OVERVIEW
Students will examine and analyze evidence about their focus issue in order to determine the root cause(s), which will shape their goal and action plan. / NOTES:
Lesson 4 or 5 is a great time to bring in a guest speaker to share their thoughts on possible root causes for the focus issue.
TO SHORTEN THIS LESSON:
  • Skip the jigsaw activity and instead move from small group article analysis to full group discussion where you complete the chart on the board.
  • Have your teacher do today’s exit ticket in another period or assign it for homework before the next class.
TIP: The variety and quality of research here is critical to the successful framing and understanding of the issue for your students.
TIP: Talk to your teacher for guidance on picking grade appropriate articles.
TIP: Check Weebly or ask your Chapter Directors if GC has an Action Starter Kit for your focus issue.
ADD TO GLOSSARY:
  • Root Cause
Definition:The main reason a problem occurs.
Sample Sentence:Keisha argued that the root cause of all the garbage on her street is that there weren’t enough trashcans. If there were, she thought, people wouldn’t litter.
ADD TO GLOSSARY:
  • Evidence
Definition: Facts and information that tell us if something is true or not.
Sample Sentence: The high unemployment rate was only one piece of evidence pointing to the troubles the community was having.
Sample probing questions:
  • Show me where in the articles you saw that.
  • Where is the evidence in the article that shows that?
SAMPLE LANGUAGE: In this group, your job is to learn as much as you can with your group about the evidence. Read your article. Take notes in the appropriate column of the chart on the following page so that you have enough information to be an “expert” about this evidence in your second group. Discuss your answers with your group.
As you are reading, fill in the rows on the following chart.
SAMPLE LANGUAGE: In this group, your job is to share what you learned from the evidence in your learning group and to learn about the evidence that other groups gathered. Take notes in the appropriate columns of the chart below so you have information from all the groups.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
  • Analyze print and web research about the context of their focus issue.
  • Discuss the current climate surrounding their focus issue, including people involved in addressing it.
  • Evaluate evidence of root cause as it relates to the local situation for their focus issue.

MATERIALS
  • Student handbooks:
  • Issues & Root Cause Graphic Organizer (page 13)
  • Analyzing Evidence Graphic Organizer (page 14)
  • Variety of outside printed research (see below for specifics, at least one per student).
  • Looks Like/Sounds Like chart.
  • Advocacy Hourglass visual.
  • Post-It Notes for Do Now Activity.

PREPARATION BEFORE CLASS
  • Return any collected consent forms and surveys to CDs or GC staff.
  • Determine with your teacher whether students should be expected to bring their own research to class as well (for homework the previous day) and what reading level is most appropriate for your students.
  • Gather and print research about potential root causes of your class’ focus issue. Look on Weebly and in your Action Start Kit for sample articles. Make enough copies so that each student can have one research piece in front of him/her.This research should:
  • Focus on information about the causes of the problem, not just the symptoms. This may be contained in evidence about how others have addressed this problem.
  • Include content in various representations (figures/charts, primary/secondary sources, statistics and narrative).
  • Reflect a variety of views on the issue’s root causes.
  • Have current and locally-specific content.
  • Read and familiarize yourself with the evidence and prepare to answer the questions listed in the lesson below.
  • If at all possible, arrange classroom seats into small-group clusters of 4-5 students, and pass out one type of evidence to each group.
  • Write the focus issue on the board or chart paper.
  • Draw a blank chart on the board or poster paper like the one below with columns for each type of evidence. Fill in the first three rows for the students.
Group 1 / Group 2 / Group 3 / Group 4
What is the title of the article?
Where was this article published (in what magazine, book,etc.)?
When was this article published?
Who are the people or groups mentioned, and how can they support our project?
What statistics or facts stand out to you?
What is the main idea of the article?
What does this article teach you about our focus issue?
What levels of government are mentioned?
Compare/contrast this article’s information to our school or neighborhood. What is different? What applies to our situation?
  • Draw a blank table on the board, with the headings: Know/Want to Know/Learned.
  • Pass out two post-it notes to each student for use during their Do No and write the Do Now prompt on the board.

INTRODUCTION (3 - 5 minutes)
  • Do-Now:On one post-it note, write one or more thing(s) that you already know about our focus issue. On the other post-it note, write one or more thing(s) that you want to learn about it.
Post your notes in the “Know” or “Want to Know” columns on the board when you’re done writing.
  • Lesson overview and framing: Refer to advocacy hourglass.
  • Ask a student to explain where you are on in the advocacy process.
  • Tell students that before they can move further in constructing a plan of action for their issue they must learn more about the problem and what others have done and are doing that influences it. This is called the root cause.
  • Refer students to the Looks Like/Sounds Like Chart and have them select a specific behavior to focus on today for the small group activity.

  • IF YOU ARE INVITING A GUEST SPEAKER FOR LESSON 5, explain that today, our class will examine written/print research as evidence, and for the next class, we will bring in a community leader or expert (and/or video-chat with an expert, etc.).
  • Refer to the students’ post-its and Know/Want to Know/Learned chart on the board. Briefly, have students share what they already know about the focus issue and things that they’re hoping to learn. Explain that today they’ll start to answer some of these questions. Finding more information about your topic will be really important if you hope to address it effectively. (Make sure to take these notes with you at the end of class, so you can continue gathering information on topics students are curious about or find appropriate guest speakers.)

