Architecture of Grace
Social Studies · A More Perfect Union

The Interior — Social Studies

A More Perfect Union · Activity 7 — Back It Up. A claim, four sentences, one that truly holds it up — or print it and use a pencil, both count.

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Social Studies · Activity 7

Back It Up

A position is a claim standing on evidence. Here are the three impostors that sneak under claims: the other side's evidence, the opinion in new clothes, and the fact that never connects. Learn their faces.

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No score is kept. No points, no streak, no ranking — the only number anyone writes down is the one your teacher writes down, standing next to you.

Show me one first

This one is nobody's answer — it is only here to show the moves before you touch yours. Watching it is instruction, never a trial, and it counts toward nothing.

Claim: Dogs make better farm animals than cats.
Try each sentence under it like a table leg. Cats catch mice in the barn — pushes the OTHER way. Dogs are obviously better — the claim again, in new clothes.
Barns are usually red — true, and it touches nothing. A dog can herd, guard, and pull a cart — THAT leg holds.
Evidence is the sentence that pushes the claim's way and can be checked. One of four did both.

Now number 1 is yours. The hint button is there the whole time, and using it is part of the lesson.

For each claim, write one piece of evidence that truly supports it — something a reader could check. For the sentence groups, circle the claim.

  1. 1Claim: The Constitution needed a Bill of Rights.Evidence that supports it:
  2. 2Claim: The Erie Canal was worth its enormous cost.Evidence that supports it:
  3. 3Claim: The cotton gin changed the South more than any law of its time.Evidence that supports it:
  4. 4Claim: Washington's decision to step down after two terms shaped the presidency itself.Evidence that supports it:
  5. 5Claim: By the 1850s, compromise between North and South was failing.Evidence that supports it:
  6. 6Circle the claim:The convention met in Philadelphia in 1787.  ·  The Great Compromise was the convention's most important deal.  ·  The Senate gives each state two seats.  ·  Thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution.
  7. 7Circle the claim:Douglass escaped slavery in 1838.  ·  He published a newspaper called the North Star.  ·  Frederick Douglass was the era's most persuasive voice against slavery.  ·  He met with President Lincoln at the White House.
  8. 8Circle the claim:By 1860 the country had about thirty thousand miles of track.  ·  The Erie Canal opened in 1825.  ·  Trains could run in winter, when the canals froze.  ·  The railroads did more than the canals to tie the country together.
How confident are you with this skill?

There is no right answer here. It only tells your teacher where to start next time.

For the teacher — this device only

One probe row, built from what happened on this screen. Nothing is sent anywhere — copy it into the Goal Builder yourself, or print this page. Independent means answered with no hints; supported means answered after a hint. Both are real evidence and neither is a grade.

Date
—
Skill
Choose evidence that supports a claim; tell claims from facts
Measure
Trials (x of y)
Independent
0 of 8
Supported
0 of 8
Hints used
0
Confidence
—

Items 1–5 give a claim and four sentences: the true support, the other side's evidence, an opinion restated, and a disconnected fact — each wrong tap names its trap. Items 6–8 flip the skill: four sentences, find the claim. This is the tappable half of position writing; the paper worksheet asks for the written half. Set 2 and Set 3 are the same eight jobs on different claims.

Three doors on this page: Show me one first is a worked example and counts toward nothing; the eight items are the walk; and a finished set opens One more, if you want it — a stretch with two tries and the thinking shown warmly either way. Whether each door was used rides along when a probe row is copied or sent — as information, never as a score.

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