Materials & Prep
Prepare laptops with the following tabs or links available: a teacher-created mock webpage titled “History Uncovered: The Great Wall of China,” credited to “Lena Morris,” undated, claiming, “The Great Wall of China can be seen from the Moon with the naked eye”; NASA’s “Can You See the Great Wall of China from the Moon?” page; and Encyclopaedia Britannica’s “Great Wall of China” page. Prepare a second teacher-created source card for independent work: “HealthWise Today: Bottled Water Is Always Safer Than Tap Water,” by “Dr. Evan Cole,” undated, claiming, “Because bottled water is purified, it is always safer than tap water.” Also open CDC’s “About Bottled Water” and EPA’s “Basic Information about Your Drinking Water.” Give students a trustworthiness chart with columns for Source claim, author/date/evidence, what another source says, and judgment. Confirm that school filtering and local technology procedures allow access to the selected pages.
Opening
Present this familiar situation: “You get to the gym just after the buzzer and miss the winning basket. Maya says Jordan scored it. Luis, who was watching from the other end of the court, also says Jordan. Priya says it was Sam.” Students silently choose what they would tell someone who asks who scored, then turn and talk. Ask, “Why would two independent accounts make you more confident? What would the disagreement make you do?” Accept answers such as compare accounts, ask for evidence, or find another witness.
ConnectExplain that students have just used corroboration: checking whether separate accounts support one another before accepting a claim. Today they will apply that same reasoning to websites. A polished design or absence of advertisements may affect appearance, but it does not show that a source is trustworthy.
Direct instruction
DefineA trustworthy source is one that gives accurate, supportable information. Lateral reading means leaving a source to see what other reliable sources say about its claim, author, and evidence. Emphasize that “it looks professional” and “it has no advertisements” are observations about design, not proof of accuracy.
ModelDisplay the History Uncovered page. Think aloud: “My first reaction is that the page looks professional, so the naive judgment would be trustworthy. But I cannot stop there. I record its claim, notice the missing date and unclear author credentials, and open NASA’s page in a new tab. NASA says the Great Wall cannot be seen from the Moon with unaided eyes. I check Britannica for background on the wall and find no support for the Moon claim. The external evidence conflicts with the webpage, so I judge this source not trustworthy for this claim.”
ConfrontReturn to the class’s initial reason, “It looks professional and has no advertisements.” Ask, “Did either feature predict what NASA said?” Students should recognize that appearance did not corroborate the claim.
Guided practice
Have students work in pairs with the History Uncovered page and complete the first three rows of the chart. Require them to record one exact detail from the page and one finding from NASA or Britannica rather than writing only “it seems fake.”
ScaffoldPost the sentence frame: “The source claims . When I checked , it said . Because the sources agree/disagree and because the source has , I judge it .” Provide a word bank: claim, evidence, author, date, corroborate, conflict, trustworthy.
Check for understandingStop after six minutes. Ask every pair to hold up 1 for “trustworthy,” 2 for “not trustworthy,” or 3 for “need more evidence.” Call on students to justify the number with a comparison to another source. Listen for students using corroboration rather than design. If a student cites the page’s appearance, ask, “What did an outside source say?”
Independent work or discussion
Students independently evaluate the teacher-created HealthWise Today source using the page and the CDC and EPA sources. They complete the chart and write a short judgment of four to six sentences. Their writing must state the claim, identify at least one author or date concern, report what each outside source says, and explain whether the sources corroborate the claim.
SupportGive students a partially completed chart with “The source claims bottled water is always safer than tap water” already entered. Allow them to use the sentence frame from guided practice and a partner to read difficult webpage sections aloud. Students may record their judgment orally before writing it.
ExtensionStudents who finish compare the source’s wording, “always safer,” with the more qualified wording in the CDC or EPA information. They explain how absolute language can be a warning sign and identify one additional question a careful reader should investigate.
CirculateAsk, “Which outside source did you check first? What did it add or challenge?” Redirect students who judge the page only by its layout, advertisements, or professional vocabulary.
Closing
Exit ticketStudents answer: “A website has a professional design, no advertisements, and a confident author. Another reliable source disagrees with its main claim. Judge the website’s trustworthiness in two or three sentences. Name the evidence that supports your judgment and explain why appearance alone is insufficient.” Collect the completed chart and exit ticket as evidence that students can judge a source through cross-checking rather than surface features.