what's for dinner?

september 28-november 23

essential questions
With as much abundance as we have in our country, why doesnt every American child have enough to eat? Why isnt there more media coverage of childhood hunger and food insecurity in America? What is the best avenue to raise awareness about this issue? Why doesnt everyone globally have enough to eat? What strategies can we use to convince people to take action on this issue, rather than just watching passively?

products
Individual Bibliography One-page statement of facts about hunger in America Letter to the editor or elected officials Group Summary of research on global hunger Bibliography Single, emotionally-resonant data point distilled from research Video, poster, infographic, or other media-based method of raising awareness of your group's choice

project deadlines
Individual September 30th/October 1st Progress on Research October 4th Completed research October 5th/6th Draft statement of facts + bibliography October 7th/8th Revised statement of facts + bibliography Group October 28th/29th Complete research on global hunger November 2nd/3rd Draft statement of facts #2 November 4th/5th Draft project brief November 11th/12th Draft PSAs November 16th/17th Revised PSAs

October 12th/13th 1st draft letter to editor October 14th/15th Revised 2nd draft letter to editor October 21st/22nd 3rd draft of letter October 25th (Monday) Final Letter Due

November 22nd/23rd Final PSAs, including final statement of facts that accompanies it

(see reverse for more information)

exhibition
Our final letters to the editor will be sent to local newspapers or elected officials *Challenge Option: Design a creative, authentic, and interesting way to share our letters with others. We can brainstorm together! Our final PSAs will be shared with the community through an open exhibition day! Details to follow.

assessment
Together we will compose a list of the elements that we are looking for to create a beautiful process and beautiful work. We will create individual checklists for the following: statement of facts, letters to the editor, project brief, final PSA. We will conclude the project with an in-class exhibition.

1. Context: What is the content focus of the project and where does it appear in the arc of the year?
1. This was our major fall project in the 2010-2011 year. We began on September 28th and continued until November 23rd. Before this, we completed a short project related to our own work as a group in which the students created "motivational" posters to hang in the classroom. In a broad sense, the content focus was on food insecurity/hunger in our local community, within the United States, and finally in different regions of the world. More specifically, there was a focus on demographics and class differences in our community, the economics behind hunger, the social and psychological challenges of chronic food insecurity, geography, and the scope of the global food crisis.

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2. Goals: What are the goals of the project for building student skills? 1. Research: working with sources (quote, paraphrase, summarize), cite sources, crafting
online search strings, breaking down questions into small, researchable chunks, evaluating the validity of sources and cross-checking them, evaluate root causes of hunger in the region of the world researched Reading: drawing conclusions across a range of primary and secondary sources newspapers, fact sheets from NGO/NPOs

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3. Communication: present persuasive arguments for more coverage of child food insecurity, support their claims with appropriate factual evidence, practice giving/receiving feedback and critique 3. Outline: Brief overview of how the project worked. 1. As referenced above, the final product for the domestic phase was a letter to the editor advocating for more coverage in local papers of child food insecurity. For the global phase, students created an awareness-raising public service document. The products ranged from videos to info-graphics, radio appearances, and websites.
2. Research: as our first introduction to online research, students were both presented with and found their ownsources of factual information on the scope of food insecurity in the US and abroad. They began an exploration of different ways of working with sources (quote, paraphrase, summarize) and learned about citing sources using online tools. Students also practiced crafting online search strings and began breaking down largescale questions about food insecurity into small, researchable questions. Reading: students evaluated letters to the editor for the types of evidence used and rhetorical strategies incorporated. They examined various data sets and evaluated them for relevance and authenticity. Communication: students wrote 4 drafts of their letters to the editor. They learned about critique and feedback as they worked with their peers to improve their letters. They focused on incorporating evidence and using the tools of persuasion to ask for more newspaper coverage.

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4. Assessment: What was the final assessment of student achievement of skills? If possible, show or give a brief summary of sample low- and high-level student work. 1. For the domestic/letter to the editor phase, student letters were evaluated according to a rubric/checklist generated with student input, created after looking at model letters. The categories for evaluation included persuasive techniques, inclusion of facts, structure, and mechanics. Students also turned in a final bibliography that demonstrated their use of a variety of authentic sources. 2. For the global phase, student group projects were evaluated based on a similar checklist. Projects were more varied, and so the rubric was mostly focused on the inclusion of facts, the creativity of their presentation, and the polish and craftsmanship demonstrated in the final product. 5. Reflection: What do you like about this project, what concerns you about this project, how would you like to alter it in the future, etc.?

1. I like how the project took students outside of their normal lives and asked them to consider how young people in their own communities of different classes experience something as basic as food/eating. I also like that it incorporated elements of advocacy and activism, in that students put themselves and their names in a public forum as they stood behind an issue. I also like that the project encouraged students to learn core research and reading skills, and to put that research to good use through a vivid, authentic type of communication. 2. I am concerned that students did not do enough research. I think their research was a bit "thin" at times (mostly on the low end, high-end students did great research). I am also concerned that simply writing a letter to the editor is not enough "action"; I worry that it is too "polite." I also worry that the global phase is too abstract and disconnected; students were certainly interested and learned a significant amount of geographic and other information as part of that phase, but it also felt very far from home. I am not sure the public-service/awareness-raising campaign is the most effective final product for students to display their learning. 3. I would like to beef up the breadth and depth of the research students do in both phases of the project. It also makes good sense to include more of a socialscientific approach to the topic, both through the Cultural Categories used in English as well as a simple discussion of the topic through the lenses of economics, sociology, psychology, and geography. I would like to do a mapping component to the project as well, and that could be a great way for students to do some more social-scientific work that still feels creative, productive, and authentic for them.