After claim-testing the 5-second rule and following up with this Introduction to Claim Testing lesson, I decided to add another layer this year. As an opener, we played Soup, Salad or Sandwich. It doubled as a quick, high-energy activity that served to build a sense of community while sparking friendly debate and preparing students to think about claims and evidence.
Has anyone broached the topic of claim testing yet? How are you rolling it out?
Anne Koschmider for the win! I had a successful foray into claim testing (specifically, making claims and supporting with evidence, and the notion that there can be multiple "right" answers, as long as they're supported with good evidence), with Soup, Salad, or Sandwich today. Thank you! It was also a great way to mix students up a bit - for them to get to know each other a bit, and for me to start to get to know them and their personalities.
I've been thinking, thanks to Andrea Wong and her response to my summer post Sourcing and Claim Testing, that I'm going to spend a few weeks having students identify strong claims and evidence, before "testing" them, tying it into Three Close Reads work, too.
I'm thinking of perhaps going even more immediately relatable and having students "identify the claim" with a bell ringer activity based on current headlines like this Google News search of UN General Assembly 2023 SDGs (previewing the end of the course) and finding good supporting evidence for statements like "Taylor Swift is the greatest artist of all time." Just need to make up a template and find more examples.
Thank you, as always, folks, for the great ideas!
Carrie Emmerson I'm so glad you enjoyed Soup, Salad, or Sandwich!
And I love your idea for tying in claims practice with current events. I feel like that's something I could do better in my classroom, so I appreciate the inspiration!
Anne Koschmider , Soup, Salad, or Sandwich looks like such a fun activity! Definitely throwing this into the mix the next time my class does a claim testing activity.
Carrie Emmerson , I love the idea of using current events to find claims. I always struggle with finding time for current events. This is a great way to practice historical skills while also introducing students to current topics!
I also found a virtual activity I used a few years ago with Peardeck that had students practice evaluating evidence. I'm not sure if Mark Sanchez is still a relevant example for most kids, but he could easily be switched out for someone else. I remember when I did this a lot of my sports kids contributed a ton to that conversation, citing very specific evidence that could be used.
The second part of the activity on the Google slides I shared was 100% stolen from here. I somehow found it when I was down a wormhole trying to find some extra practice with evidence. If you find any other activities I'd love to hear about them!
I really like the CER format (it fits in well with our English departments ACE format). I intro that using something I stole and adapted: its a murder mystery style activity.
Slides
I give a mini lecture on the format and an example. I then have them look at the picture and brainstorm 1-2 things they observe and then I use their responses to model how to explain if it was proof of an accident or not (EX: glass is not broken (evidence/observation) and it can be used as proof it was not an accident because typically when you drop a glass from that height it would break. (explanation/reasoning)
I repeat this process with her account. I then ask students to make their claim. Then they can write a short paragraph in the CER format that makes their claim, introduces two pieces of evidence, and at least one sentence that explains each piece of evidence introduced.
My students always get really into this and always get so mad when I tell them there isn't a real answer at the end (I usually make up something like I think she killed him for the insurance money - but we don't have evidence to prove it - because it add another layer of "we have to go by the evidence that's actually there" to the discussion).
Jaime Jarvis that's great to hear! What historical topic will students use for claim testing after the introduction?
