Not every topic warrants a “both sides” approach. Some viewpoints are simply not backed by empirical evidence or are based on false ideas. Journalists and anyone who work with facts have to be careful not to present them as legit debates. If they do, they are creating a “false equivalence.” False equivalence: what does it mean, and why is it helping to spread misinformation online?

Have your students watch the video and respond to the question in KQED Learn.

Students read an excerpt from John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech. Afterwards, learners will be responsible for responding to questions whereupon they must attempt to decipher meaning utilizing textual evidence. This activity may be used to support instruction pertaining to drafting constructed responses.

This resource includes one poem, with an accompanying link to the poem being read aloud, and nine text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students), and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS.

This lesson capitalizes on a student's love of jokes to understand how word context and inference are used in everyday language to create humor.

This webpage contains theme-based discussion prompts for each vignette in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, as well as a selection of follow-up activities.

In this lesson, students review techniques for writing strong literary analyses. Students take notes on the techniques, then practice by analyzing a passage from a literary work.

This autobiographical piece tells what a neat, tidy rule-follower this author was in his youth—except for his yo-yo. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This lesson encourages students to justify their thoughts about literature by prompting them with ambiguous test questions. Students take the test without understanding that questions are intentionally unclear, then justify their answers with textual citations for credit.

In this lesson, students will use the individual experience of Mary McLeod Bethune to analyze choice, its affects on social equality, and impact on their own life experiences.

This resource provides a lesson whereupon students will use their knowledge of the character Holden from the novel Catcher in the Rye to create a fictitous playlist. Students must defend their choices for songs using evidence from the text.

Using a variety of magazines for this lesson, students work cooperatively to determine the main idea of a text and how details help support the main idea.

Students read an informational text and attempt to find examples of the ways Abigail Adams attempts to persuade John Adams. The resource may be used to reinforce previous instruction of or introduce constructed response style responses.

Students read an informational passage and attempt to identify the purpose of the speech as well as the effect created through repetition. This activity may be used to help review the steps to answer constructed response style questions or as a means to teach it.

Students read an account from the Civil War and compare the accounts of the meetings between General Lee and Grant. Students must support their responses by using textual evidence. This resource may be used in conjunction with instruction pertaining to constructed response writing.

Students analyze parts of the previous iterations of the United States Constitution. Students will respond by using textual evidence. This activity may be used in conjunction with constructed response writing.

Students read a literature-based passage and respond by utilizing skills to correctly analyze the presented character. This activity may be used to review or introduce constructed response style questions.

Students read a poem and draft a response focusing on author's point of view. This activity may be used as a means to review constructed response writing or as a means to help teach the correct methods.

Students read an excerpt from the play Julius Caesar and attempt to express the idea behind the character's speech and provide evidence to support their response. This resource may be used in conjunction with instruction regarding constructed response writing.

Students read an excerpt from The Pit and the Pendulum and respond by attempting to prove how the author creates tension within the excerpt. Students must support their responses using evidence. This resource may be used in conjunction with constructed response writing.