Investigating the Issues

The students in Room 210 at Franklin School investigated three issues before deciding on one topic to focus on for their Social Action Project - 1. Child Labor, 2. Immigration and Deportation, 3. Accessibility of Fresh Foods. In order to learn more about each issue we read articles from IndyKids. Each issue the we discussed connected to a current topic that we were discussing in class. In choosing a topic for the Social Action Project, I wanted to make sure that the students had some prior knowledge on each topic.

TOPIC 1: Immigration, Deportation and Child Labor

The first article we read was "The Slaughterhouse Kids". The article discussed a how a meat processing plant in Iowa was hiring minors to work longs hours in a dangerous environment with little compensation and no benefits. As, a result of the kids illegal status they were to be deported to their native country. Before reading the article we brainstormed what is means to be a child. After our brainstorm we concluded that kids are responsible for going to school, homework, learning, cleaning up their room, playing games and spending time with their family. During our reading we stopped to think and discuss if the kids in the article were able to fulfill "kid responsibilities" if they were working 12 to 16 hours a day. One student blurted out What that's CRAZY! How are they supposed do all their stuff? When do they sleep or eat or play?" . Bingo! - this is the reaction I was waiting for! I made sure to note his question on the board because I knew that it was a question I wanted to go back to. After reading this article we discussed two themes, Immigration and Deportation and Child Labor Laws. As a result of this lesson, I found out that many of my students knew about deportation and immigration on a personal level since they and their families were recent immigrants. One student expressed his experience and feelings about his father being deported last year.
The next conversation we had was about the second issue presented in the article - Child Labor.The issue of child labor was completely new to all of my students. In order to really understand what child labor is we referred to our list of what it means to be a kid versus the limited opportunities and restrictions children who were working faced. The students had emotional responses- Emilio - ""No! That's not fair! Why do the kids need to go back? The boss should go to jail... the kids need to go to school." Arianne- "The boss needs to pay the kids for all of their work and pay for their college".
After our conversation, I realized that my students felt an emotional connection to this issue. I wanted to tap into their feelings a deep further but I realized time was running short. So I asked them to do a quick write on their feelings by answering the following question - "After reading the article, "The Slaughterhouse Kids": 1. Do you think it was fair for children to work in meat processing plants 2.What do you think should have happened to the owner of the factory? the kids who worked their?

INSERT STUDENT WORK

After thought: This lesson was extremely long for one sitting, it should really have been two separate lesson. Yet, because I am in a bilingual classroom I had to implement the lesson in one day due to scheduling challenges. I recommend that the lesson be done in two parts, to ensure that students are able to fully understand and gain a deeper grasp of the actual issue at hand. Also, a few weeks later I stumbled upon what happened to the meat processing plant in a follow up article by IndyKids!,

TOPIC 2: Accessibility of Fresh Foods

The second issue that I brought up to the student's attention was meant to target accessibility of fresh foods and student food choice. I noticed that many students in the classroom were eating chips or cookies for breakfast, lunch and snack. I wanted to first present the issue in a way that was not judgmental. I didn't want them to feel bad about their eating habits, because I wanted to get an actual representation of which foods they chose to eat. It was important for me to frame the issue in a neutral light, well as best as I could. We began our investigation by taking a survey of what we like to eat for snacks. We (yes, teacher too!)secretly wrote them down on a slip of paper and put them in a bag. Then, we read aloud the anonymous responses and categorized them into two categories Healthy and Not so Healthy.

Written in English and Spanish.

Overall, 15 votes were for "Not-So-Healthy" snacks while only 2 votes were for "Healthy" snacks. After we voted we read the IndyKids! article, "Fresh Foods or Fast Foods?". This article stated four reasons why some people don't eat enough healthy foods:
1. Low-income areas don’t have as many supermarkets and grocery stores as middle and high-income neighborhoods.
2. Stores in low-income neighborhoods have fewer healthy items and have lower-quality fresh
fruits and vegetables.
3. If they are available, fresh foods in low-income areas are unaffordable.
4. There is a lack of public transportation to supermarkets so people have a hard time getting to them.

The conversation that proceeded this lesson was rich with student opinions and connections to their real-life experiences. Students made real life connections when they stated that many of them took the bus or a taxi to get to a local supermarket. They also had questions about eating healthy. "What are fresh foods? How do we eat healthy? Why do we need to eat healthy? "

After thoughts: Due to the language, this article was challenging to read for my students. What worked really well for me was to project the article on the projector screen and have a shared reading with the students. For next time, I would previously scan the area around the school and map out where students could purchase healthy foods and where supermarkets were located.

