Free teaching resource

Evaluate a Web Source’s Credibility

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Audience / fit: Grade 6 ELA
Teaching or planning target: Use fictional offline source cards to examine evidence, purpose, creator, date, and limits.
Essential prerequisites: Learners can read or listen to a short source card and explain a choice. No prior website-evaluation vocabulary is required.
Preparation: About 5 minutes.
Use time: About 40 minutes. Planning estimate: opening 3, strategy 7, model 8, guided comparison 10, independent evaluation 10, closure 2.
Materials: Learner pages in print or editable DOCX. Pencil or another way to mark and draft an evaluation. Optional highlighter for marking source details.
What to print: Use the stage-specific student choices below and the matching teacher guide. Give independent, new-evidence and later-assessment pages only at their intended stage.

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Model and guided practice · PDF (4 pages)

Read the teacher guide and answers · PDF (13 pages)

Print model and guided practice first. Keep the independent response with the teacher until guided practice is complete. Use the complete teacher guide for the named task’s criteria and answers.

Editable Word, browser copies and other files

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In this estimated 40-minute lesson, learners evaluate what a source can support for a specific question by checking its creator or access, purpose, evidence and method, date, and source trail. They state limits and a useful next check rather than treating one cue or a polished page as proof.

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Who it is for: Grade 6 ELA
Preparation: About 5 minutes.
Teaching time: About 40 minutes. Planning estimate: opening 3, strategy 7, model 8, guided comparison 10, independent evaluation 10, closure 2.
Teacher guidance: Separate teacher files include completed examples or answer and scoring guidance.

Materials

Learner pages in print or editable DOCX.
Pencil or another way to mark and draft an evaluation.
Optional highlighter for marking source details.

Choose a stage and format

Give only the stage being used. Keep later tasks and all teacher keys with the teacher until needed.

Formats and all files

Complete reference files may include teaching, independent tasks, later evidence or teacher answers. Keep them with the teacher; use the separate stage selections above for handouts.

Read or download the complete resource

Keep teacher guidance and answers separate from student copies. Word files contain editable text; the PDF files are ready to print.

Support and adaptation

Read one card at a time, use the independent organizer, mark the question/creator/evidence/limit, and allow oral rehearsal, dictation, or typing without revealing a preferred schedule.

Extension

Apply one source to a different question, identify evidence that could independently corroborate a claim, and explain how a new result would change the conclusion.

Choose a next move

Choose a route that fits the response and your teaching goal. These are links to materials already supplied, not a prescribed sequence or a placement decision.

Compare Two Accounts of the Same Event — If the task is comparing what two accounts actually report, use the supplied account-comparison lesson.
Distinguish Claims, Reasons, and Relevant Evidence — For argument structure, distinguish the claim, reason and relevant evidence. This is a different goal from source evaluation.

Save follow-up passages until students are ready to try them on their own. Once a passage has been shown, modeled or practiced, use it for practice. Keep answer keys with the teacher and use each resource’s own learning target and criteria.

About the materials

Use the editable files to adapt the materials to your learners and local curriculum.

You may print, copy and adapt the resource for your planning and classroom use under our Terms of Use. Report a resource issue.