Teacher field guide
Civic learning
Before you repost
What can a screenshot actually prove?
Most news about school closures, rule changes and events reaches students as a cropped clip in a group chat. Checking the original and posting a useful update keeps a whole community from acting on half a sentence.
What students make
Group-chat message, 3–4 sentences
The civic idea
Words that do the work.
- ClaimAfirmación
Something a person says is true. It still needs checking before you repeat it.
The screenshot says “They’re removing access tonight. Screening cancelled?” It is a claim with a question mark, not a confirmed fact.
- ContextContexto
The information around a quote or clip that changes what it means.
The clip stops right before “through that reader tonight,” the words that narrow “access” to one broken side door.
- Primary sourceFuente primaria
The original record of what was said or done, not someone’s retelling of it.
The coordinator’s full meeting transcript and Mateo’s booking email are the originals the crew checks.
- Holding statementDeclaración provisional
A short message saying what you know, what you are checking and when you will update.
Jordy’s “We’re checking the original. Hold your plans for a moment.” buys time without repeating the rumor.
- CorrectionCorrección
A clear message that replaces wrong information with supported information.
Gia’s final update: the screening is on, the side-door reader is out, use the staffed step-free front entrance.
- Lateral readingLectura lateral
Leaving a post to check who made it and what other sources say before you judge it.
Instead of rewatching the clip, the crew opens the transcript and the booking email.
Dale, I wanted it to be good news so badly I almost posted that. Let me find the full transcript first.
The evidence
Handle the case file.
Every artifact comes with a question. The captions are the lesson.
Group-chat screenshotExhibit A
The post
“They’re removing access tonight. Screening cancelled?” The attached clip starts with “we are removing access” and ends before the next sentence.
Supports It shows a claim being shared. It does not confirm the cancellation.
Coordinator’s meeting transcriptExhibit B
The full update
“The side-door reader is broken. We are removing access through that reader tonight. Existing room bookings remain in place. Use the staffed front entrance while we repair it.”
Supports It explains the access change. It does not tell us whether every visitor can use the temporary entrance.
Confirmation sent to MateoExhibit C
The booking email
Friday, 6–9 p.m. Screening confirmed. Front entrance: step-free. Staff member at the desk from 5:30 p.m. Contact the coordinator for arrival support.
Supports It supports the event details. The crew should still check and communicate any access needs.
The workshop
45 minutes, block by block.
5 min
Hook: the post only
TeacherProject evidence A alone. Ask: what would you do if this landed in your chat right now?
StudentsWrite privately: what happened, and what am I assuming?
CheckEach student has one observation and one assumption written separately.
8 min
Question the clip
TeacherIntroduce Lupa’s question: where is the original? Model turning a reaction into a checkable question.
StudentsPairs write one question that could change their view.
CheckQuestions are answerable with a document, not a vote on the poster.
12 min
Open the receipts
TeacherHand out the transcript and booking email on separate pages. Read the transcript aloud.
StudentsHighlight the words that narrow “access.” Place each document beside the claim it supports.
CheckPairs point to “through that reader” and “Existing room bookings remain in place.”
10 min
Choose the message
TeacherWalk through decision 1: cancel now, holding message, or “it’s fake.” Ask what each makes a reader do.
StudentsVote, then defend the choice with one line of evidence.
CheckStudents explain why “fake” overstates: the clip is real, the context is missing.
7 min
Draft the update
TeacherGive the frame: “The post claims __. The original says __. We still need __.”
StudentsWrite a 40–70 word group-chat update.
CheckDraft names the screening time, the entrance change and a contact.
3 min
Exit ticket
TeacherAsk for one detail that changed their mind.
StudentsWrite the exact words that changed their interpretation.
CheckQuotes a phrase from the transcript or email, not the screenshot.
Differentiated routes
One case. Seven ways in.
Each route changes what students read, make and prove, not only how long it takes.
Middle school
Grades 6–8: Talk it through, then write a three-sentence group-chat update telling friends whether to come on Friday and which door to use.
- Sources
- The screenshot and the booking email only, with the transcript read aloud by the teacher.
- Product
- Group-chat message, 3–4 sentences
- Raises the rigor
- Add one question the crew still can’t answer, like whether everyone can use the front entrance.
Supports
- Frame: “The post says __. The email says __. So __.”
- Teacher reads the transcript aloud twice
- Word bank: claim, original, entrance, confirmed
- Partner talk before any writing
Success looks like
- States that the screening is still on, with the time
- Names the front entrance change
- Points to the email or transcript as proof
- Does not call anyone a liar
High school
Grades 9–10: Write a holding statement and a follow-up correction for the same chat, twenty minutes apart.
