Fast Food Syllabus
Introduction: The more we investigate the topic of food, the more interesting the issues it raises. In this elective, we will delve far and wide in studying topics related to food, the food industry, food production, and the many ways food impacts life in the US and around the world. A fundamental text for this study will be the bestselling book Fast Food Nation. In the Humanities part of this class, we will be applying the lenses of Economics and Political Science (as well as some sociology and psychology and environmental science) to deepen our understanding about the world around us.
Overview: We will spend the first half of the course learning together about the science, economics, and politics of the food industry. The second half of the course you will be building a web based guide to food health that might include recipes, essays, scientific research, blogs, and other means of communicating your understanding of food related issues. You may be using science class at this time more for research, with humanities class time dedicated more towards producing the writing for this webpage. We will attempt to do much of this “paperless” using a class WIKI page that can be a repository for all your work.
Tentative Schedule:
February 26: Supersize Me (both periods)
HW: Reaction Paper—List of 10 points the case against fast food
February 27: Supersize Me Discussion and Introduce Book
HW: Fast Food Nation (FFN), read Introduction, Do bookmarks
March 1: SKI DAY
HW: Finish FFN Ch 5, Reading Bookmarks Due
March 7: Preparation for Field Research
Discussion of Reading, Plan Field Trip
HW: Reading FFN, Ch. 6, Agricultural Economics, Do Bookmarks, Field trip Questions
March 8: FIELD TRIP!!!
HW: Finish Reading Ch. 6 and start Field Trip Reaction Blog
March 9: Field Trip and Reading Discussion (Bring Bookmarks for Chs. 5 and 6)
HW: Complete 1 Page Field Trip Reaction Blog
March 12: Economics Activity Systems Thinking Activities, Economics of Food: Farm Bill and Agribusiness
HW: Read Ch. 7, Employment and Subsidies, Bookmarks Due
March 13: Book Discussion
Policy Making Brainstorm and Presentations
HW: Prepare presentation on your change strategy
March 14: Stock Market Game
HW: Read Ch. 8, Labor and Safety
March 15: Reading Writing and Stocks
HW: Finish Ch 8
March 16: Farm Bill Activity
HW: Read Ch 2, pp. 49-57, Advertising and Ch. 9, Food Borne Disease (a little long—try to skim a bit)
March 19: Lecture on Levers of Change, Notetaking Practice
HW: Find at least two advertisements (print or video) to bring to class—1 you think is clever and 1 that is more absurd
Be ready with bookmarks on Ch. 2, pp. 49-57, and Ch. 9 (skimmed)
Read Ch 3, pp. 63-75, Do 1 bookmark
March 20 : Advertising and the Media
HW: Identify a person or organization that you think is working effectively to make the world a better place. Write a one page description of 1) what their goals are 2) how they operate to accomplish them (what levers of change are they using) and 3) what impacts you think their actions are having or will have. You will present about your ideas on Wednesday in class. To check out some cool ideas that are making a difference, look at Fast Company Social Capitalist and the Fast 50 Award Winners (http://www.fastcompany.com/socap/ and http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_07/index.html (look over this year and past years as well).
March 21 : Presentations on Making a Positive Change
HW: Read Ch 10, pp. 229-234, 239-243, Epilogue. Do 2 bookmarks, especially 1 on the Epilogue and the possibilities for change
March 22 : Book Wrap Up
HW: Brainstorm 5 interesting ideas for your own research project
March 23 : Individual Projects Planning
March 26-30 Independent Research Projects
April 2-6: Individual Project Work Time (Projects Due late this week)
April 9-12 (4 day week) Test one day, research project presentations
(Somewhere in here we will try to get in cooking time and time to work at CSA)
Compass School Homework Policy
Being prepared for class, including doing homework, is a most basic expectation for success in school. The bottom line is that you should complete homework by the due date. There is a category on the report card labeled Homework, and this will be graded by the following rubric. Late or missing work also will affect grades in other areas.
Outstanding—100% of HW turned in on time or early
Excellent—90+% of HW in on time
Good—80-90%
Fair—60-70%
Not Acceptable—anything less than 60%
If completion of HW becomes a consistent difficulty for students and to help students dedicate the appropriate time to their work, we prove the following structure to help students stay up to date on their work. The following may apply:
- At the teacher’s discretion, students will be assigned to lunchtime or afterschool study hall as a consequence for incomplete homework.
- When a pattern of late homework is evident, parents will be contacted.
- If problems completing homework continue, an SST meeting may be arranged.
- Homework has its own individual line on the report card for every class. Late or incomplete homework will result in lower grades on this line. Each teacher will also have individual policies for scoring late work and how this affects grades for each assignment.
- Progress reports will be sent home at midterm for all students who are missing major assignments for a class.
- Persistent problems with late or incomplete homework may result in not passing a class for the trimester and possibly losing credit for the course overall.
- All work for a class is expected to be completed by the end of the trimester. In extraordinary cases, a teacher may grant a one week extension. After this time, no late work will be accepted.
