Lesson 30: Research, Part 1, Launching a Research Topic

Use this opening to connect the Socratic Seminar in Lesson 29 to the shift into student-led inquiry. Have students keep their notes from the seminar and prior reading nearby. Students turn to an assigned partner and keep a pencil ready to jot down one idea after speaking.

Turn-and-Talk

• Say: In Lesson 29, we discussed the barriers the Younger family faced in A Raisin in the Sun, and which of those barriers still shape life today. Today, we are beginning our own research to investigate how modern systems shape opportunities. This matters because your final essay will need a clear barrier, evidence from research, and a strong idea about what should change. The barrier you identified in yesterday’s seminar can become the starting point for your research into how systems shape opportunity today.

Display the Unit 7.3 Performance Task description. Briefly review that students will research one contemporary barrier, address a counterclaim, and argue what should change to make opportunities more equitable. Today, they will begin their own research by identifying a barrier they will investigate.

Say these Directions: Take a moment to review the performance task prompt, then share your ideas with a partner using the Turn-and-talk routine. After you share, jot down one contemporary topic you may want to investigate for your argument essay: education, housing, employment, citizenship, or healthcare.

• Ask: Which barrier from the seminar still affects people today? How has it changed or stayed the same, and what topic might you investigate to understand how that system shapes opportunity?

  • I think housing is still a major barrier today, but it can look different. The Younger family faced open housing discrimination, while families now may face high prices, unfair lending, or school zones connected to neighborhoods. The system is less direct sometimes, but it still affects opportunity.

• Ask: Which broad topic interests you most right now, and why might it connect to opportunity?

  • I am most interested in employment because jobs affect income, housing, and what families can afford. If people face discrimination at work or in hiring, that can limit many other opportunities, too.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Now that you have identified some barriers still in place today, let’s build the vocabulary and tools you’ll need to research those systems precisely.

When conducting research, students must define key terms precisely before investigating a topic. Today’s work builds the conceptual language of the performance task, opportunity and equitable, so students can ask stronger research questions and analyze systems clearly. Keep the focus on meaning, application, and use in research, not memorization. Students should open their personal dictionaries to begin.

Using Precise, Research Vocabulary

• Say: Two words will guide our research for the next two weeks: opportunity and equitable. As researchers, we need to define these words clearly so we can investigate how systems shape people’s lives.

Display the Target Sentence Block:

“How does this barrier shape people’s opportunities, and what can we do to make things more equitable?”

• Say: When I read the performance task question, I notice it is not just asking whether something is unfair. It asks how a barrier shapes opportunities, the real chances people have to reach goals like finding a job or housing, or receiving healthcare.

• Say: Then I look at equitable. I notice the word part equi-, which connects to equal, but Hansberry’s example shows that equal and equitable are not the same. If one group has to pay twice as much, giving everyone the exact same thing would not fix the problem. An equitable response creates a fair chance based on what people need.

• Say: as researchers, we are not only identifying problems—we are asking what fairness would actually require.

Say these Directions: In your Personal Dictionary, write these meanings in your own words. Opportunity means a real chance to do, reach, or get something. Equitable means fair in a way that gives people what they need for a real chance, even if it is not exactly the same for everyone.

• Ask: How is equitable different from equal?

  • Equal means everyone gets the exact same thing. Equitable means people get what they need, so the situation is fair. If people start with different barriers, giving the same support to everyone may not create a fair chance.

Verify Meaning: Prompt students to use a reference source to confirm meaning.

Say these Directions: Check your definition using a dictionary or other reference material. Does the definition match what we figured out? Revise as needed. Now encode the words to help them stick. Write opportunity and equitable from memory in your Personal Dictionary.

• Say: Check and correct your spelling as I display the words again. For opportunity, circle op-, underline portun, and circle -ity. For equitable, circle equi-, underline equit, and circle -able.

• Ask: Which part of the word helped you remember how to spell it?

  • The -ity ending helped me remember opportunity because I know that ending from words like community.

  • The equi- part helped me remember equitable because it made me think about equality and fairness.

Integrated ELD Instruction: Literacy Lab — Vocabulary for Meaning-Making

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Now that you have defined key research terms, you are ready to begin exploring topics and identifying barriers worth investigating.

