Minutes 0–3: Name the claim
Open the DHMO worked example. Before the reveal, ask students to write the exact claim and identify what evidence would support it. Keep initial judgments private.
Free classroom resources
Try WATER with your students.
Start with one claim. Leave with an evidence trail students can explain. These activities work without buying a book or signing up for a newsletter.
Suggested 15-minute introduction · grades 6–12
What changed your conclusion?
This sequence uses the existing DHMO demonstration. It is a suggested teaching plan, not a report of measured classroom results. Preview the example before teaching and explain the missing context during the activity.
Minutes 3–10: Follow the evidence
Continue through Wait, Ask, Trace, Examine, and Respond. DHMO is water. Which statements describe a hazard, and which leap from that hazard to a broader conclusion? Record the context the warning left out.
Minutes 10–15: Explain the response
Have students revise their conclusion and name the evidence that changed it. Ask what they would check next. Assess their explanation, including justified uncertainty.
Materials: A projected browser or a teacher-prepared printed copy of the example, plus paper. The app is optional. Students do not need personal accounts.
Access: Read the claim aloud, provide the text, define unfamiliar vocabulary, and allow a spoken response or paired scribe. Use a teacher-selected example for independent practice.
Exit prompt: “My first conclusion was ____. The context I was missing was ____. The evidence now supports ____. I still need to check ____.”
Complete lesson · 45 minutes · grades 6–12
Four complaint forms. Twice the story.
Use the existing curriculum’s fictional lunch-line case to separate counts from rates, trace repeated claims, and audit a simulated AI summary. Includes a student handout, teacher key, proposed rubric, and independent library-attendance practice.
No AI account, book purchase, or internet connection is required once the handout is printed. Version 1.0, Sept. 14, 2026.
Use what is already here
Choose a resource.
Guided WATER Check
Record a claim, trace its source, examine context, and explain a response. Copy or print the completed summary.
Open the free toolFictional newsroom exercise
A free 25-minute discussion guide and evidence activity from The Deadline Plate project. No reading or purchase of the novel is required.
Get the discussion guideFive-move reminder
Print the framework from the WATER page or download an existing desktop or phone wallpaper.
Get free wallpapersAdapt the task to your room.
Journalism: Attach a source note to a news brief. Ask what can be published now and what needs more reporting.
English, social studies, and civics: Compare a claim with its original passage or document. Explain whether the context supports the interpretation.
Libraries and community groups: Work through one shared example. Give participants a source they can inspect themselves.
AI literacy: Use a saved, teacher-selected answer. Trace its factual claims to independent evidence. Students can do the exercise without an AI account.
Assess the evidence trail.
- Is the claim specific enough to check?
- Can another person locate the evidence?
- Does the explanation address relevant context?
- Does the response match what the evidence supports?
“Still unresolved” is a useful result when the student explains what is missing and how to investigate it.
On shared devices, copy or print the work, then use “Start a new check” when finished. The app saves text in that browser. Keep student names and private records out of examples.
Curriculum preview · in development
From one activity to a semester.
The existing News Media and AI Literacy course designs connect EITYWT with verification practice, reporting, source evaluation, and AI literacy.
Middle school
An 18-week foundations design for grades 6–8, with supported readings, supplied sources, and progressively more independent checking.
High school
An 18-week course design connecting evidence, media creation, reporting, and accountable publication decisions.
Introductory college
A 15-week design for deeper source investigation, analysis, and an individual defense of evidence-based decisions.
The working package includes weekly sequences, outcomes, assessment plans, rubrics, fictional cases, student forms, and selective standards crosswalks. Daily preparation and local review remain necessary. Course credit, institutional adoption, and research validation are not established by these materials.
The course designs currently reference an earlier manuscript edition. Reading assignments and standards references will be checked again before an institutional review copy is finalized.
This opens your email app. An inquiry does not subscribe you to a mailing list or commit your institution to using the course.
Read it
The deeper argument.
Everything I Told You Was True explores how accurate facts can produce a misleading picture. It remains a submission manuscript. The extended edition and pocket-guide version are publishing projects, not books offered for purchase here.
Explore EITYWTBring it here
Practice with your colleagues.
Explore a workshop, conference session, library program, or professional-learning conversation built around your audience.
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Life Between the Lessons includes Eric’s essays and project updates alongside writing about teaching and life. It is a broader publication, not a dedicated curriculum mailing list.
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