Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A friend tells you a new pizza place is 'the best in town.' Its sign shows a 4.9-star rating, and a photo online shows a line out the door. Which of the three do you trust most, and what would you check before you believed it?"

   Students write for three minutes, then compare with a partner. Collect answers on the board in three columns: what someone said (oral), a number (quantitative) and a picture (visual). Point out that each kind of source can mislead in its own way: the friend may have eaten there once, the rating may come from very few reviews, and the photo may show a single busy night. Tell students that SL.9-10.2 asks them to do two things at once: combine sources like these, and judge each one.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: What the standard asks. To integrate sources is to combine them into one account, so that each fills a gap the others leave. A source's credibility is how far we can believe it, judged by who made it, how the maker knows, and why it was made. Its accuracy is whether its facts and numbers are correct, which we test by checking them. A source can be credible and still wrong on a detail, and a source with little credibility can still be right. Give each student a card with the four questions below.

   Four questions to ask of every source (SL.9-10.2)

   Question	What it tests	Ask it of a talk, a table or a chart
   1. Who made it, and how do they know?	Credibility	Was the speaker there? Who collected the numbers? Who drew the chart?
   2. When and why was it made?	Credibility	How long after the event? To inform, to entertain, to sell or to win support?
   3. Do its own numbers and pictures hold up?	Accuracy	Do the numbers add up? Does the chart's scale start at zero? Does a photo show what the caption says?
   4. Does it agree with the other sources?	Accuracy	Where two sources differ, which one is in a better position to know?

   Part 2: A firsthand written account. Orville Wright piloted the first and third flights on December 17, 1903, and watched the second and fourth. He wrote "How We Made the First Flight" for a magazine in 1913, ten years later. Read the two excerpts aloud; paragraphs are numbered for citation.

   1We laid the track on a smooth stretch of ground about one hundred feet north of the new building. The biting cold wind made work difficult, and we had to warm up frequently in our living room, where we had a good fire in an improvised stove made of a large carbide can. By the time all was ready, J. T. Daniels, W. S. Dough and A. D. Etheridge, members of the Kill Devil Life Saving Station; W. C. Brinkley, of Manteo, and Johnny Moore, a boy from Nag's Head, had arrived.

   [...]

   2Wilbur, having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me. After running the motor a few minutes to heat it up, I released the wire that held the machine to the track, and the machine started forward into the wind. Wilbur ran at the side of the machine, holding the wing to balance it on the track. Unlike the start on the 14th, made in a calm, the machine, facing a 27-mile wind, started very slowly. Wilbur was able to stay with it till it lifted from the track after a forty-foot run. One of the life saving men snapped the camera for us, taking a picture just as the machine had reached the end of the track and had risen to a height of about two feet. The slow forward speed of the machine over the ground is clearly shown in the picture by Wilbur's attitude. He stayed along beside the machine without any effort.

   3The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine. The control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center. This gave it a tendency to turn itself when started; so that it turned too far on one side and then too far on the other. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about ten feet, and then as suddenly dart for the ground. A sudden dart when a little over a hundred feet from the end of the track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air, ended the flight. As the velocity of the wind was over 35 feet per second and the speed of the machine against this wind ten feet per second, the speed of the machine relative to the air was over 45 feet per second, and the length of the flight was equivalent to a flight of 540 feet made in calm air. This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.

   1At twenty minutes after eleven Wilbur started on the second flight. The course of this flight was much like that of the first, very much up and down. The speed over the ground was somewhat faster than that of the first flight, due to the lesser wind. The duration of the flight was less than a second longer than the first, but the distance covered was about seventy-five feet greater.

   2Twenty minutes later the third flight started. This one was steadier than the first one an hour before. I was proceeding along pretty well when a sudden gust from the right lifted the machine up twelve to fifteen feet and turned it up sidewise in an alarming manner. It began sliding off to the left. I warped the wings to try to recover the lateral balance and at the same time pointed the machine down to reach the ground as quickly as possible. The lateral control was more effective than I had imagined and before I reached the ground the right wing was lower than the left and struck first. The time of this flight was fifteen seconds and the distance over the ground a little over 200 feet.

   3Wilbur started the fourth and last flight at just 12 o'clock. The first few hundred feet were up and down as before, but by the time three hundred feet had been covered, the machine was under much better control. The course for the next four or five hundred feet had but little undulation. However, when out about eight hundred feet the machine began pitching again, and, in one of its starts downward, struck the ground. The distance over the ground was measured and found to be 852 feet; the time of the flight 59 seconds.

   Part 3: From words to numbers to a picture. Build Table 1 with the class from the two excerpts, then show Diagram 1, a bar chart drawn to scale from the table. Stress that the table and the chart are only as exact as Orville's words: where he writes "a little over" or "about," the table says so too.

