Students will learn to discern between facts and views about the same topic or event from several sources during this session. At the end of the lesson, students are able to: 
- Compare two sources that discuss the same subject or occurrence. 
- Differentiate between assertions of opinion and declarations of fact.

- How does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?
- How can literary and informational writings make sense to strategically minded readers?
- What is the true purpose of this text?
- How can readers decide which information from what they hear, read, and see to believe?

- Fact: Statement that is provable, observable, and measurable. 
- Opinion: A person’s beliefs or judgments not founded on proof or certainty. 
- Autobiography: The story of a person’s life written by the person. 
- Biography: The story of a person’s life written by someone other than the subject of the work. 
- Point of View: The vantage point from which a story is told.

- an autobiographical sketch and a biographical sketch of the same person, such as the following materials about Jon Scieszka:
+ http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/jon-scieszka (autobiography)
+http://www.jsworldwide.com/just_the_facts.html
+http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/scieszka/
+http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,1000029154,00.html  
- excerpt of a book by Jon Scieszka
- A first-person account and a third-person account of the same event in history. Examples include the following:
+ Henry Ford Changes the World, 1908 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pfford.htm
+ Completing the Transcontinental Railroad, 1869 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/goldenspike.htm
+ Apollo 8 The First Voyage to the Moon, 1968 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/apollo8.htm
+ Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lindbergh.htm
- Teachers may substitute other similar materials to provide a range of reading and level of text complexity.
- T-Chart for text analysis (L-5-3-3_T-Chart)

- This lesson's objective is to let students compare several stories of the same subject or event and recognize the facts and viewpoints in each. 
- Examine how pupils interact in groups. Analyze each student's capacity to distinguish between facts and opinions and to compare sources. 
- Examine the student's proficiency with the following using the checklist that follows: 
+ Make a distinction between ideas and facts. 
+ Identify the perspective that a story is given from. 
+ Describe the advantages of source comparison for the reader.

Active Participation and Clear Instruction 
W: As students compare and analyze many sources on the same subject or event, assist them in differentiating between facts and views. 
H: Get students interested in the topic of the biographical sketches they will be analyzing by reading a passage from a book written by the author. 
E: Assist students in comparing and identifying facts and views in various accounts of the same subject or event. 
R: Give students the chance to collaborate in small groups to explain why they selected the answers they did, and then take part in group discussions to go deeper into their comprehension. 
E: Keep an eye on the students while they work in their small groups to see how well they comprehend the material being covered. 
T: Offer a range of resources so that every student, at their conceptual level, can tell fact from opinion in various sources. 
O: This lesson's learning activities offer both small-group idea study and application as well as large-group instruction and discussion. 

Focus Question: Why is it vital to discern between truth and opinion when comparing two sources on the same topic or event?

Read a passage from one of Jon Scieszka's books out loud. Find out what the pupils know about the author. If the author is unknown to the students, elicit their impression of the man from the books he writes about. Post the replies on the board and discuss whether they represent facts or views.

Part 1

Inform the pupils that they are going to be evaluating two biographical sketches of Jon Scieszka. Examine the distinctions between a biography—a narrative of a person's life written by someone else—and an autobiography, which is the person's account of their life.
Make copies of the T-Chart (L-5-3-3_T-Chart) available and hand them out. Review the comparison categories to ensure that pupils understand 'bias and point of view". Remind students that the first-person point of view is used in autobiographies, whereas the third-person point of view is used in biographies. Tell them to compare the texts using the T-chart.

Give the students two or more of the biographical sketches of Jon Scieszka to examine (see the Materials list). Give the autobiographical sketch to the students, but do not identify it. Allow pupils enough time to read and consider the sections.

Put the students in small groups of two to four to discuss their results after they have finished the reading and analysis. Ask them to share the text they believe to be the most trustworthy and provide evidence from their analysis (T-chart) to back up their claims. Each passage should allow them to give at least three facts, two viewpoints, and evidence to back up their conclusions drawn from the text.

Why is it vital to ascertain whether a document emphasizes opinions or facts more extensively? (to assist the reader in assessing the text's credibility as a source of information.) Talk about how comparing sources aids in the reader's comprehension of the subject.
Part 2

Present the following scenario to students to help them differentiate between a first-person (eyewitness) narrative and a third-person story:

Say, "On Saturday, your friend will adopt a puppy from the local animal shelter. Describe what happened." You can record the written or spoken responses from the students on the interactive whiteboard or board. (Possible answers could include information about the animal shelter's location, the adoption procedure, the sorts of pups that are available, and the criteria for taking care of a puppy.)

"Now, explain the incident from your friend's perspective," you can say. (Responses could include the thrill of bringing the puppy home, the anticipation of visiting the animal shelter, and a description of the puppy's appearance and behavior.)

As students identify the facts and opinions in both accounts, ask them to name the first-person narrative (the friend's account).

Part 3

Say, "Traditionally, textbooks, encyclopedias, or internet resources are how we normally learn about historical events. Which accounts are these? (the third person). Today, we will compare a first-person account and a third-person account of the same event."

You can assign students to work in small groups to finish this exercise independently, or you can use it as a teacher-guided exercise.

Select a topic from the list of materials, and either give students copies of the passages or project the passages onto a screen so that they can be discussed in groups.
Give students copies of the L-5-3-3_T-Chart so they can compare and contrast the accounts.
Instruct students to complete the T-Chart with the information provided, and to identify facts and views, and have them cite sources from the book.
Ask them to identify the similarities and differences between the two tales after they have read them. (differences: point of view, details; similarities: theme, purpose) Talk about the details and viewpoints in both stories.

Asking, "How does comparing different accounts of the same event impact the reader's understanding?" to wrap up the conversation. (Sources offer varying details and perspectives to assist the reader in making sense of what transpired.)

Extension:

Under your guidance, students in need of extra learning chances could examine two different historical versions of a different event and pinpoint the facts and viewpoints in each.
When they're ready to go beyond the basics, students can look at multiple third-person reports of the same historical event from encyclopedias, textbooks, or internet sources, or they can look at multiple newspaper accounts of a recent incident. Ask students to distinguish between opinions and facts, as well as how different accounts affect how a reader interprets an event.
Ask students to write one of the third-person narratives from the perspective of a first-person participant in the historical event.