7.12.E

ELA7th Grade

The Standard

differentiate between primary and secondary sources

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students decide whether a source gives firsthand evidence or interprets information from other sources. They explain their decision using the creator, date, purpose, and connection to the topic.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students correctly classify sources based on who created them, when they were created, and their relationship to the event or topic. They support each classification with specific evidence and recognize that context can change a source's role.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think a primary source is simply the most reliable source or the first search result. They may also mislabel sources because of format, such as assuming every photograph is primary or every book is secondary.
How to Assess It: Give students four items about one event: a diary entry, a textbook paragraph, a news report written later, and an original photograph. Ask them to label each source and explain one choice.

Lesson moves

Set out a diary page, textbook excerpt, photograph, and biography, then have groups sort them and attach evidence labels.
Ask students to write: Which source would best reveal how a witness felt, and which would best explain the wider context?
Play Source Sort Relay, where teams classify source cards and earn a point only when their spoken reason is accurate.
Compare an athlete's postgame interview with a later sports article, then discuss what each source can and cannot tell readers.

Keep exploring

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