   Table 1: The four flights, compiled from Orville Wright's 1913 account (T1 and T2)

   Flight	Pilot	Time in the air	Distance over the ground	Where the account says it
   1	Orville	12 seconds	a little over 120 feet	T1, paragraph 3
   2	Wilbur	less than a second longer than flight 1	about 75 feet more than flight 1	T2, paragraph 1
   3	Orville	15 seconds	a little over 200 feet	T2, paragraph 2
   4	Wilbur	59 seconds	852 feet (measured)	T2, paragraph 3

   • Credibility of a firsthand account (question 1 and 2)

     Orville writes in the first person about the flights he flew: "the right to the first trial now belonged to me" (T1, paragraph 2). He gives times and distances for all four flights.

     Result: High credibility on what he saw and did: he was the pilot or stood beside the machine, and he gives measurements, not impressions. Two limits: he wrote ten years later, and as one of the inventors he had reasons to present the flights well (the brothers were in legal disputes over their patents in these years). So his account is a strong source to check against, not a source to accept without checking.

   • Checking a source's own numbers (question 3)

     In T1, paragraph 3, Orville says the machine's speed over the ground was "ten feet per second," its speed through the air "over 45 feet per second," and the 12-second flight "was equivalent to a flight of 540 feet made in calm air."

     Result: The numbers agree with each other: 45 × 12 = 540 feet, and a little over 120 feet in 12 seconds is about 10 feet per second, the ground speed he gives. A source whose numbers check out on its own terms earns more trust on this point.

   • Turning words into a table (quantitative)

     For flight 2, T2 gives no numbers, only comparisons: "less than a second longer than the first" and "about seventy-five feet greater."

     Result: Table 1 keeps the comparisons, and the chart uses about 120 + 75 = 195 feet, labeled "about." Writing "195 feet" with no qualifier would make the table look more exact than its source, which is an accuracy problem that the table maker creates.

   • Reading a chart drawn to scale (visual, Diagram 1)

     Diagram 1 draws all four distances with the same scale, 0.54 pixels per foot, starting from zero.

     Result: The fourth bar is about 7 times as long as the first (852 ÷ 120 ≈ 7.1) and more than 4 times as long as the third (852 ÷ 200 ≈ 4.3). The chart makes that jump visible at a glance in a way the paragraphs do not; the table is still needed for the exact words "a little over" and "about."

   • Integrating the sources into one account

     Combine T1, T2, Table 1 and Diagram 1 in a four-sentence account, citing each source.

     Result: "On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made four powered flights, and each went farther than the one before (Table 1, Diagram 1). Orville, who flew the first, says it lasted 12 seconds and covered a little over 120 feet (T1, paragraph 3). Wilbur's fourth flight lasted 59 seconds and covered 852 feet, a distance the brothers measured (T2, paragraph 3). These figures come from the pilot himself and agree with each other, but he wrote ten years later, so a second account is worth checking."

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Groups of three read two more sources about the same morning: a shorter account the brothers wrote together in 1908 (T3), and the transcript of a museum guide's talk (T4, written for this page; the guide and the museum are invented). For each claim the guide makes, groups mark it supported, contradicted or not checkable by T1-T3, cite the paragraph, and answer the four questions for the guide as a source.

   1The first flights with the power machine were made on December 17, 1903. Only five persons besides ourselves were present. These were Messrs. John T. Daniels, W. S. Dough, and A. D. Etheridge, of the Kill Devil Life-Saving Station; Mr. W. C. Brinkley, of Manteo; and Mr. John Ward, of Naghead. Although a general invitation had been extended to the people living within five or six miles, not many were willing to face the rigors of a cold December wind in order to see, as they no doubt thought, another flying machine not fly. The first flight lasted only 12 seconds, a flight very modest compared with that of birds, but it was, nevertheless, the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without being wrecked. The second and third flights were a little longer, and the fourth lasted 59 seconds, covering a distance of 852 feet over the ground against a 20-mile wind.

   2After the last flight the machine was carried back to camp and set down in what was thought to be a safe place. But a few minutes later, while we were engaged in conversation about the flights, a sudden gust of wind struck the machine, and started to turn it over. All made a rush to stop it, but we were too late. Mr. Daniels, a giant in stature and strength, was lifted off his feet, and falling inside, between the surfaces, was shaken about like a rattle in a box as the machine rolled over and over. He finally fell out upon the sand with nothing worse than painful bruises, but the damage to the machine caused a discontinuance of experiments.

   1Guide: Welcome to the Flight Room. Gather in close, because this is my favorite story in the museum. On December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio, flew the first powered airplane with a pilot on board.

   2Guide: Picture a warm, still morning, perfect weather for flying. Wilbur climbed on first, and on that very first try the machine flew 852 feet and stayed up for almost a whole minute.

