Prove It! Using Textual Evidence, Levels 3-5 (Classroom Resources) - Softcover

We live in a world where evidence is more important than ever.  With people asserting all sorts of claims (i.e., "Believe me!", "No, believe me!", "No, don't believe either of those ding-dongs... BELIEVE ME!") in all sorts of formats (i.e., print, online, social media, television), the student who does not own the skill of cool, detached, reasoned, discernment is a student ill-prepared to face the demands of modern life.                                                                                                                                  Quite simply, the ability to understand and critically analyze evidence is the foremost key to avoid being duped (in a world filled with dupers).  The is why I am such a fan of the Prove It! series.  Melissa Cheesman Smith and Terri Schilling do not want students passively accepting assertions; they insist today's learners develop investigative eyes when it comes to analyzing contentions.  Their work focuses on asking students to probe deeper, think critically, and get to the core of WHY a claim ought to be believed.  Their work promotes meritocracy - the best ideas supported by the most convincing evidence wins.  Forget the cult of personality.  Throw away the unsupportable, inflammatory claims.  Simply provide concrete, logical evidence to support your points, and the rest will take care of itself.  In order to sustain a well-informed democracy, this is no small matter.                                                                                                                                      All in all, I love how this series rests on the foundation of knowing that reading requires students not to just form opinions about the text, but rather USE the text to form educated responses.  That's a BIG WIN!  From the embedded academic vocabulary instruction, to teaching students what credible and reliable sources are (so they can learn how to critically think and make informed decisions), to text structure and inferences, and on and on, there are many wonderful resources made available.  And with such a well-organized progression of instruction, it's hard not to smile when you take a gander at all the goodies being offered.                                                                                                                                                      As we all know, there is a sea change afoot in education.  Evidence-based analysis is no longer something left for college-level instruction as students as young as seven years old are being asked to cite evidence to support their claims.  To that end, materials that make weighty concepts accessible to young learners are essential.  Do yourself a favor and allow expert educators to help connect the dots from assertions to evidence through a user-friendly set of instructional tools built specifically for the modern classroom.  This Prove It! series rocks!- Alan Lawrence SitomerCalifornia Teacher of the Year Award WinnerAuthor:  Mastering Short Response:  Claim It! Cite it! Cement it!

In this timely resource, students learn to prove their conclusionsby reading critically and closely and by effectively annotating literary and informational texts.  Students will look for central ideas tocomprehend texts and use credible evidence to make informed decisions.Lessons focus on finding, using and citing reliable sources and textevidence.  Each easy-to-follow activity provides students with thepractice they need to master these skills and become confident writers. This engaging resource provides 30 exercises giving students theopportunities to:

• select and organize evidence
• annotate informational and fictional texts
• use textual evidence in reading and writing
• locate and gather resources
• provide in-text citations in writing
• follow MLA formatting