Williams


 * Pre-Assessment:** The day before this lesson, I would give 9th grade students a short paper quiz to see if they are familiar with common Internet hoaxes, without using the terms hoax, myth, or urban legend. The quiz will show 10 pictures or URLs (7 hoaxes, 3 real) and ask one question about all of them: “Have you ever heard or read about these pictures/Web sites/stories? The Internet has information about all of them. Tell me what you know. If you have never heard of one, write N/A next to it.”If more than five students in each class know about 60% or more of the items, I will adjust my lesson. Otherwise, I will proceed with it as an introductory lesson to Internet Hoaxes and [|www.snopes.com].

Behavior: Students will complete a pre-assessment quiz, participate in a follow-up discussion of the quiz, and learn about hoaxes and urban legends on the Internet. Students will learn how to verify information using [|www.snopes.com] Conditions: Students will use initial quiz, looking up each item on the Internet to determine if it is factual or not. Students will be given a similar follow-up activity to ensure their retention of the lesson. Degree: After the lesson, students will need to successfully identify 9 of the 10 original items, and 4 of 5 correctly on the follow-up activity in order to make an ‘A’.
 * Instructional Objective(s):** Audience: The learner will become familiar with common urban legends, photographs, and Internet sites that are hoaxes, and become aware of a Web site that exposes hoaxes of all types.

Student Materials: quiz, pencil, individual (or possibly shared) computer.
 * Materials, Media, and other Resources**: Teacher Materials: printed quizzes; computer connected to projector, with corresponding sites/images bookmarked.


 * Set Induction:** For the actual lesson, I will begin by showing the [|Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus] page, projected on the large screen (This is the first item on the quiz). I will talk seriously about it for a couple of minutes, and then I will ask questions to guide them toward the realization that it is fake: “Have you heard of this animal before?”; “What organization sponsors this page?”; “Could the photographs of the sightings be altered with computers?” “This looks convincing, but it is a hoax!” "How can other sites, stories, e-mail messages be checked?"


 * Instructional Sequence:** Continuing from the Induction phase, I will pass out the “graded” quizzes they took the previous day – hopefully with poor scores. I will tell them that we will use these same sheets, along with the Internet, to learn about ways the Internet can inform us or trick us. I will then guide the students to the Web site [|www.snopes.com] to look up this particular site and read what it says. We will then look up the second example together, and talk about which category link makes the most sense for our item. I will then have them use “Snopes” to examine the remainder of the quiz items on their own and re-submit the page.


 * Closure:** This portion of the lesson will be brief. I will have students discuss how they can apply this resource to their personal lives, such as with phone or e-mail messages and images. Students may explore selected “Snopes” pages on their own until the end of the class period.


 * Adaptation and Extensions:** This lesson should appeal to visual learners especially, which includes a large percentage of students. Any impaired students or ELL students may partner with another member of the class to complete the activity; I will require full participation by both members for full credit. Gifted students can extend the lesson by submitting new questions to me by e-mail for the follow-up activity, or for future lessons.Assessment: If the majority of students achieve 90% on the second attempt, I will consider the objectives met. The follow-up activity (five similar items a week or two later) will affirm whether or not they have retained the new skill/knowledge.


 * Pre-Assessment Quiz**