   3Guide: Hundreds of people from the villages came out to cheer them on. My grandfather grew up near here, and he always said the brothers kept flying back and forth all afternoon.

   4Dana (a visitor): How do we know what happened that day?

   5Guide: Oh, it's all in the books. And look at the famous photograph on the wall behind me. It shows the machine high over the dunes.

   6Sam (a visitor): How many flights were there?

   7Guide: Four, and the brothers took turns at the controls. Each one went farther than the one before.

   Debrief. (1) Which of the guide's claims are contradicted? A "warm, still morning" (T1 describes "The biting cold wind"); Wilbur flying first (Orville took "the first trial"); 852 feet "on that very first try" (that was the fourth flight); "Hundreds of people" (T3: "Only five persons besides ourselves were present"); flying "all afternoon" (a gust wrecked the machine after the fourth flight, T3, paragraph 2); and a photograph "high over the dunes" (T1: the picture was taken when the machine "had risen to a height of about two feet"). (2) Which claims are supported? The date, the place, four flights, and turns at the controls; and each flight did go farther and last longer than the one before (Table 1). (3) How credible is the guide? The guide is a secondhand source speaking to entertain, more than a century later, and cites "the books" and a grandfather's memory. The talk is still useful: it points to the photograph, a visual source worth finding.

   One more check. Ask groups to compare the lists of people present in T1, paragraph 1 and T3, paragraph 1. Both accounts come from the brothers, yet one names "Johnny Moore, a boy from Nag's Head" and the other "Mr. John Ward, of Naghead." Two firsthand sources by the same authors can disagree on a detail. A careful listener notes it, trusts neither blindly on that point, and looks for a third source before repeating the name.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students now apply the four questions on their own to a new, invented case. Harborview High (an invented school) started a share table in its cafeteria, and the student council presented the results at an assembly. Students have three sources: the assembly transcript (T5, oral), the kitchen staff's weigh-in records (Table 2, quantitative) and the council's poster (Diagram 2, visual). They answer quiz questions 1-12 about these sources, then questions 13-20 about new situations.

   1Priya (student council president): Good morning, everyone. Six weeks ago, the student council asked the cafeteria to set up a share table. If you don't want your apple or your unopened milk, you leave it on the table, and someone else can take it instead of it going in the trash. Today I want to show you that it worked.

   2Priya: Look at our poster. Before the share table, Harborview threw away 88 kilograms of food a day. Now it's 64. That's almost half! And every week since we started, the waste has gone down.

   3Priya: These numbers come from the kitchen staff, who weigh the trash after lunch, so you know they're real.

   4Owen (a sophomore): Where do the 88 and the 64 come from? Is each of those just one week?

   5Priya: Yes. The 88 is week 3, right before we started, and the 64 is week 5. Those were the clearest weeks to show.

   6Mr. Delgado (cafeteria manager): I can add something. We weigh the waste bins at 1:15 every school day on the same floor scale, and the table I gave the council has all six weeks. We also count lunches served, because that changes a little from week to week.

   7Owen: My friend eats near the share table, and she says it's always empty by the end of lunch. So people must be using it.

   8Priya: Exactly. Everyone loves it. Thanks, everyone, and keep using the share table!

   Table 2 (invented data): Harborview cafeteria weigh-ins, recorded by the kitchen staff

   Week	Share table in use?	Lunches served (average per day)	Food waste (kg, average per day)
   1	No	610	86
   2	No	598	82
   3	No	615	88
   4	Yes (from Monday)	604	71
   5	Yes	590	64
   6	Yes	612	66

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one source from today that was credible but not accurate on every detail, and one that was not very credible but still got something right. Give the evidence for each." Read a few answers aloud; they show students that credibility and accuracy are separate judgments.

   Homework. Students choose a question about their school or town and gather three sources in three formats (something spoken, a table or data set, and a chart, map or photo). Show them the homework directions and rubric before they leave, and remind them that a transcript or careful notes are needed for the spoken source.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of the three Harborview sources gives the most reliable measure of how much food was thrown away each day?

   APriya's talk, because the student council president set up the program and knows it best BThe kitchen staff's table, which records every school day on one scale CThe poster, because its bars show the change more clearly than a list of numbers could DOwen's friend, because she eats near the share table and sees it every day

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 2, Priya says waste fell from 88 to 64 kilograms a day. By about what percent did it fall between those two weeks?

   AAbout 50 percent, as Priya's "almost half" suggests BAbout 24 percent, the number of kilograms saved CAbout 27 percent of the week 3 amount DAbout 73 percent, comparing 64 with 88

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Priya also says, "every week since we started, the waste has gone down" (paragraph 2). What does Table 2 show about this claim?

   AIt is accurate: waste fell in each of weeks 4, 5 and 6 BIt cannot be checked, because Table 2 does not say which week the share table started in CIt is accurate only if lunches served are left out of the comparison DIt is inaccurate: waste rose from 64 kg in week 5 to 66 kg in week 6

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   On the poster (Diagram 2), the "Before" bar looks about seven times as tall as the "After" bar. Why?