- Sources
- All three documents: screenshot, full transcript and booking email.
- Product
- Two messages (30–50 words and 60–90 words) plus a two-sentence rationale
- Raises the rigor
- Explain in two sentences why the holding statement avoids repeating “cancelled.”
Supports
- Two-column organizer: known now / checking
- Model holding statement from Jordy to annotate
- Checklist: time, place, entrance, contact
Success looks like
- Holding statement names what is being checked and when an update will come
- Correction replaces the claim with supported details
- Cites a specific source
- Rationale explains a word choice
High school
Grades 11–12: Write a 250-word explanatory note for the Common Room’s website on how the rumor spread and what the crew will do differently next time.
- Sources
- All three documents plus the Entman framing reading (selection and salience) excerpt.
- Product
- Website note, 220–280 words
- Raises the rigor
- Use selection and salience to explain how a real clip produced a wrong conclusion, and propose one process change.
Supports
- Timeline template
- Sentence starter for concession: “The clip was real; what it left out was…”
Success looks like
- Accurately reconstructs the sequence of the rumor
- Applies selection and salience to the crop
- Proposes a specific, feasible process change
- Keeps the poster’s motive out of the claim
High school
Honors: Compare two captions for the same clip, one alarming and one neutral, and argue which one a community group should model its posts on.
- Sources
- The screenshot, the transcript and two teacher-written alternate captions.
- Product
- Comparative argument, 400–500 words
- Raises the rigor
- Account for the trade-off between urgency and accuracy when people are already traveling.
Supports
- Annotation key for loaded words
- Short model paragraph comparing two headlines
Success looks like
- Quotes and analyzes the exact wording of both captions
- Weighs urgency against accuracy explicitly
- Addresses a counterargument
- Recommends a caption standard the crew could use
AP English Language
AP Lang: Write a rhetorical analysis of Gia’s final correction: how does it rebuild trust with readers who saw the original screenshot?
- Sources
- Gia’s correction, the original screenshot and Jordy’s holding statement as the rhetorical context.
- Product
- Rhetorical analysis, 1 thesis + 2 body paragraphs (about 450 words), timed at 35 minutes
- Raises the rigor
- Explain how order of information and concision function as choices, not just list devices; end with one sentence of your own argument about correction ethics.
Supports
- Rhetorical situation grid: exigence, audience, purpose, context, message
- List of verbs for analysis (clarifies, concedes, redirects)
Success looks like
- Thesis names Gia’s purpose and the choices that serve it
- Commentary links each choice to the anxious, traveling audience
- Evidence is quoted precisely
- Line of reasoning builds rather than lists
Middle Years
IB MYP: Develop an inquiry statement (e.g., “Communities decide what is true through the sources they choose to trust”) and a media-literacy guide for younger students using this case.
- Sources
- All three documents; global context: Scientific and technical innovation (how digital tools change information).
- Product
- One-page guide plus 150-word reflection on the inquiry statement
- Raises the rigor
- Connect the case to one other context where cropped media changed a decision.
Supports
- Inquiry statement frame: concept + related concept + global context
- Guide template with three steps
Success looks like
- Inquiry statement links key concept, related concept and global context
- Guide steps are accurate and usable
- Evaluates at least two sources for reliability
- Reflection connects the case to another context
Diploma
IB DP: Write a reflective commentary on how different readers (Gia’s traveling friend, Mateo, Sami) construct different meanings from the same clip.
- Sources
- All three documents and the crew’s conversation lines as perspectives.
- Product
- Commentary, 600–800 words
- Raises the rigor
- Evaluate whether the correction can fully undo the first reading, and what that says about knowledge in digital groups.
Supports
- Perspective map: reader, stake, likely reading
- TOK prompt card: How does technology shape what we accept as evidence?
Success looks like
- Analyzes at least three reader perspectives with textual support
- Links meaning-making to the medium
- Evaluates the limits of correction
- Reflects on own reading honestly
Access for every learner
- Give the three documents on separate half-pages with the key sentence enlarged
- Read the transcript aloud and provide a recorded version for replay
- Spanish glossary: afirmación, contexto, fuente, entrada
- Students with IEPs or 504 plans may dictate the update or build it from sentence strips
- Reduce the load to the screenshot and booking email only
Extension
- Map how the rumor would travel through three different chats and who would miss the correction
- Write a one-paragraph policy for how the Common Room posts urgent updates
Annotated student work
What a draft shows us.
Write a group-chat update for people deciding whether to leave for the screening.
First draft
Hey everyone, so there was a clip going around that said the screening was cancelled but 1that is NOT true lol. 2Someone didn’t watch the whole thing and posted it anyway which is kind of annoying. I checked with Mateo and he said the booking is still good. 3They are just removing access through one door so everything is fine and 4you can come like normal. 5The event is still happening Friday. Bring snacks if you want, Jordy is doing the projector. See you there!! Also if you have questions ask Mateo.
