Good Food/Bad Food

Module Description  The module was designed to evaluate three proposals which argue for different approaches for responding to the obesity epidemic.  Students analyze the proposals and consider how they were constructed to convince their audience.  They then gather additional evidence from websites and from a survey they design and administer.  The final assignment asks students to write a proposal of their own for how to improve the eating habits of students at their school.

Module Preview  The obesity epidemic has raged since the 1970s as the American diet and lifestyle have changed.  The health consequences of the epidemic are extremely serious, potentially reducing people’s lifespan.  Many individuals and organizations are now engaged in trying to find the most effective ways to improve American eating habits.

Module Preview...  The first article in the module summarizes current thinking on the causes of the obesity epidemic along with possible food policy and school-based solutions.  The second article advocates for improvements in the school lunch program while the third argues for a tax on junk food, using the funds generated to subsidize healthy foods.  The three articles offer examples of how to construct a proposal.

Module Preview...  Students are then asked to do independent research using websites suggested by the teacher and to construct a survey to administer to students at their school.  The module concludes with students writing their own proposal for how to improve the eating habits of their fellow students, incorporating evidence from their readings and survey and revising and editing it for the specific audience they have selected.

Module Objectives Students will be able to:  Identify the main ideas, including the author’s main argument/claim within a text  Analyze the structure of a text that makes a proposal  Summarize and respond to a proposal  Write a rhetorical précis that identifies the rhetorical strategies of the writer  Design a survey and incorporate evidence from the survey in their own proposal  Construct a proposal using multiple sources as evidence  Revise rhetorically to meet the needs of the audience for their proposal  Edit with a focus on improving readability

Getting Ready to Read: Quickwrite  Americans are at increasing risk of disease because of the unhealthy food we eat. What will it take to get us to change our eating habits?

Introducing Key Concepts  Complete the following T-Chart as you brainstorm characteristics of French fries and their affect on the human body DescriptionEffect on the Body GreasyClogs Arteries

The History of Eating  Use the interactive food timeline on the home page of the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity:

Surveying the Text  What do the titles “Attacking the Obesity Epidemic by First Figuring Out Its Cause” and “Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables” tell you about what the articles will be about?  Can you guess what “No Lunch Left Behind” is going to be about from its title?

Surveying the Text  All three articles were published in the New York Times in 2009 and What can you predict about the articles?  How do you think the articles will be the same?  How do you think they will be different?