Classroom activity Grade 11 English Language Arts
Reading Harwick's Water Quality Report: A Document Jigsaw
A grade 11 ELA jigsaw activity where expert groups analyze sections of a fictional utility's water quality report, then synthesize whether the water is safe.
Objectives
- Students will analyze one section of a technical water quality report as members of an expert group.
- Students will integrate data, health language, and source information to judge whether the water is safe.
- Students will distinguish what the report shows from what it does not show.
Vocabulary
- Action level
- A trigger number in lead and copper testing. If too many homes test above this level, the utility must take steps like improving treatment and telling the public.
- Contaminant
- A contaminant is anything in water that should not be there, whether it is a germ, a chemical, or too much of a natural mineral, that could make the water unsafe or unpleasant to use. Treatment plants are built specifically to find and remove contaminants before water reaches the tap.
Also: water quality report, source water
Teacher overview
Every community water system mails its customers an annual water quality report, a dense document that mixes a data table, health language, and source information. This is a jigsaw activity for a class of about 24 to 32 students, working in groups of four. Each expert group masters one section of a fictional utility's report, then students regroup so every new group has one expert per section and must integrate all four to answer a single question: is this water safe, and what does the report show and not show? The activity mirrors how the standard works, since a real reader must pull meaning from several formats at once rather than one.
Activity Directions
Before class, print the report handout below, one per student, and post four section labels around the room: Section A (the results table), Section B (health language and definitions), Section C (source water), and Section D (lead guidance). Tell students the report comes from the fictional Harwick Water District and that their job is to judge what it does and does not tell a resident.
Setup (5 min): Number students 1 through 4 within each seated table. Assign each number to a section (all 1s to Section A, and so on) and send students to their section's posted label to form expert groups.
Expert groups (15 min): Each expert group reads only its assigned section closely and agrees on two things to teach: what its section says, and one limit of that section (something it does not tell a resident). Every member records the group's two points.
Home groups (15 min): Students return to their original table, which now holds one expert per section. Going in order A, B, C, D, each expert teaches their two points. The home group then answers the debrief questions on the handout together, integrating all four sections.
Whole-class synthesis (10 min): Call on home groups to answer the central question, is Harwick's water safe this year, and require each answer to cite at least two different sections of the report. Record points of agreement and disagreement on the board.
Debrief (5 min): Close with two questions. First, which single section would be most misleading if read alone, and why? Second, name one thing a resident still would not know after reading the whole report. The activity ends when both debrief questions have been discussed.
Student Handout
Harwick Water District Annual Water Quality Report (a fictional document created for this activity).
Section A: This year's results.
| Contaminant | This year's result | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Lead (90th percentile) | 4 ppb | Action level 15 ppb, dropping to 10 ppb in 2027 |
| Turbidity (highest) | 0.12 NTU | At or below 0.3 NTU in 95% of samples |
| Total coliform bacteria | None detected | Any positive sample requires repeat testing |
| Chlorine residual (average) | 0.8 mg/L | Kept between 0.2 and 2.0 mg/L; never above 4.0 mg/L |
Section B: What the results mean. An action level is the amount that, if exceeded in enough homes, requires the utility to act; it is not a line between safe and unsafe for any one tap. Turbidity is water cloudiness, watched because particles can shelter germs from disinfection. Chlorine residual is the disinfectant that stays in the water to keep protecting it through the pipes. "None detected" means the test found none at its detection limit, not a guarantee of zero.
Section C: Where Harwick's water comes from. Harwick draws from the fictional Marrow River and the Cedar aquifer. River water is treated at the district's plant; the aquifer is blended in during dry months. Land use in the watershed, including farms and roads, can affect the source before treatment begins.
Section D: Lead guidance. Harwick's pipes at the plant contain no lead, but some older homes still have lead service lines or fixtures. Lead can enter water after it leaves the plant, so the district advises running the tap before use and reports that it is replacing lead service lines under a federal schedule.
Debrief questions (answer in your home group):
- Using Section A, does any result exceed its standard this year? Cite the result and the standard.
- Section B says an action level is "not a line between safe and unsafe for any one tap." Explain what that means for how a resident should read the lead result.
- Why does the report include Section C, the source of the water, when the results in Section A already look good? Integrate the two sections.
- Based on Sections A and D together, could a specific Harwick home still have a lead problem even though the district's result is 4 parts per billion? Explain.
- Name one thing this report does not tell a resident, drawing on at least two sections.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: No result exceeds its standard. Lead's 4 parts per billion is below the 15 action level, turbidity's 0.12 is below the 0.3 limit, coliform is none detected, and the chlorine residual of 0.8 sits within the 0.2 to 2.0 range.
- Answer: It means the lead result is a system-wide statistic, not a promise about any one home; a resident with older lead pipes could have higher lead than the district's 90th-percentile figure suggests, so the low number does not settle safety at their own tap.
- Answer: Source information matters because good finished-water results depend on treatment keeping up with whatever the source delivers; Section C notes farms and roads in the watershed can affect the water before treatment, so the clean Section A results reflect treatment doing its job on a source that is not automatically clean.
- Answer: Yes. Section A's 4 parts per billion is a district-wide 90th-percentile figure, while Section D explains lead can enter after the water leaves the plant through a home's own lead service line or fixtures, so an individual older home could still have elevated lead.
- Answer: Answers will vary. Examples: the report does not give any single home's lead level, does not say how many homes still have lead lines, and does not report contaminants it did not test for. A complete answer draws on at least two sections.
Differentiation
Support
Give expert groups a two-question guide for their section ("What does it say? What does it not tell a resident?") printed at the top of each section, and allow home groups to answer the debrief questions in phrases before the synthesis discussion.
Extension
Ask a home group to draft a two-sentence plain-language summary the district could add to the top of the report, accurately stating both that no result exceeded its standard and that individual older homes should still check for lead.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "action level," "contaminant," and "source water" with simple definitions and icons before the expert groups form. Pair each ELL student with a partner in the same expert group so the section is discussed before it must be taught in the home group.