Friday, March 15th

Starter 3.15:  How much should the food industry be regulated by government laws?  What sorts of things should and shouldn’t be regulated?

What is a "muckraker"?  

(Michael Pollan is a contemporary one, nowadays known as an investigative journalist.)

What impact can muckraking journalism have on social issues and problems? What are other examples of effective muckraking?

A Century Ago's Muckraking Journalism and the Food Industry:

Throwback to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906)

Historical Context

Excerpt from The Jungle

What is the FDA?  

Why does it exist?  Should it exist?

Does the food industry have too many regulations?  Not enough? What are some examples?

Watch clip from Food, Inc.  

DISCUSSION/JOURNAL 3.15:  

What is your reaction to this information?  Do you think the federal government should play a role in the food industry?  How important are regulations on food? What happens if labor and food safety laws are lax or deregulated?  Whose interests are served by this?

Your choice:

Reading Time

OR

More Four Corners?

PART 3 of the book is due the Wednesday after break!

Possible Four Corners

• It’s not that important how food animals live; after all, they were born to be our food.
• The FDA should heavily regulate what food companies put into our food.
• GMO’s are an amazing technology that we should not be afraid of.
• I would give up produce from far away to reduce my carbon footprint.

Thursday, March 14th

MINI-QUIZ Part 2

Starter 3.14: Watch this video:  Whole Foods CEO interview

To what degree do you see America’s relationship with food evolving?  Is the Whole Foods CEO expressing a greater societal shift in thinking or is it just specific to their niche market?  What do you see in your own generation?

Watch clip from Food, Inc. “Big Organic”

Four Corners

Eating organic food is worth the extra cost and effort.

Honors: Cat's Cradle seminar!


Work Time:

• Read for tomorrow: Excerpt from The Jungle
• Annotate questions and underline a few passages that strike you!
• Keep reading The Omnivore's Dilemma
• Catch up any starters and journals
• Philosophy project work?

Wednesday, March 13th

Journal 3.13:  What is your reaction to the content of this film?  As a teenager, where does this info hit you? Does the film inspire you to make any changes?

AND

To what degree is the health value of food a factor in your own personal food ethic?  

Tuesday, March 12th

Starter 3.12: Is factory farming worth the trade-offs?  What you be willing to give up in order to have a different agricultural paradigm?

• Share Out: 3.6 (review) and 3.12

What is the deal with “Food Miles”?

Read/Annotate:  Food Miles and Packaging: A Contrarian View

Table Groups: One person scribe your answers in a Google Doc and share with Jessica.

• What is his thesis?
• What are the main points that he makes to support his perspective?
• Brody asks:  “Is the correlation of prosperity with processed and packaged foods nearly 1.0?  Do you answer yes? Why or why not? Can you push back on this claim? How?
• How does the perspective of this article change or complicate how you are processing the book (if at all)?
• Come up with a Four Corners prompt related to this topic

FOUR CORNERS

The benefits of the industrial food system are worth the drawbacks

I would rather go back to local food systems of yesteryear even if it meant I sacrificed diversity

Monday, March 11

Quiz, Part 1 of The Omnivore's Dilemma

When finished, read Part 2 for Wednesday.  
Honors/OG version:  This is the first two chapters of Part 2, Chs. 8 and 9.

Also Honors....
Cat's Cradle seminar tomorrow!  Be prepared!
Conference with me this week!

Thursday, March 7th

Starter 3.7:  In your own words, explain the concept of the “omnivore’s dilemma” and how it is relevant to the modern American eater.  How do you personally experience this dilemma?

Work Time:

Read Part 1 of The  Omnivore’s Dilemma and work through Study Guide Part 1

HONORS:

Cat's Cradle seminar Tuesday, March 12

Next week: Schedule a time to conference with me about your plans for Essay #1

Wednesday, March 6th

Starter 3.6:  Make a brief list of ADVANTAGES of the food system in the United States.  What do we love and celebrate about it?

WORK TIME!

1. Do you have to do SLC’s?  Here is the template for SLC Action Plans.

2. READ READ READ!!!  Use the Study Guide to prepare for next Monday’s quiz.

3. Need advice on ART for your philosophy project? Take advantage of Roxy's presence here to conference with her.

Tuesday, March 5th

What questions do we have about the project at this point?

What do we mean by “food ethic”?

Ethic:

a :  a set of moral principles :  a theory or system of moral values <the present-day materialistic ethic> <an old-fashioned work ethic> —often used in plural but singular or plural in construction <an elaborate ethics> <Christian ethics>

b plural but sing or plural in constr :  the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group <professional ethics>

c :  a guiding philosophy

d :  a consciousness of moral importance <forge a conservation ethic>

What are the principles of conduct or guiding philosophy implied in each video in terms of a “food ethic”? What does the source of the video value?)  Label your responses “Starter 3.5”

1. Applebee’s commercial
2. One Million Gardens  (Who is Vandana Shiva?)

Group Work:  Berry “Pleasures”

SHARE OUT!  Find a quote from the reading that was striking, beautiful, disturbing, or important, and write it on the board.

Sign out a copy of The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  If you are interested in reading the original Michael Pollan text, let me know and I will lend/procure you a copy. Honors, I highly encourage this choice!

Monday’s Quiz will be based on the questions in the Study Guide.  You will have work time tomorrow and Thursday to read and work through the study questions.

SLC=Special Life Coaching!  If you must prepare an Action Plan for SLC’s, factor it into your homework/work time over the next few days.  Here is the template for SLC Action Plans.

Monday, March 4th

Hello, darling juniors. Reya is sickie today, so I lament that I can't be there with you. Work diligently to do the following today...

Create new starter doc!

Label it “Food Project Journal Your Name” and share it with me.  As ever, we will label each entry as we do….

Starter 3.4 Freewrite:

How do you characterize your relationship with your food sources?

AND/OR

How do see America's relationship with food?

REVIEW THIS DOCUMENT: Project Launch  
Note any questions you have for me, and we will review it tomorrow together.

READ and ANNOTATE:  

“The Pleasures of Eating” by Wendell Berry

WORK TIME:
If you have to do SLC's this Wednesday, prepare yourself by following the instructions on this document. (Make a copy of the document and complete it!)

With your leftover time, please work on your philosophy projects....