Lesson 22: Flex Research: Selecting a Topic for the Civic Memory Brief

Present the Showcase Performance Task prompt and Essential Question for Investigation 2.

Say these Directions: Review the Performance Task and Essential Question.

• Performance Task: Civic Memory Brief

  • What You’ll Do: Create a multimedia explanatory Civil Memory Brief that shows how a specific action, episode, or event from the Civil Rights Movement used memory and testimony to change systems. Use March plus at least one credible source from the unit or from your research. You will also include a cover page with two meaningful visuals related to your topic, accompanied by headlines and captions to explain them.

  • Why It Matters: Storytelling and evidence can change the world. When we learn about our past, we can change our future. Explaining history through personal testimony and memory enables others to participate thoughtfully in civic life.

  • Criteria for Success: The explanation must have at least four paragraphs and include an introduction with a thesis, accurate evidence from March and at least one other relevant text, a clear conclusion, and precise academic language. The cover must include two clear visuals related to your topic and purposeful headings and captions that help explain the visuals.

• Essential Question: Investigation 2

  • What is civic memory, and what responsibilities come with remembering?

Explain to students that they will conduct research to identify additional potential sources and evidence for their Civic Memory Brief. Then transition students into partnerships to engage in the Turn-and-Talk routine.

Turn-and-Talk

Say these Directions: Follow the Turn-and-Talk routine and discuss the following questions with your partner:

• Ask: How has March shaped what we know about the Civil Rights Movement?

  • (Student responses may vary based on prior knowledge.) March shapes civic memory by explaining key events in the Civil Rights Movement through a first-person perspective with specific details so readers understand not just what happened but what it felt like and what activists believed. It highlights collective student-led organizing and nonviolent protest in the pursuit of desegregation and equality.

• Ask: What event or action from the Civil Rights Movement are you interested in learning more about?

  • I’m interested in learning more about the Freedom Rides because I want to understand how activists planned them, what risks they faced, and how the public and government reacted. I also want to know what evidence shows the Freedom Rides influenced laws or national opinion.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we are going to turn our curiosity into research. We will choose a specific Civil Rights Movement event or action, ask a researchable question about how memory and testimony shaped change, and begin to find sources and evidence we need to answer it accurately.

Preparing for Research

Model how to move from a broad topic to a focused topic for the Civic Memory Brief. This focused topic can be turned into a question that students can research using the following steps.

• Say: While a topic like the Civil Rights Movement offers plenty of research opportunities, it is far too broad a topic. If your topic is too broad, you won’t know what to write about specifically or what to search for, and you won’t know what specific and relevant evidence to collect. So I’m going to show you how to narrow a topic step-by-step until you have a focused topic and a related research question that matches your purpose. Follow these steps to prepare for research:

  1. Start with the broad topic.

     • Say: My broad topic is the Civil Rights Movement.

  2. Choose one specific event or episode.

     • Say: I’m going to zoom in on one episode: the Freedom Rides.

  3. Name the specific topic you want to investigate.

     • Say: Now I have to decide what I want to understand about the Freedom Rides. I could focus on planning, risks, media coverage, government response, or impact. Since our performance task is related to civic memory, I’m going to focus my Civic Memory Brief topic on how the story of the Freedom Rides gets told and why that matters.

  4. Add a focus word that guides the explanation.

     • Say: I’m going to use a focus word or phrase like how, why, to what extent, in what ways, impact, or contribute. These words push me to analyze and explain, not just list facts.

  5. Tie the topic and question to the purpose.

     • Say: My purpose is to show how memory and testimony helped change systems, so my question should help me find evidence about what people said, how the information was shared, and what changed because of it.

  6. Make sure the topic question is answerable with sources.

     • Say: I ask myself, “Can I answer this by using March plus at least one credible source? Can I find concrete evidence like quotes, descriptions, dates, decisions, and outcomes?” If yes, it’s researchable.

  7. Draft the research question in relation to the topic and evaluate it.

     • Say: Here is my model research question: How did the Freedom Riders’ testimony and the way the media reported the Freedom Rides influence public opinion and federal action on segregation?

     • Say: Now I check it: It’s focused on one episode (Freedom Rides). It connects to our purpose (memory/testimony and change). And it tells me exactly what to look for in sources: testimony, media reporting, public reaction, and government response.

     • Say: If my question still feels too big, I can narrow it one more time by adding a place, time period, or specific outcome—for example, “in 1961” or “after attacks in Alabama” or “leading to specific federal enforcement.””

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, you’ll practice narrowing a broad topic into a focused topic and related research question that will help you find sources and evidence to collect to support the writing of your Civic Memory Brief.

Part A: Model Analyzing Sources (W.8.7) (15 minutes)

Say these Directions: Before you begin looking for sources to help answer your research question, identify these three things:

• what I already know from March and other texts read during this unit,

• what I still need to know, and

• what kinds of sources would give me the most information, including primary vs. secondary and visual vs. textual.

Provide students with the Comparing Multiple Sources and Research Notes graphic organizers.

• Say: When we begin researching, you will gather several primary and secondary sources in multiple media forms (news articles, archival photos, short videos, speeches, etc.). Use the Research Notes and Comparing Multiple Sources graphic organizers to help organize your findings, including citation details, quotations, and major points.

Use the example event that was focused on during Literacy Lab to continue modeling the research process.

Part B: Select a Topic and Start Research (W.8.7) (15 minutes)

Say these Directions: Follow the steps above in “Preparing for Research” to select a specific event, action, or episode from the Civil Rights Movement connected to March or earlier unit texts. Write your topic on your Research Notes graphic organizer. Then, begin your research.

As needed, review the steps of selecting a focused topic and creating a related research question:

1. Start with a broad topic.

2. Choose one specific event or episode.

3. Name the specific topic you want to investigate.

4. Add a focus word that guides the explanation.

5. Tie the topic and research question to the purpose.

6. Make sure the topic question is answerable with sources.

7. Draft the research question in relation to the topic and evaluate it.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: Turn to a partner and share your focused topic and related research question. Explain how your research question will support the writing of your Civic Memory Brief.

Introduce the homework to complete before the next lesson:

Reflect on the progress of your research in preparation for more research in the next lesson.

As you review your research, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have a focused research question?

• Do I know what keywords and types of sources I will search for?

• Do I know how to analyze the sources and compare them to each other?