Christine Pawlowicz

Standards

NYS English Language Arts Standards

1. Language for Information and Understanding
3. Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

ISTE NETS Standards

3.c. Research and Information Fluency; evaluate and select information sources and
digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks

Objective
Students will determine whether or not given websites are legitimate and reliable sources.

Introduction

A. (Motivator) The website "Bonsai Kittens" will be projected on the screen. The
teacher should express outrage that such a practice is allowed to continue. After ranting
about it for a bit, the teacher should ask if anyone has any comments they would like to
make. Hopefully, someone will be familiar with the website and point out that it's a
hoax. If not, the teacher should reveal its validity.

B. (Objectives) Tell the students that they will be presented with a series of websites, and
it will be their jobs to determine whether or not they are factual.

Provide Information

A. Ask the students to give ideas about how to check whether a website is a good source
or not. Write those on the board. Add to the list if there are any they missed. Ways to
check include:
-Checking the web address; .com vs .edu.
-Looking for a tilde (~). This indicates a used page.
-Looking for the author; should be clearly stated.
-Look for cited sources
-Check level of advertising
-Is the site ADA compliant?
-Overall design
-Copyright date
-Spelling and grammar
-Links to more information on the topic?
-Bias?
-Google search. (Discuss negatives with using in classroom)
Provide Practice

A. Looking at the Bonsai Kittens website, we will use the listed criteria and flags to
determine where we can see signs of the website being a hoax. Stress the importance of
always being skeptical, especially when something is as outrageous as this website.

B. Direct students to the lesson webpage, and ask them to click on each of the provided
links and individually determine whether they believe they are valid sources of
information and why. Distribute worksheets for them to record responses on. Those
sheets will be collected and used as assessment. Give the students 10 minutes or so to
complete this task.

Provide Knowledge of the Results

A. Go down the list of websites, and ask who felt each was valid or not valid by show of
hands. Ask students to defend why they said one or the other. Go through all the
websites and discuss, revealing their validity.

B. Mark the worksheets that were handed in and give a point for each correct sign of
validity.

Review the Activity

A. Erase the board, and ask students to recall things to check on a website.

Method of Assessment

A. Collected worksheets.