ANALYZING EVIDENCE: INTRODUCTION (10 - 15 minutes)
  • Announce that today you will be doing this research in an activity called a “jigsaw,” where students will first read evidence in small groups and become experts. These are their “learning groups.” Then they will split up and go act as “expert groups” to share what they learned with another group.
  • Before becoming an expert on your own article, work out an example together to make sure that everyone knows what information experts are looking for.
  • Explain that one of the most important things they are looking for is the root cause, or the reason a problem happens. This is the primary reason we are reading these articles – we want to learn why the problem might be happening so we know how we can help solve it.
  • Pass out the same (shortest) article to every student. Give them 5 minutes to read the article. Tell them to put their pencils down when they are finished reading.
  • Tell students to turn to the Analyzing Evidence Graphic Organizer (page 14) in their student handbooks. Tell them they are going to fill out the first column of this chart together to analyze the evidence you just read. Pose each question to the class.
  • For rows 1-3, immediately give students the answer and then ask them to explain how they know that is the answer.
  • For more difficult questions (5-8), ask the question and have one student rephrase what it means. Then give students one minute to respond on their own paper before calling on 1-2 students to share their answers aloud.
  • After the column is filled out, ask students what questions they have before they are expected to do this on their own.
ANALYZING EVIDENCE: LEARNING GROUPS (10 - 15 minutes)
  • Divide students into 3 “learning”groups. Assign a different article and different number to each group.
  • Remind them that in their small learning groups, they are going to have 10 minutes to read the article and continue using the Analyzing Evidence Graphic Organizer (page 14) in their handbook to analyze and record their reaction to the article. Inform them of the evidence number they have and the column they should be completing. Remind students that they should each have their own completed column because next they will split up to individually share their evidence with other groups.
  • Circulate the room to help students with their task. Give students a five-minute and two-minute warning before changing groups.
ANALYZING EVIDENCE: EXPERT GROUPS (5 - 10 minutes)
  • After each group has completed their chart, have students letter off (ex. A, B, C, D…) in each group to facilitate rearranging into a jigsaw. Send students into their new groupings (ex. All the A’s sit together) in their “expert groups.”
  • In each “expert” jigsaw group, have students go around the circle and explain to their classmates the materials they read in the learning group. Each student should take notes in the appropriate columns of their chart so they eventually have notes on every piece of evidence.
  • As students are working, complete (or ask a struggling student to complete) the first three rows of the chart on the board, to save time during the following discussion.
  • Then, ask individual studentsfrom each original “learning” group to concisely fill in their column of the chart on the board.
DISCUSSING THE EVIDENCE (3 - 5 minutes)
  • Launch into a whole-group discussion by asking students which article they found most interesting or for one interesting thing they learned.
  • Then lead students to examine and compare what they learned from each article using the following questions:
  • How did the groups in each of these articles approach the problem differently? The same?
  • How do different sources (publications) present the problem in different ways? Are certain sources more or less reliable?
  • Why did they approach the problem in these different ways? How did they understand the issue in the first place? What factors made it a “problem?”
  • Do we think that these factors apply in our situation? Why or why not?
  • If the evidence describes how the problem was/is being solved in another situation, would that work here? Why or why not?

CONCLUSION & EXIT TICKET (3 - 5 minutes)
  • Remind students of the next date you will see them. Share that next week, they will be reviewing their root causes and determining the goal for the class.
  • Call on a student to read the exit ticket prompt out loud.
  • Write down one thing you learned about our focus issue this class. Write down one question you still have about focus issue that you think we need to answer before we decide on a course of action.
  • Have students complete exit ticket and submit it to you.
  • Save students’ (or have students save their own) articles to be referenced in Lesson 5 and 6.
NOTE TO THE DEMOCRACY COACH
  • Brainstorm potential root causes of your focus issue in each level of the model, identified from your research and from your students’ contributions. Be sure you can write down your root cause in the following way:
  • “(Focus issue) is an issue because (decision-maker), who is part of the (legislative/executive/judicial) branch has/has not (action they have or have not taken that causes the problem).
  • Prepare several possible model goals aligned to your brainstormed root causes, based on article research or notes from your guest speaker. Contact your chapter director about model goals and make sure you can write your goals in the following way:
  • “We will convince (decision-maker group/title) which is part of the (legislative/executive/judicial) branch, to (action they will take to address the root cause) around the issue of (focus issue).”

OPTIONAL ASSESSMENT and PORTFOLIO ELEMENTS
  • Exit Ticket: Write down one thing you learned about our focus issue this class. Write down one question you still have about focus issue that you think we need to answer before we decide on a course of action.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS
  • SL.9-10.2
  • RH.9-10.1
  • RH.9-10.2
  • RH.9-10.6
/ COMMON CORE STANDARDS
  • SL.8.2
  • RH.6-8.1
  • RH.6-8.2
  • RH.6-8.6

REFERENCES
n/a

1

Analyzing Evidence Graphic Organizer

Learning Group guidelines: In this group, your job is to learn as much as you can about the evidence. Read your article. Take notes in the appropriate column of the chart on the following page so that you have enough information to be an “expert” about this evidence in your second group. Discuss your answers with your group.As you are reading, fill in the rows on the chart.

Expert Group guidelines: In this group, your job is to share what you learned from the evidence in your learning group and to learn about the evidence that other groups gathered. Take notes in the chart so you have information from all the groups.

Evidence #1 / Evidence #2
What is the title of the article?
Where was this article published?
(magazine, book, journal?)
When was this article published?
Who are the people or groups mentioned, and how can they support our project?
What statistics or facts stand out to you?
What is the main idea of the article?
What does this article say about why our focus issue exists or is a problem?
Compare/contrast the article’s subject to our school or neighborhood. What is different? What applies to our situation?

Student Handbook page 14

Evidence #3 / Evidence #4
What is the title of the article?
Where was this article published?
(magazine, book, journal?)
When was this article published?
Who are the people or groups mentioned, and how can they support our project?
What statistics or facts stand out to you?
What is the main idea of the article?
What does this article say about why our focus issue exists or is a problem?
Compare/contrast the article’s subject to our school or neighborhood. What is different? What applies to our situation?

1