- Grade Focus
- Grade 8
- Age Level
- 13
- Subject
- Vocational Arts
- Technology Integration Activity
- Imaging, PowerPoint Presentations
- Estimated Time of Completion
- 10-20 student hours spread across a two week period
Introduction
This purpose of this section of the assignment is twofold. First is to get the students aware of what they are eating per week and the second is to get students thinking about family traditions and times when food plays an integral and central role...versus the daily, on-the-go, fast-food-me-now meals that many young teens consume as they juggle school work, extracurricular activities and eventually jobs.
Prerequisite Experience
Students should be capable of completing a family interview and will demonstrate some
knowledge of digital imaging or digital video camera operation.
Teacher Prep Time
One to two hours
Teachers should review the digital imaging training videos found at Nortel LearniT (www.NortelLearniT.org) and the operation of a digital camera. They may need to gain some experience with imaging editing software. It would be useful to have the students explore the training videos as they progress through the project. Teachers also need to familiarize themselves with wiki's or blog.
http://edu.learnit-teachit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/
http://edu.learnit-teachit.org/technology/Webpage_Creation/
http://edu.learnit-teachit.org/resources/Web_Sites/
Project
Students are to chronicle what they eat for each meal for a week. While doing this, ask them to write down observations about their food and how their family interacts with food too. Students will have two weeks to complete the project. For instance, does Dad skip breakfast before work? Are siblings eating the same meal for dinner or is "everyone on their own?" Students are to start a Discussion blog thread on Teen Living 8 at kidbog.
http://edu.learnit-teachit.org/technology/Webpage_Creation/
www.kidblog.org
Assessment/Grading
Assessment is a rubricTime Management Tips
Be sure to dedicate time to every phase of this project. Some class time will be dedicated to blogging.
Lesson Plan Details
Engage
What did you do in school today? How was your day? This may be your dinner table and the standard questions parents ask …. Most typically your response is… “nothing” and “fine” What did you eat today? Anything new/different? What was great about it? Do you think you could replicate the item? A introduction of showing a you -tube video on the history of food would be a great introduction to the lesson. This video (What America Eats, History on a Bun) is a great introduction on the eating habits of Americans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVG4PBwWF60&feature=related
The 1960's, 1970's even the 1980's seem so long ago! Many things have changed in the American Diet since then!!! Do you ever wonder what it was like for your parents when they were your age? Do you know what they ate? The best way to find out is to ask them!
Explore
- Write a journal of all the food you eat in one week. Especially your dinner and what conversations go along at dinner.
- Conduct the interview. Use the following as a guide
- What food did your parents families eat during particular holidays, going into detail by describing the process of how their mother, grandmother, father, or other family member prepares the meal?
- What types of foods were available when the parents were the your age? (I.e. was McDonalds available everywhere like today?)
- What family meal patterns existed when parents were younger? (I.e. dinner was served at 6pm no questions. Everyone was to be present)
- Did parents have the chance pick a meal each year for their birthday? Who made it and how it makes them feel….(i.e. Mark loved grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with a grilled PBJ for dessert for his birthday- no matter where his family was stationed, there was always grilled cheese, tomato soup and PBJ)
- Describe a regional dish one of their parents prepares during a particular time of year...for example, During the Summer months, Vickie, grew up eating blue crabs from Baltimore steamed by her father, poured out on newspaper lined tables and seasoned with Old Bay every summer.
- Question their family history and the foods that they are accustomed to. Each nationality has their family “traditional foods”. For example, in Greek homes, they are known for diverse range of family meals, holiday foods, and elaborate presentation dishes. In Greece, there are variety of foods such as artichokes, spinach, figs, olives, chickpeas, squid, octopus, pheasant, goat and lamb.
3. Students will also add a photo blog on a new food that they tried while dining out or a new food items that they made at home and shared with their family. There is a plethora of restaurants in our area that feature a wide variety of foods. Students may have tried sushi and liked it, or maybe extreme vegan /raw food café’s.
You may also review the training videos on digital imagining located on the Nortel LearniT site (www.NortelLearniT.org)
Be sure to dedicate time to every phase of this project. Some class time will be dedicated to blogging, approximately 3 class periods(50 minute periods)
Explain
During the exploration of their food blogs/essays – students will be able to photograph their new/favorite meal/family meals. Add the photograph to their blog for all to share. This will allow for visual contributions to projects that students love to do and share with their classmates’.
As a interactive part of the blogs/essays being written over the week, students are to comment on their classmates' Teen Living food blogs. Students will find both commonalities and exciting differences among friends in the class as discussions about food traditions are exchanged via the blog threads.
Elaborate
Time to put it all together! Students can now use various means of communication to summarize their projects. Their interview can use various illustration on a power point (music additions is great)
http://edu.learnit-teachit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/
Using data from the questions, we can compare the responses on the interview by age / generational eating habits. Compare that to what the students are eating now. Then apply knowledge learned about the past into today’s eating habits of teens. What has changed? Why has it changed?
Upon completion, we will merge all of their power points into one class project.
A great example of a merger- type of project can be found at http://sites.google.com/site/facsmehms/cultural-cuisine-projectEvaluate
Level 1 (D) | Level 2 (C) | Level 3 (B) | Level 4 (A) | |
The food diary was complete. Diary had to have 7 days recorded. RECORDNG WHAT WAS EATEN FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER(BLD) | There wasn’t any entry in the food diary | There were entry’s but very few (1-3 entry) interview | There were 4-7 entries . Covering all meals (BLD) | There were 7 entries. Covering all meals (BLD) |
Family Interview Questions addressed. | Limited efficiency and provides no evidence of critical thinking to evaluate content. No questions or responses recorded. | Somewhat efficient and uses some critical thinking to evaluate content. 1-2 questions asked and responses recorded | Efficient and uses critical thinking to evaluate content 3-4 questions asked and responses recorded | Efficient, thorough and uses critical thinking to evaluate content -6 questions asked and responses recorded. |
Blog was Interesting and Informative | The BLOG was uninteresting and uninformative | The BLOG was either interesting or informative but not both | The BLOG was both interesting and informative | The BLOG was very interesting and very informative |
Technical /Photo Quality | The photograph looks poor/little effort made | The photograph was fair but still little effort was made | The photograph was good/a good amount of effort was made | The photograph was great and a lot of effort was made |
Group Participation~ Posted comments on classmates photo & blog | There was not full group participation No posts | There was some group work 1-3 posts | There was group participation at times 3-4 posts | There was group participation through the entire process 5-7 posts |
Extend
With the blogs and essays written and the weekly menu completed, I will set aside time to watch portions Julie and Julia in class.
As the last assignment, have the students write a reflection paper (in-class) that incorporates all of the pieces of this lesson...
- Their weekly meal log
- The family food traditions interview
- Photographs from their food items that they wrote about.
- Comments from classmates during discussions or from the blog threads
- Film insights from Julie and Julia
The reflection paper should address larger, thematic questions from the lesson, i.e. what was the big, take-away "ah-ha" moment from this experience? What did you learn about yourself and the way you live or would like to live in this century