cut, quoted from the draft plan: "Route 14 has the lowest ridership per hour of service of any route in the system."] That's true. Route 14 carries about 14 riders per hour of service, and the system average is 22. But riders per hour measures how full the bus is, not whether its riders have another way to travel.

   8[Slide 6: the map from Slide 3 again, with the three labeled stops circled, and the request: "Keep Route 14 and review it again in two years." The piano track returns under the slide.] Please keep Route 14, and look at it again in two years with these riders in mind. Thank you.

   1Weekday riders per day on Route 14, from the transit agency's counts: 310 in 2022, 380 in 2023, 470 in 2024 and 620 in 2025.

   2Route 14 runs 36 trips each weekday. The average trip carries about 17 riders. The busiest trip of the day is the 7:10 a.m. trip, which carries an average of 58 riders.

   3Average weekday boardings at the three labeled stops: the community college, 120; Eastside High School, 108; the county clinic, 64. The other 15 stops together: 328.

   4Ms. Alvarez's full answer, from Nadia's recorded interview at the clinic stop: "Without the 14, I just don't go. Well, I could take the 22 and walk from Pine Street, but with my knee that takes me most of an hour."

   5Riders per hour of service, from the city's draft plan: Route 14, 14; system average, 22. Route 14 runs about 44 hours of service each weekday.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one media element from Model Presentation B that persuades more than the evidence allows, and one that is strategic. For each, name the stress-test question it fails or passes."

   Homework. Tonight students build a media plan from a cleanup team's research notes for a city council presentation. The notes have findings, evidence, an opposing view and a request, but no media plan yet. Show the directions and rubric before students leave.

   1Research notes for a five-minute presentation, with a screen, at the City Council's March meeting. Prepared by Jonah Reyes for the Miller Creek Cleanup team.

   2Question: Where does the trash in Miller Creek come from, and what would reduce it?

   3Finding 1. On four Saturday cleanups from October to January, we pulled 1,284 pieces of trash from four sites: Site A, below the Harbor Street storm drain, 611 pieces; Site B, behind the shopping center, 402; Site C, at the footbridge in Oakview Park, 188; Site D, upstream at the trailhead, 83.

   4Finding 2. Food wrappers and cups were the largest category: 517 of the 1,284 pieces.

   5Finding 3. The first rain of the season fell on November 8. At the next Saturday cleanup, Site A had 263 pieces, the most at any site on any single day.

   6Evidence we have: before-and-after photos of each site; a 40-second phone video of water pouring out of the Harbor Street storm drain during the November 8 rain; our tally sheets; and a recorded 3-minute interview with a city stormwater engineer, who said, "Most of what reaches the creek at Harbor Street comes down the storm drain from the streets above it. A trash screen on the drain would catch much of it, but screens have to be cleaned after every storm."

   7The other side: a Parks Department memo says, "A drain screen at Harbor Street would cost about $14,000 to install and add about 30 hours of maintenance a year, which the department cannot staff."

   8Our request: install one screen at Harbor Street as a one-year pilot. Our team would help clean it after storms and would keep counting trash at Site A before and after.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The video on Slide 1 (paragraph 1 of Model Presentation B) plays "with a slow, sad piano track under it." Which evaluation of the music is most accurate?

   AIt is strong evidence, because the committee can hear how riders feel BIt is neutral, because music in a presentation cannot change a judgment CIt sets a mood of loss before Nadia has shown any evidence at all DIt is required, because a video clip must always have sound under it

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   On Slide 2 (paragraph 2), the 2025 bus icon is twice as tall and twice as wide as the 2022 icon, and ridership doubled from 310 to 620. How much bigger does the 2025 icon look?

   AAbout twice as big, which matches the change in the data BAbout four times as big, though riders only doubled CAbout eight times as big, because icons have depth DThe same size, because the labels give the numbers

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does the map on Slide 3 (paragraph 3 of Model Presentation B) contribute to Nadia's reasoning?

   AIt shows where riders board, so listeners see who depends on the route BIt proves that every rider on Route 14 has no car and no other bus CIt shows how full each bus is, which answers the city's main concern DIt adds interest only, because a map cannot carry evidence about riders

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Compare the audio clip in paragraph 4 of Model Presentation B with Ms. Alvarez's full answer in paragraph 4 of the fact sheet. What is the problem with the clip as Nadia uses it?

   AThe clip is too short, since a clip under ten seconds cannot be evidence BThe caption is unnecessary, since the committee can hear the clip itself CNothing, because the words in the clip are exactly what Ms. Alvarez said DThe cut leaves out the harder route she mentions, so it overstates her case

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How should the committee judge the interactive word cloud in paragraph 5 of Model Presentation B?

