The Claim Evidence Graphic Organizer Writing Template was created for the CESA #1 EL OER Project. This writing template was created for EL students to use to aid in the writing process. It contains a detailed and easy to follow outline for students to input their knowledge. The organizer is color coded so that students will be able to navigate and organize their thoughts and textual evidence. There are also videos that are linked that ELs can watch to help them create each part in their argumentative essay. Teachers are able to apply this template to various argumentative essay assignments within different content areas.

Turn your classroom into an archaeological "dig" as students explore the processes and tools used by archaeologists and draw conclusions about a society based on what they discover.

In this activity and set or resources from the Newseum ED, students grapple with free speech-related conflicts and controversies using real-life scenarios. They deepen their understanding by taking a position and supporting their arguments with evidence from a gallery of print and visual sources.

The lesson requires a free registration for Nesweum ED resources.

This lesson and its accompanying seven-minute video introduce students to a professional fact-checker, who describes the methods and processes he employs to verify information that appears in news stories. The video explains which claims can be fact-checked, and why some sources are more reliable than others. How do fact-checkers engage in analysis of contemporary and historical claims? How do we distinguish between “bad facts” and “bad narratives” when critiquing media sources? Examine the tools that fact-checkers use to identify and interrogate claims, and put those skills into practice.

The Mystery Cube activity is a great way to teach students about inquiry, the nature of science, and constructing/communicating evidence-based claims. The students are given a paper cube, and without touching or lifting it, they must use observations about what is visible on the other faces of the cube to reason about what is on the bottom. There are three cube activities (a simple, primer-to-the-task cube; a more complex cube; a create-your-own cube) that can be used separately, used subsequently, or adapted as needed to match the intended grade level.

This web-based thesis generator allows students to break up the complex task of writing a thesis statement into its component parts. The students first identify their prompt and topic then move into stating their position, a qualification of their position, and finally the reason behind their stance. Finally, the generator combines all these parts into their working thesis which the students revise into their final thesis statement. This is a great introductory tool for claim-based writing.