Help!!! 'Fast Food Nation'
Posted by tanevab on May 01, 2007 · Member since Jan 2007 · 942 posts
Hey guys it's crunch time here at school and I am feeling particularly uncreative. I need a class project for my students to do on the book 'Fast Food Nation'. Any ideas would be great.
THANKS!!!
I have an idea, make them all swear off of fast food for 1 week...or better yet...have them all be.....dare I say it:"vegan" for a week (gasp)! :D
For real now...... maybe you can have them trace the life of a factory farm animal, from "birth" to "burger" and everything in-between. It was factory farming that turned me vegan. It might just wake up a lot of your students to the horrors of a factory farm animal's life. They have to learn about what it actually "was" when they pull up to the drive through window and order their Big Mac. It might open up some eyes. Let us know how it turns out (whatever it is you choose to do with the topic...it's a great one).
I have an idea, make them all swear off of fast food for 1 week...or better yet...have them all be.....dare I say it:"vegan" for a week (gasp)! :D
For real now...... maybe you can have them trace the life of a factory farm animal, from "birth" to "burger" and everything in-between. It was factory farming that turned me vegan. It might just wake up a lot of your students to the horrors of a factory farm animal's life. They have to learn about what it actually "was" when they pull up to the drive through window and order their Big Mac. It might open up some eyes. Let us know how it turns out (whatever it is you choose to do with the topic...it's a great one).
that is a really great idea!
Field trip?
well.. the Fast Food Nation video just came out. The video is more cinema than a documentary. Maybe have them watch the video and create their own play-like version of the book. Another idea might be to have them create their own advertisement either a commercial or poster displaying what fast food really is. Such as an ad for a burger might display two buns with a cow in the middle. The ad may advertise the artificial flavoring, coloring, and hormones in the food such as, "Barberque chicken burger: made with hormone fed chicken, seasoned with our own blend of smokey, tangy artificial flavoring all on a bun colored to look like a freshly baked roll." I dunno... that wasn't a very good example but I hope the idea gets across.
what kind of course is it (soc, lit, health sciences)?
might be interesting to have them write down everything they ate the previous day and then go to nutritiondata.com to look up how "well" they eat.
Health Science. Contemporary Health Issues.
I second Dave's suggestion of tracing an animal's life from birth to burger, or nugget, or whatever. Assign different groups different animals. Veal calves, farmed fish, chickens, lamb, etc, perhaps alphabetically by last name?? But put the focus on medical health - have them research all the antibiotics they feed these animals, medical treatments/surgeries/etc (for example, the countless mutilations the animals suffer) and during which parts of their lives. Some kids will inevitably get turned off from the project if they feel like its a vegan campaign or something, so let them discover the suffering in the process of researching the medical facts. Kind of a sneaky way to go about it ;P But, they'll get more out of it than if they just had to make a flashy ad poster or pretend to give up meat for a week.
Thank's guys!!! I knew I could count on you for some creative ideas. This past quarter has zapped me. I have been revamping a lot of the curriculum here and this was just one idea too many.
I think I am going to go with Dave and janeyboo's suggestion.
I'll let you know how it goes later.