   AIt engages the committee, but its answers are not evidence about riders BIt is the strongest evidence in the talk, because the answers are live CIt fails because committee members should never be asked to take part DIt proves that most riders own cars, since most answers said to drive

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is the trip-planner table on Slide 4 (paragraph 6 of Model Presentation B) strong evidence for Nadia's claim?

   AIt shows that Route 22 is faster than Route 14 at every hour of the day BIt shows that no other route reaches the county clinic from Eastside CIt gives the committee members' own travel times from the word cloud DIt compares the two real options for one trip, from the agency's planner

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The fact sheet says the 7:10 a.m. trip carries an average of 58 riders and the average trip about 17. How many times as full as the average trip is the bus in the Slide 1 video?

   AAbout 1.6 times as full BAbout 3.4 times as full CAbout 10.7 times as full DAbout as full as usual

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   At the end (paragraph 8 of Model Presentation B), Nadia shows the Slide 3 map again with the three stops circled. Why is reusing the map strategic?

   AIt saves time, because making a new slide would take Nadia longer BIt replaces the request, so she does not have to state it aloud CIt ends on the evidence her request rests on, in a form listeners know DIt proves that the city's riders-per-hour figure is wrong about Route 14

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which revisions would do the most to make Model Presentation B's media accurate as well as persuasive?

   AAdd more music under the map and the table, so that the mood stays the same BCut all of the media, since media in an argument always persuades unfairly CRedraw the icons to scale and play Ms. Alvarez's full answer, captioned DReplace the trip-planner table with a longer video of the crowded bus

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A presenter's line graph shows two schools' attendance in red and green, with a small legend in the corner and no other labels. Which change would help the most listeners understand it?

    ASwitch to a 3D graph, so that the two lines stand further apart BAdd a sound effect each time one line rises above the other one CMake the legend smaller, so that it takes up less room on the slide DLabel each line directly and vary the line style, not just the color

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student's reasoning is that saving $50 a month from age 16 builds far more by age 30 than saving the same amount from age 25. Which interactive element would best let the audience test that reasoning?

    AA calculator with sliders for starting age and monthly amount, showing the total BA live poll asking the audience whether saving money matters to them personally CA slide listing the interest rates of the student's bank in one long table DA slow-motion video of a piggy bank filling up with coins, played with music

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A presenter uses a 10-second clip of a senator's speech as evidence that the senator opposed a bill. What makes this use of the clip strategic and fair?

    AThe clip is loud and dramatic enough to wake up a tired audience BThe clip keeps the senator's full point, with the speaker and date shown CThe clip is the shortest cut that still contains the word "oppose" DThe clip plays twice, so listeners hear the key words a second time

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A presenter's slides show her whole script, and she reads them aloud. What is the main problem?

    ATextual elements never belong in a presentation, so every slide should go BReading aloud is always less persuasive than speaking entirely from memory CListeners read ahead while they listen, and the slides add nothing new DThe slides make the presentation too short for a formal audience to accept

14. Question 14 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rewrite the media cue for Slide 2 (paragraph 2 of Model Presentation B) so that it shows the growth in ridership accurately, using the yearly counts in the fact sheet. Then explain in one sentence why your version is more strategic.

    Show model answer

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Design an interactive element to replace the word cloud in paragraph 5 of Model Presentation B. Say what committee members do, what they see, and which part of Nadia's reasoning it lets them test.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    One committee member is blind. Choose two media elements from Model Presentation B and explain how Nadia should present each so that this member gets the same evidence as everyone else.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    In paragraph 7 of Model Presentation B, Nadia quotes the city's reason for the cut on Slide 5. Evaluate how well she uses media to present and answer this opposing view, and suggest one media element that would answer it more strongly.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Theo is presenting to the parent association. His findings: the used-textbook exchange he runs saved 140 families a total of $4,800 this year, and it runs on 12 volunteers. The association's president has said it takes up too much storage space. Write a media plan of three elements (kind, placement, and the finding, reason, evidence or opposing view each serves), and name one element you would not use and why.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Model Presentation B uses all five kinds of media named in SL.11-12.5. Pick the element that does the most for Nadia's argument and defend your choice, naming the finding, reason or evidence it serves.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a media cue, in brackets like the ones in the model presentations, for one slide that presents this finding strategically: "In a count of 300 items from the school's recycling bins, 96 were not recyclable, and plastic film such as bags and wrappers made up 41 of those 96." Then explain how your slide keeps the evidence accurate and holds the audience's interest.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to SL.11-12.5: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.