- 1Gap Good instinct to correct, but the clip is real. The problem is missing context, not a fake video.
- 2Gap This guesses at the poster’s motive. The sources don’t tell us what they knew.
- 3Evidence Strong: this is the key detail from the transcript. Name which door and where to go instead.
- 4Audience Not quite: people need to use the front entrance. “Normal” could send Sami to the broken side door.
- 5Strength Add the time (6–9 p.m.) so a traveler can act on it.
Revised
Update on Friday’s screening: it is still on, 6–9 p.m. The clip going around cut off mid-sentence. The full update from the coordinator says the side-door card reader is broken, so that door is closed tonight, but existing bookings are still in place. Please use the staffed front entrance, which is step-free. Staff will be at the desk from 5:30. I checked the coordinator’s transcript and Mateo’s booking email. If you need help arriving, message the coordinator before you leave. Thanks for waiting while we checked. Jordy is still confirming arrival support with the coordinator.
Assessment
One-page rubric.
Mark the evidence you see. Leave room for a comment and a next step.
| Criterion | Beginning | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evidence | Repeats the screenshot’s claim or ignores the documents. | Mentions a source but not the detail that changes the meaning. | Uses the transcript or email to correct the claim accurately. | Uses both documents and names what they still cannot confirm. |
| Reasoning | Treats the clip as fake or as final. | Corrects the claim but adds a guess about motive. | Explains the difference between an entrance change and a cancellation. | Explains how the crop produced the wrong conclusion and avoids inventing motive. |
| Audience & purpose | Message would not help someone decide whether to leave. | Gives the verdict but leaves out time or entrance. | Gives time, entrance and a contact. | Anticipates access needs and people who saw only the original post. |
| Revision | No change after feedback. | Surface edits only. | Adds a missing fact or removes an unsupported claim. | Explains why each edit makes the update more usable. |
Evidence I saw
Next step
Standards
What this case teaches, by the book.
CCSS 6–8 4
RI.7.8Students judge whether a clip that ends mid-sentence is sufficient evidence for “cancelled.”RI.8.9The transcript and the screenshot give conflicting information; students locate exactly where they disagree.SL.8.2Students analyze why the clip was shared quickly and what the caption wanted people to do.RH.6-8.8Students sort the post, the transcript and the booking email into fact, opinion and reasoned judgment.
CCSS 9–10 4
RI.9-10.8Students identify the leap from “removing access” to “screening cancelled” as unsupported reasoning.SL.9-10.2Students integrate a video clip, a transcript and an email, weighing the credibility of each.W.9-10.2Students write a correction that explains the entrance change clearly and accurately.RH.9-10.2Students summarize the coordinator’s transcript accurately before comparing it with the post.
CCSS 11–12 3
RI.11-12.7Students integrate a clip, a transcript and a booking record to answer whether the event is happening.SL.11-12.3Students evaluate the caption’s point of view, reasoning and word choice.W.11-12.2Students write an update that conveys a changed plan precisely for readers about to travel.
C3 Framework 4
D1.5.6-8Students decide which kinds of sources could answer “Is the screening cancelled?”D3.1.6-8Students choose sources by origin and authority: the coordinator’s transcript over a forwarded screenshot.D3.1.9-12Students use the corroborative value of the booking email to confirm the transcript.D4.3.9-12Students adapt their explanation into a group-chat update for an audience outside the classroom.
AP English Language 3
Rhetorical Situation (RHS)Students analyze the exigence (a trip about to start) and audience of the screenshot and of Gia’s correction.Claims and Evidence (CLE)Students test whether the cropped clip can carry the claim “cancelled.”Style (STL)Students analyze how the word “access” shifts meaning once the clip is cropped.
IB MYP 3
Language and Literature A: AnalysingStudents analyse how cropping and captioning create meaning in a media text.Individuals and Societies B: InvestigatingStudents frame a research question and evaluate three sources for reliability.Language and Literature C: Producing textStudents write a correction with deliberate choices for a specific audience.
IB DP 2
Language A: language and literature — Readers, writers and textsStudents examine how the same clip produces different meanings for readers with different stakes.Theory of Knowledge — Knowledge and technology (optional theme)Students ask how screenshots shape what a group believes it knows.
Take it off the page
Find out how your school sends urgent updates.
- Ask a teacher or front-office staff which channel carries official changes (email, app, website)
- Save the official channel so you can check it before reposting
- Next time a screenshot circulates, post “still checking” instead of a verdict
- Suggest to your student council that urgent updates include the original link