Use the teacher-maintained model topic (employment) across lessons so students can see how one inquiry becomes more focused over time. Students may use print or digital starter sources. Emphasize that today’s goal is to identify patterns of barriers, not to fully research a topic.

Part A: From Topic to Specific Barriers (W.7.7) (15 minutes)

Think-Pair-Share

Teach: From a Broad Topic to Possible Barriers

Say these Directions: Copy this chart into your notes, and use it to track your thinking today. In the first box, write your broad topic. In the second box, list 2–3 barriers you notice. In the third box, record short evidence notes or phrases from your first source or two sources.

Have students create this chart in their notes:

• Say: Watch how I begin with a topic that is still too big: employment. If I search only for employment, I will get general information, which is too broad for an argument essay. So, instead I ask: What barriers inside this system affect people’s opportunities?

• Say: As I scan headings, captions, and opening paragraphs in school-approved sources, I notice repeated problems:

  • Discrimination in hiring

  • Pay gaps

  • Lack of accommodations

  • Bias based on identity

• Say: I am not trying to answer everything today. My goal is to:

  • Notice patterns

  • List 2–3 barriers

  • Begin deciding which one is focused enough to keep researching

• Say: As I scan these sources, I also start noticing which ones seem most useful for understanding how systems shape opportunity, because strong sources will help me later when I build my argument.

Model a quick scan of a source. Skim for repeated barrier language, not every detail. Record short phrases (not full sentences).

Say these Directions: Now begin your own topic scan. Choose one broad topic from our list, education, housing, employment, citizenship, or healthcare, and use 1-to-2 sources to identify the barriers connected to that topic. After a few minutes, you will share which barriers appear most often in your first research.

• Ask: Which barrier in your topic seems most visible across your sources, and what makes you think that?

  • In employment, disability discrimination seems very visible because I found it in more than one source. One source talked about bias in hiring, and another mentioned workplaces not providing needed accommodations. That pattern makes me think it could be a strong barrier to keep researching.

Integrated ELD Instruction: Learning in Action A — Exploring Broad Topics

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: Choosing a First Inquiry Path (W.7.7) (15 minutes)

In this section, students move from listing barriers to selecting one barrier worth investigating further. Emphasize that a strong inquiry question should be focused, researchable, and connected to an opportunity within a system.

Turn-and-Talk

Teach: Narrowing a Barrier into a First Inquiry Question

• Say: Now I have a list, but a list is not yet a research plan. If I stay with the broad topic of employment, my notes will stay scattered. So I chose one barrier that shows up clearly across my beginning sources: disability discrimination in hiring. Then I turn that barrier into a question I could actually research: How does disability discrimination affect hiring opportunities today? This question is focused (one barrier), connected to a system (employment/hiring), and connected to opportunity (access to jobs). A strong inquiry question names the barrier, the system, and how it shapes opportunity.

Say these Directions: Star one barrier on your organizer. Then draft one first inquiry question about that barrier. Share your barrier and question with your partner, and listen for whether your partner thinks the question is focused, clear, and connected to the opportunity. As you share, refer to at least one detail from your source to explain why your barrier is important, and build on your partner’s idea by agreeing, adding on, or asking a clarifying question. After both partners share, revise your question if needed. Make sure it names one barrier rather than the whole topic, names a system, and connects to opportunity.

• Ask: Which barrier are you choosing first, and how might it shape people’s opportunities?

  • I am choosing language access in healthcare. It can shape people’s opportunities because if patients cannot understand medical information or forms, they may get worse care or miss treatment options. That makes healthcare access less equitable.

• Say: You have identified a focused inquiry path. Next, you will begin gathering evidence to explain the problem, who is affected, and what could make the system more equitable.

Integrated ELD Instruction: Learning in Action B — Drafting First Inquiry Questions

Quick Write

• Say: Today, you moved from a broad topic to a specific barrier and a focused inquiry question. That is the first step strong research requires. In the next lesson, you will keep testing sources and questions so your research becomes more precise.

Say these Directions: Copy this chart into your notes. Choose one barrier from your research notes and complete the chart, using at least two specific details from the sources or notes you explored today.

SAMPLE RESPONSE

• Say: The work you did today will make future research, argument writing, and even real-world problem solving easier because you practiced turning a big issue into a focused question you can realistically investigate.

Instruct students to complete the following in their Journal:

• Write one revised inquiry question about your topic.

• List one print or digital source you want to explore next.