Activities

1. Identify a similar idea or topic presented in two different texts written by two different authors.  How did the presentation of information differ?  Identify specific differences.
   
   
2. Label the textual evidence that supports your understanding of the main idea or topic presented in each of the texts.

3. Summarize the key information used in each of the two texts to develop an idea or topic. 
   
   
4. Classify each piece of the key information you identified in each of the texts as fact or opinion.

5. Differentiate among the pieces of key information you cited in support of the idea or topic.  Does the factual or opinion evidence support the claim better? 
   
   
6. Analyze why each author may have chosen to discuss or represent different aspects of the idea or topic.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student correctly identifies the main topic or idea presented in each of the texts.  Students will demonstrate comprehension of the texts and clearly identify the main topic or idea presented in the texts in order to move forward in discussing different pieces of information presented, evaluating the effectiveness of the information, and understanding why the author may have chosen to discuss different aspects.
   
   
2. Student is able to identify textual evidence in support of their understanding of the main idea presented in each of the texts.  Students can underline or circle the evidence.
   
   
3. Student demonstrates an understanding of summarization, which includes all of the main topics of the text in the order in which they were written in the text.  Students will recognize which information is more important to furthering the text and will include this information in their summaries.
   
   
4. Student demonstrates an understanding of fact vs. opinion.  They will recognize that facts are often based in statistics or “truths” whereas opinion is the thinking of the writer and may reflect that person’s worldview rather than proven “truths” via facts and statistics.
   
   
5. Student recognizes that facts and opinions both play a valuable role in developing a main idea.  Student evaluates the appropriate use of each within a text and draws logical conclusions from the use of each.  For example, student may recognize that facts and statistics may be considered more valuable for some topics whereas personal opinion may be a valuable source of information in other topics.
   
   
6. Student analyzes why an author may have chosen to represent certain pieces of information and have left out other information in a text.  Student can analyze the author’s cultural background, life experiences, expert status within a field, or bias in a subject.  Student will recognize that authors often choose to write within a narrow focus when discussing a position in order to convince the reader.  Student may also extend their thinking to recognize that everything that is written is merely one part of the story.  Critical reading, writing, and thinking skills can be further developed by encouraging students to read even more on the subject so that they see that writers are limited by space and purpose in what they write and that the complete picture/full story can be better discovered only by reading numerous pieces.