This was a really great opportunity for my 7th graders to use the PBI model in class. They worked for around two weeks on this in the first quarter of the school year, right after I took Dr. Lee's course. I was inspired to work on this project with the 7th graders as I felt it important for them to take a leadership role in our school community and become more aware of what they waste during lunch time. The students researched global and local food waste and then created a public service announcement to our school community regarding steps to take to make a small change. The PSAs were viewed by the administration, media specialist and me. Then, the top project was voted and shown to the entire school via broadcast. The students were highly motivated throughout this project as they were in charge of their own learning, and they loved the healthy competition. They also found using sites like Animoto, PowToon and Canva very rewarding. In fact, they have used them again for other projects in my class. Below please see the winning video. My student was very proud of her work!
Is Food Waste A Global Crisis? Preface: There are millions of people who go hungry every day. As I sat and observed my many middle school students during lunch, I realized that there was a large disconnect in the way they think about food. Kids were tossing away entire lunches...untouched! I looked at the garbage, filled to the brim, and slices of pizza, entire sandwiches, whole apples, and fruit were carelessly thrown away. I then realized my students had very little understanding about food waste. This inspired me to write this lesson. The purpose of this is to educated my 7th grade Language Arts students about food waste throughout the world. The students will research about food waste in America and abroad, they will then have a Paideia Seminar to discuss their findings and finally they will write a problem/solution essay for evaluation. This lesson should take about 9 days.
Objectives
Students will be able to understand food waste in America by researching the topic.
Students will be able to understand about global cultures and how they react to food waste through research.
Students will be able to apply ideas found from their research and cite information by participating in a Paideia Seminar.
Students will be able to analyze information gathered from research and Paideia Seminar by organizing an outline for their essay.
Students will be evaluated on their writing and comprehension of the subject by creating a problem/solution essay where they will cite information from the research.
Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.