The first 8 minutes of this clip feature students identifying and analyzing the different claims made by each newspaper about the explosion of the Maine, where one newspaper clearly blamed the Spanish and the other suggested the explosion was an accident. The teacher engages in several facilitation moves that serve to orient students to each other and to the text. At 1:38 she highlights the two conflicting interpretations that students have already surfaced, and at 2:33 she presses the student to specify where in the document he is pulling his information. 

As the students continue to discuss the different interpretations, their analysis of the articles deepens. One student notes that Document B cites a captain who presumably has specialized knowledge about the ship; another student (@4:01) notes that Document A is written to appeal to readers’ emotions. As she continues to facilitate student discourse, the teacher guides students to explicit turns of phrase in both articles that suggest no one at the time had a definitive answer about why the Maine exploded.

At this point the teacher transitions to a different prompt: she asks students which newspaper they would have purchased and why. Most students indicate they would have purchased the second newspaper because they found it to be more balanced, straightforward, and factual. However, a handful of students indicate that they would have purchased the newspaper with the more intriguing and sensational headline that blamed Spain for the explosion. By scaffolding APT in this way, the teacher could illustrate the fine line between news and entertainment. Students are well-positioned to appreciate the consequences of such journalism when it has the power to convince a nation to support war.