Lesson 3

Lesson Goals

Texts

Optional

• • “5 Facts about Millennial Households,” Richard Fry, Pew Research Center, 2017
  • “Having a Secure Job Replaces Homeownership as the Key to Being Middle-Class,” Bruce Drake, Pew Research Center, 2013
  • “In a Recovering Market, Homeownership Rates Are Down Sharply for Blacks, Young Adults,” Richard Fry and Anna Brown, Pew Research Center, 2016
  • “More U.S. Households Are Renting Than at Any Point in 50 Years,” Anthony Cilluffo, A.W. Geiger, and Richard Fry, Pew Research Center, 2017
  • “Should the Government Encourage Home Ownership?,” Daniel Indiviglio, The Atlantic, 2010

Materials

Tools

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Evaluating Arguments Tool

Reference Guides

• Academic Discussion Reference Guide
• Argument Reference Guide

Question Sets

• The American Dream of Homeownership: Section 3 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Evaluating Arguments Tool

• The American Dream of Homeownership: Section 3 Question Set

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read, analyze, and evaluate recent research Studies about trends in us homeownership based on perceptions of what it means to be middle class, patterns of homeownership rates for minorities and young adults, issues facing millennial households, and recent data about households that are renting in the us.

In this jigsaw, your research team is your expert group. Work with your expert group to examine one of the following research-based articles about recent trends in American homeownership:

• "Having a Secure Job Replaces Homeownership as the Key to Being Middle-Class," Pew Research Center, August 9, 2013

• "More U.S. Households Are Renting Than at Any Point in 50 Years," Pew Research Center, July 19, 2017

• "In a Recovering Market, Homeownership Rates Are Down Sharply for Blacks, Young Adults," Pew Research Center, December 15, 2016

• "5 Facts about Millennial Households," Pew Research Center, September 6, 2017

As a group, read, annotate, analyze, and discuss your research study, considering the following questions:

1. What is the overall focus area of the article, and how does it relate to the topic of homeownership in the US?

2. What are the research methodology and data source for the article? How credible does that make the data it presents?

3. What are three to five key findings presented in the article? What data supports each of these findings?

4. In light of the information presented in your article, what claim might you make in response to the following question: What do recent trends in US society suggest about the viability of American homeownership?

Write down your responses in your Learning Log so that you can share it with other students when you move into home groups.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will move from our expert groups to home groups to report on our examination of the research-based articles, compare our findings, and reconsider the following question: what do recent trends in us society suggest about the viability of American homeownership?

Step 1

Move to a home group including at least one member of each research team, so that all of the articles are represented.

Use the guiding questions and your notes from your Learning Log to present and discuss each article, concluding each discussion by considering the claim developed by each research team in response to the following question:

1. What do recent trends in US society suggest about the viability of American homeownership?

As a presenter, be sure to follow the norms of group discussions, facilitating the participation of all group members.

Step 2

While participating in your home group, write down any new information you learn about the other articles in your Learning Log. You might access and use this information later in the unit.

As a home group, develop a summary claim that presents a conclusion about the current viability of the American dream of homeownership. List information from the articles that supports your claim.

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will further develop our abilities in analyzing and delineating arguments by focusing on an essay regarding the government’s role in encouraging homeownership.

Step 1

As a class, read the first two paragraphs of a 2010 essay by Daniel Indiviglio entitled "Should the Government Encourage Home Ownership?" Consider and discuss the following question:

1. What four questions does the author raise about homeownership in order to preview and structure his argument?

Review the Argument Reference Guide and take note of each section on the Delineating Arguments Tool. Use your identification and analysis of the four questions presented by the author to determine the argument’s issue or question and likely perspective and write them down in the first section of the tool.

Read the three paragraphs that follow the author’s first key question: Is homeownership an absolute good?

Identify the claim presented by the author that sums up an argument by an economist from The Wall Street Journal. Write down this claim in the first claim box of your Delineating Arguments Tool, and summarize the explanation or evidence that Indiviglio presents in support following that claim.

Step 2

Identify the five common reasons advocates give for the position that owning a home is good.

With a partner, examine one of these reasons and paraphrase the claim it makes. Locate the paragraph that further discusses your reason and analyze whether it presents a supporting claim or a counterclaim for your reason.

If the author presents a counterclaim to your selected reason, write it down in the first Counterclaim section of your Delineating Arguments Tool, and summarize the evidence he mentions to support his counterclaim.

If the author presents support for your selected reason, write down what he says and the evidence he mentions in the Claim section of your Delineating Arguments Tool.

As a class, share and discuss what you have learned about the claims and counterclaims that are presented in this section of the argument.

Step 3

Individually, read the section of the argument that begins with the following question: Must the government prop up homeownership?" Consider the following questions and write down your responses on your Delineating Arguments Tool.

2. What positive claim does the author present about why government incentives for homeownership are still needed by summarizing an op-ed from The Wall Street Journal?

3. What counterclaims to this claim does the author present?

Discuss the author’s response to the question about government support for homeownership. Then discuss the following question:

4. What seems to be the author’s position on this issue and question?

Read the final paragraph of the essay, looking for one or more sentences that sum up the author’s position on the issue of government support for homeownership. Write down those sentences in the Position section of your Delineating Arguments Tool.

Share and compare what you have written down with the class.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will further develop our abilities in analyzing an argument’s structure by evaluating whether we find the argument convincing in “Should The Government Encourage Home Ownership?”

Step 1

Read the information presented in the Organization and Reasoning section of the Argument Reference Guide. Based on your understanding of the three organizational models, determine if you think "Should the Government Encourage Home Ownership?" is organized in a deductive, inductive, or counterargument pattern.

Write down your thinking at the bottom of your Delineating Arguments Tool and compare your analysis with other students.

Step 2

Review the organization of the Evaluating Arguments Tool, noting how it parallels and references the Delineating Arguments Tool.

Based on what you and other students have written down on your Delineating Arguments Tools, evaluate the issue, perspective, position, claims, and evidence and reasoning of "Should the Government Encourage Home Ownership?" and write down your analysis on your Evaluating Arguments Tool. Discuss with the class what further information you might need in order to evaluate the argument’s credibility and bias.

In your Learning Log, write a paragraph that explains what you have learned about the argument and whether or not you would evaluate it as convincing.