For teachers

Standards map

Which C3 Framework indicators and Common Core literacy standards each of our lessons, and the daily challenge, address. Grades 9 to 12.

We list a standard only where a step in the lesson asks students to do what it describes, and we say which step. Where the lessons fall short of a standard you might expect, we say that too, at the end. The standards are quoted from the official documents; the notes on each step are ours.

Teaching first-year college? The library session's page maps it to the ACRL Framework: Semblen for libraries.

At a glance

Reading the Ads

45 minutes, plus one activity a day for a week

Semblen's lesson with real 2026 campaign ads, for grades 9 to 12 and first-year college.

C3 Framework

  • D2.Civ.9.9-12 Decide what counts: the class agrees which techniques to leave out, under the ground rule of judging wording, not candidates.
  • D3.1.9-12 Pairs pick two ads from different sponsors and read the "Paid for by" line; the Access activity traces who paid for the race.
  • D4.4.9-12 The Evaluate activity: students read a claim check, the sources it used and what it could not find.

Common Core literacy

  • RI.9-10.4 Pairs point to the exact words that carry a technique and ask what the sentence says with a neutral word in their place.
  • RI.9-10.6 Hook and pairs: what is the ad trying to make you feel, and which words do it.
  • RI.9-10.8 The Evaluate activity, and the lesson's rule that an ad can use a technique and be true, or use none and be false.
  • RI.11-12.6 Pairs judge each flagged phrase and say why the wording works on a reader.
  • RH.9-10.6 Two ads from different sponsors in the same race, read side by side.
  • RH.9-10.8 The Evaluate activity: does the evidence the check found support the ad's claim?
  • RH.11-12.8 The Evaluate activity: students open the sources behind a claim check and ask whether "no evidence found" means false.

Framing and sourcing

50 minutes

Our worked lesson for journalism courses: two articles from different tellings of one story.

C3 Framework

  • D3.1.9-12 Pairs take articles from different tellings and name each one's first source before opening Semblen.

Common Core literacy

  • RI.9-10.4 Read the flagged phrases, then rewrite one lede in another telling's frame, keeping every fact.
  • RI.9-10.6 Compare each article's lead and what its headline promises against the body.
  • RI.11-12.6 Agree or disagree with each flagged phrase, and say what the wording does.
  • RH.9-10.6 Compare whom each article quotes and leaves out, and what each chose to include.
  • RH.11-12.6 Weigh two tellings of the same story by their sources and by whether each headline matches its reporting.

How officials make their case

50 minutes

Our worked lesson for government and civics courses: one statement from each party.

C3 Framework

  • D2.Civ.10.9-12 The GAO tests: is a message purely partisan, or does it mainly make an official look good, and does that matter coming from a party leader?
  • D3.1.9-12 One example from each party, with speakers hidden and then revealed.
  • D4.4.9-12 Pick one checked claim from each statement: what did the sources show, and what would count as confirmation?

Common Core literacy

  • RI.9-10.6 Name the techniques in each statement before and after the speaker is revealed.
  • RI.9-10.8 The checked claims, and the black-and-white fallacy marked in one statement.
  • RI.11-12.6 Did the wording change how the class judged each claim?
  • RH.9-10.8 Does the evidence the sources show support each speaker's claim?
  • RH.11-12.8 Each checked claim is corroborated or challenged with independent sources, which students open.

PSA or Propaganda?

Examples updated every week

Media Education Lab's lesson, by Renee Hobbs and Yonty Friesem, with Semblen's page of this week's government messages. This maps the questions on Semblen's page, not Media Education Lab's materials.

C3 Framework

  • D2.Civ.10.9-12 What is it for: to inform the public, to make an agency or official look good, or to help a party?
  • D3.1.9-12 Who made it, and who paid for it?
  • D4.4.9-12 How do we know? Which sources say so, and what would count as confirmation?

Common Core literacy

  • RI.9-10.6 What techniques does it use, and who benefits from them?
  • RH.9-10.8 Where a claim was checked: does the evidence support it?
  • RH.11-12.8 Where a claim was checked: students read what independent sources say about it.

A one-shot library session

50 minutes

Our session for librarians, built on lateral reading. Its page also maps it to the ACRL Framework.

C3 Framework

  • D3.1.9-12 Two articles from different tellings of one story; who is each first named source, and why believe them?
  • D4.4.9-12 Debrief: which article would you cite in a paper, and what would you check first?

Common Core literacy

  • RI.9-10.4 Agree or disagree with each marked phrase, and say why.
  • RH.9-10.6 Compare two articles from different tellings of the same story.
  • RH.9-10.8 Check the claims, then judge whether the sources support each one.
  • RH.11-12.8 Open at least one source for each checked claim before deciding.

Spot the technique

Five minutes, every day

A daily challenge: two real passages built around the same rhetorical technique.

Common Core literacy

  • RI.9-10.4 Students pick the techniques they see, then compare with the words Semblen marked.
  • RI.9-10.6 Each pair of passages is built around one technique; students say how each uses it, and may disagree with Semblen for a reason.
  • RH.9-10.6 On news days, two outlets' coverage of the same story, side by side.

The standards, quoted

C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards

National Council for the Social Studies. The official text.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy

National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. The official text.

What the lessons don't cover

Standards a teacher might expect here, and why we don't claim them.

  • W.9-10.1 No lesson has students write a full argument: the exit tickets are three sentences. Extend one into a paragraph that argues for or against a flag, with evidence from the text, and it does. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
  • W.11-12.1 As W.9-10.1: the exit tickets are a start on an argument, not one. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
  • D4.1.9-12 For the same reason as W.9-10.1: students judge others' arguments; they do not write their own from multiple sources. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.
  • RI.11-12.8 This standard is about seminal U.S. texts. The lessons use this week's ads, posts and articles. Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).
  • D3.2.9-12 The claim checks show what sources say about a claim, not how experts regard a source. A step that looks up the outlet itself would add it. Evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source.
  • D3.3.9-12 Students weigh the evidence for other people's claims; no lesson has them revise a claim of their own. Identify evidence that draws information directly and substantively from multiple sources to detect inconsistencies in evidence in order to revise or strengthen claims.
  • D3.4.9-12 As D3.3.9-12: the lessons do not have students refine claims and counterclaims of their own. Refine claims and counterclaims attending to precision, significance, and knowledge conveyed through the claim while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both.

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