Food+Issues

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=To get you thinking...= We will be watching Food Inc. and using a backchannel to write notes and interact during the movie. We will be using today's meet to take notes through the movie. 1st pd: http://www.todaysmeet.com/foodinc1 3d pd: http://todaysmeet.com/foodinc3

Rules for the backchannel:
 * Use your first name.
 * Consider this as public note taking
 * You can comment and state your opinion, but please be polite and considerate
 * If someone has a question you can help with, please be sure to answer it.

Live blogging transcripts of Food Inc =What about this?=

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What chicken nuggets are made of?: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/what-chicken-nuggets-are-really-made-of-2397765/ Fact checking: http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/msm.asp

=To get you thinking some more about food issues...= http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-4-2010/michael-pollan

http://pcrm.org/

=About Genetically modified organisms= http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/10/eveningnews/main6195054.shtml

Also found here with other videos from Katie Couric: http://www.grist.org/tags/Chewing+the+Scenery =And a clever way to wonder about what supermarket food is real...=

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=Issues= What are some of the health concerns expressed from the video (or others that you have heard about?) that concern you? Discuss big vs. small farms, use of various substances for food safety, food safety problems, organic foods, good vs. bad foods....

=The assignment= Choose one concern that you would like to research. It could be a specific pesticide or hormone, specific food, genetically altered food, artificial flavors or colors, processed and not real food (velveeta, twinkies, etc.) that have shelf lives of years, animal mistreatment (animals that become are food), or any other food issue. You can also discuss why brown rice is better than white, why we should be avoiding the use of white flour, contamination of food (check out the second resource listed below), etc. Make a statement for or against. **Either way, you should represent both sides and find articles or evidence supporting those sides.** Create a persuasive essay providing the facts that you found, supporting links to the information, any recommendations for avoiding the bad effects, and your opinion. You are free to ask "What do you think?" or thought provoking questions in your essay. You will create a blog post on the class blog. Tag it both with "Issues" and "Food". Be sure to create a clever title.

=Suggestions:= = = =Rubric=
 * You need an idea first. Find one issue and research information about it. Become knowledgeable about it. Why do they put that additive into the food (advantage), what problems does it cause (disadvantage), what alternatives are there (solution), what are your thoughts on it? Find something you are passionate about as it becomes easier to write about it.
 * Begin with the end in mind. You need to know where you are going before you can effectively choose the right path there. Any writing is really telling a story. You need to know the big picture of what it is before actually writing. Identify what the clear point is.
 * Persuasion is an art. Identify the fundamentally most compelling element of the topic. In order to communicate the element effectively, you must connect with the raw emotions of the audience (this could be passion, fear, or even anger.) You need to strike a nerve in them not in you. Make it very personal. **How to do this: Identify what is compelling, connect at that emotional level, then back it up with logic.**
 * Learn to tell a persuasive story.
 * 1) Create an opening. Make a shocking statement, quote a fact, or create a scenario.
 * 2) Connect to emotions by feeling the readers pain or connecting with those passions.
 * 3) Show a solution and how they should act on it. What can be done?



=Resources for Persuasive Writing= [] [] []

=Food Resources= This is not a complete list. These are just a few starters: [] [] [|http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html] [] [] [] [] []

=An example= There are many opinions about climate change mostly because they are still thinking of global warming. When you hear many deniers talk about the issue, they have plenty to say except but there does not seem to be actual data or proof to back their statements up. This example has a definite viewpoint but lacks statistics, data, and does not demonstrate any understanding of science. One of the biggest arguments shown as an example here and here explain that since they cannot feel it being warmer where they are at, it cannot possibly exist. Equally amusing is the response from the other side as result of some of the arguments. This article explains it best as many non-scientists do not accurately understand not only some basic principles of science but also do not understand the scientific process of using models, questioning, and validating. There are many great articles that show the science behind climate change. Several examples include more data discovered that shows the average temperature of the planet is rising and the reason why the large number of snowstorms was predicted by climate change. I think that....

= = =Commercial homework= Assignment: Watch 1 hour of TV programming and pay attention to the commercials.

Provide the following: 1. What day and hour you watched TV. 2. The channel you watched (not the number, but ABC, Cartoon Network, etc.) 3. The show content (what was the name of the show(s)) 4. What appeared? Discuss the following:
 * What were they selling?
 * What was the "hook" the commercial used?
 * Discuss the design of the commercial (what kept attention? Was it the colors, music, motion, etc. How did those things contribute to creating a certain "atmosphere"?)

=Commercial activity= View the following advertisements: 7up:

Tapeworms:

Cigarettes:

And this one:

Also view the following articles about misleading advertisements: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/parents-crunch-misleading-food-ads/2005/06/28/1119724613075.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food_advertising http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/tv-food-advertisements-promote-unhealthy-diets/ http://badfoodadditives.com/coca-cola-ordered-to-apologise-for-misleading-advertisements.html http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Kellogg-s-wholesome-ads-misleading-says-ASA

In a paragraph, discuss the following on your blog: How do these resources (pictures and links above) as well as the commercials you viewed for your commercial homework mislead the public? Discuss example(s) that show what the statement made in the ad/commercial is and what piece of information it is trying to avoid (the misleading part) and not want you to know.

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