   AThe vertical axis starts at 60, so the bars show only the 28 kg and 4 kg above 60 BWaste really fell to one seventh of its earlier amount after the share table started CThe two bars show weeks with different numbers of school days DThe poster measures the Before week in pounds and the After week in kilograms

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Using all six weeks of Table 2, compare the average daily waste before the share table (weeks 1-3) with the average after it started (weeks 4-6). Which statement is accurate?

   AWaste fell from about 85 kg to 67 kg a day, a drop of about a fifth BWaste fell from 88 kg to 64 kg a day, a drop of about a quarter CWaste fell from about 85 kg to 67 kg a day, a drop of about half DWaste fell from 86 kg to 66 kg a day, a drop of about a third

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Mr. Delgado says lunches served "changes a little from week to week" (paragraph 6). About how much food was thrown away per lunch served in week 6?

   AAbout 141 grams BAbout 108 grams CAbout 66 grams DAbout 9 grams

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How should a listener weigh Owen's report about his friend in paragraph 7?

   AAs strong proof that waste fell, because his friend sees the share table every single day BAs more reliable than Table 2, because it comes from a student, not an adult CAs proof that the kitchen staff weighed the bins incorrectly DAs secondhand, and about whether food is taken, not how much is wasted

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which is the best evaluation of Priya as a source?

   AShe cannot be trusted at all, because she led the very program she is reporting on today BShe is fully credible, because she names the kitchen staff as her source CHer numbers are real, but she picked the two weeks that make the drop look largest DShe is accurate, because the poster she made agrees with everything she says

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 4, Owen asks, "Is each of those just one week?" What does his question help the audience evaluate?

   AWhether the speaker is a student or a teacher BWhether the two numbers were picked from a larger set of data CWhether the share table should stay open for the rest of next school year DWhether the poster was printed in color

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which summary integrates the three Harborview sources most accurately?

    AThe share table cut food waste almost in half, as both the poster and Priya's talk show BWaste went up after the share table started, because week 6 was higher than week 5 CNothing can be concluded, because the student council made the poster DThe weigh-ins show a real drop, but a smaller one than the poster and the talk suggest

11. Question 11 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write three or four sentences for the school newspaper that integrate the Harborview sources: the assembly talk, Table 2 and the poster. Cite each source, and say which one you trust most and why.

    Show model answer

12. Question 12 of 20 · Short Answer

    Evaluate the poster (Diagram 2) as a visual source. Give one thing it shows accurately and one way it misleads, then describe how you would redraw it so it is fair.

    Show model answer

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student says, "The mayor is an expert on the city budget, so everything in her speech must be accurate." What is the flaw in this reasoning?

    AIt treats credibility as proof of accuracy, but an expert's claims still need checking BIt is not flawed at all, because experts do not make errors about facts in their own field CIt confuses an oral source with a visual source DIt ignores the fact that speeches are less accurate than written reports

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which set of sources is the best example of "diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally)"?

    AThree newspaper articles about a storm, each from a different newspaper BA book, a magazine article and a website article, each written by the same scientist CA recorded interview with a coach, a table of the team's scores, and a photo of the final play DTwo tables of rainfall for the same month, collected by two different weather stations

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A local radio report says a storm dropped "more than three inches of rain" on the town. The school's rain gauge records 1.2 inches for the same day. What is the best next step?

    AAccept the radio report, because a broadcast reaches more people than a school gauge BFind out where and over what hours each measurement was taken before deciding which one applies CAccept the rain gauge and ignore the radio report completely DAverage the two numbers and report about 2.1 inches

16. Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A short video clip online shows a senator saying, "I will never support this bill." The caption says the clip is from this week. Which question best tests the clip's credibility?

    AHow many times has the clip been shared? BDoes the senator speak clearly and confidently? CDo the people commenting on the clip mostly agree with what the senator says in it? DWhen and where was the full speech given, and what came before and after?

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    At a town meeting, a speaker says, "Traffic on Elm Street has doubled since the new mall opened." The city's traffic counts show 4,200 cars a day on Elm Street the year before the mall opened and 6,300 cars a day this year. Evaluate the speaker's claim, and write one sentence that integrates both sources accurately.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose two of the three formats in the standard (visual, quantitative, oral). For each, explain one strength it has as a source and one way it can mislead, with an example from this lesson.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    After a basketball game, a player tells a reporter, "We took over 30 shots in the second half." The official statistics sheet shows 22 shots. Explain why a firsthand source is not automatically accurate, and say which source you would trust on this point and why.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write three questions you would ask before trusting a chart you see on social media. Label each question as testing credibility or accuracy.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to SL.9-10.2: 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.