Seminar: put the source on trial
The class examines one media text together, separating claim from implication and naming the interests it serves.
- Close Reading Seminar move: Whole-class source interrogation
- Evidence it produces: An agreed separation of claim, implication and interest
Route status: the learning intentions and mini-lesson scaffold are shared with the workshop route; the Do Now, activities, adjudication, evidence and exit below are this route’s own. The difference is how ākonga work — one shared text, competing claims settled on the words, and a collective record — not which strategies are taught.
Lesson 7: Fact vs Opinion & Identifying Author Bias in Media Texts
Building confident, active readers through Te Ao Māori perspectives, comprehension strategies, and rich Aotearoa texts.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
The difference between objective verifiable facts and subjective opinions/judgments, persuasive language devices, loaded words, emotional tone, and author perspective/bias.
Classify statements as fact or opinion, identify loaded emotive words in news articles, and determine an author's point of view or bias.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Fact vs Opinion & Detecting Media Bias
Video: kaiako to select — guidance below.
🎬 Kaiako: Select and embed a video here
Suggested search: "Fact vs Opinion & Detecting Media Bias"
Search YouTube for a short clip (5–10 min) on this topic. Verify it is age-appropriate and plays correctly before embedding.
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
How can two news articles reporting on the exact same event give readers completely different impressions?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Early in the clip: Distinguish facts (proven by data/observation) from opinions (beliefs, values, feelings).
- Midway: Identify loaded words carrying positive or negative emotional connotations (e.g. 'reckless' vs 'bold').
- Later in the clip: Evaluate author perspective: who wrote this, why did they write it, and whose voice is missing?
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Provide two contrasting short opinion pieces on a local community issue (e.g. building a new skateboard park) for comparison.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 7 of your Reading Journal: Fact vs Opinion Sorting Matrix & Bias Audit Sheet.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: One text, first reads (8 mins)
The kaiako displays one opinion piece on a local issue — the same text for everyone. Read it silently. Write one word for the author’s attitude and one sentence you suspect is doing persuasive work. Committed in writing before any discussion.
🗣️ Activity 1: The line of contention (20 mins)
Claims from the text go on the board one at a time, and the class sorts each: fact or opinion. The test is always the same question — how would we verify it? A claim someone can name a check for (a record, a measurement, a count) goes to fact; a claim no check could settle goes to opinion. Disputed claims are argued until the verification test decides — and some claims will move columns mid-argument, which is the lesson working.
⚖️ Adjudication: does the author lean? (12 mins)
- With claims sorted, the class hunts loaded language together: which words are doing emotional work beyond their information?
- The class then rules on the author’s lean — and the ruling must rest on the sorted evidence and the loaded-word list, not on whether anyone agrees with the author.
- Record the strongest piece of counter-evidence too: the place where the author is fairest to the other side.
Separating “the author leans” from “I disagree” is the discipline. The chart forces the separation.
📋 Activity 2: The class audit chart (10 mins)
Record: each contested claim → its verdict → the verification test that settled it; the loaded-word list; the class’s ruling on the lean. One-minute individual entry: a claim that moved columns during argument, and the test that moved it.
🚪 Exit (5 mins)
One line: a claim the class reclassified today and the verification test that settled it.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Years 7–8 Curriculum Alignment: Te Mātaiaho English Phase 3 — Reading and Viewing for meaning. Builds core comprehension, critical literacy, and cultural connectedness through Aotearoa literature and pūrākau.