Arriving at the Issue

I wasn't sure how to best select the actual issue that we were going to investigate further. Initially I was going to take a class vote, but as we were discussing the three issues before the vote,1. Deportation & Immigration, 2. Child Labor in the United States, 3.Identifying consumption trends of fresh food and causes, the students passionately spoke about wanting to learn more about fresh foods and how they help the body. Even though I already knew that they expressed a deep interest in the topic of foods, we democratically voted on an issue. My predictions were right and they ended up picking the issue on accessibility of fresh foods and their Social Action Project. They were curious to learn more about the relationship their body had with food. I figured this would be the vehicle I would use to get them to first analyze their eating habits, importance of nutrition and then look at the systemic reasons as to why they are eating more or less of certain foods.

I think that learning further about this topic could help them make healthier food choices which is a life skill. In addition, they will gain the experience of identifying an issue and working towards change! Now that the students had finally decided on a topic, it was time for me to start researching information. I am not sure what direction we are going to go, but I feel that once we go through the learning stage I will get a better sense of where students are in their thought process and then identify possible action steps.

May  4, 2012 -

After over a month investigating nutrition and health the students were able to identify a more specific issue within the field of nutrition that they wanted to take action on. After analyzing our food consumption data, taking pictures and observational notes on school meals, and learning about the body/food relationship, the students agreed that they were not eating enough fruits or vegetables. As a result they want a bigger variety of fruits and vegetables within their school meals to choose from. Their action steps will be to work towards increasing the amounts of fruit and vegetable choices they have at school. :)

Vitamins and Minerals

We took learning about nutrients a step further by learning about vitamins and minerals. Students worked in pairs and created a poster for a vitamin or mineral. The poster had three criteria:

1. Name of vitamin or mineral
2. Where it is found (food source- specifically vegetables/fruits)
3. How it helps our body

After they created their poster, they presented in front of their classmates. This was a great way for them to learn more in depth about vitamins and minerals in a way that was creative. Throughout the day I assessed their learning by asking them questions about the vitamin or mineral.

Below are pictures of the students working:

We eat what??? (Connecting Social Action to NJASK Test Prep)

As we were learning about eating health food and nutrients, the students began to record each item they ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. All students were given a "Daily Food Diary" and were asked to log everything they ate for 4 days. At the conclusion of the 4 day period they graphed the information and analyzed it by answering 6 questions. One of the questions on the sheet asked them if their was "Is their a group that you should be consuming, or eating, more of?". All students were able to identify that based on their "Daily Food Diary Bar Graph" they needed to eat more vegetables. They based their answer on their prior knowledge of serving sizes recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.

The following work samples illustrate how students displayed their data on a bar graph and were able to analyze it. Students worked independently to create the Bar Graph and answer the questions after teacher guided practice.

Student Bar Graph Work Sample 1

Student Bar Graph Work Sample 2

Student Bar Graph Work Sample 3

This lesson was designed to be test preparation for the NJASK exam that the third graders will be taking in May. I created the lesson to meet the objectives listed on my grade level curriculum map, which outlined different skills and strategies to review before the exam. 

Curriculum Map Objectives

 Bar Graphs/ Pictographs

• reading and interpreting information
• understanding keys
• word problems/ open ended

Alignment with the Common Core Standards -

Represent and interpret data.

3.MD.3. Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For example, draw a bar graph in which each square in the bar graph might represent 5 pets. 
http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/mathematics/grade-3/measurement-and-data/

Revisiting Our Data

The next step for me was to have students identify class trends. Students in small groups created a bar graph that represented everyone's data in both a bar graph (which students were familiar with) and in a pie chart (students have not been explicitly taught pie charts but, it was a similar format to the ChooseMYPLATE representation of serving sizes). Afterwards, we continued our conversation about our eating trends. During this time we strictly focused on what we were eating as a class. I wanted to shift the mindset  from the individual to the whole. Through conversation and analysis it was becoming apparent that we were not eating enough vegetables, which provide many vitamins. Naturally, my next series of questions were geared towards the reasons why students were not consuming enough vegetables. They came up with three main reasons:

1. Vegetables look and smell gross.
2. They don't taste good.
3. We can't get them at the bodega (corner store)

I quickly, (I think maybe too quickly) jumped into having them identify action steps. I asked them -" What we can do to make sure all kids eat their vegetables to get the vitamins and minerals they need to growth healthy bodies?" Students suggested that we create a cooking show (peer education), songs and advertisements. All of their suggestions were a great start. But, in speaking with my professor, Bree Picower, I realized that I had fallen into the trap! The action steps that my students identified were creating awareness, not addressing the systematic reason why my students were not consuming enough vegetables. Although I still plan to use their ideas throughout the semester, I need to revisit how I pose the problem and how I guide my students to come to a possible solution.

Above: Students working on the whole class Bar Graph. See finished product below.

Below: Students represent information in a pie graph.

 

 

A closer look at school meals...

Once I spoke to my professor, Bree Picower, I felt much better about my next action steps. She suggested that I take pictures of student lunches and use that as my conversation starter.  I started off the discussion by showing the following pictures:

School Breakfast - Friday

School Lunch - Friday

  

School Breakfast- Monday 

School Lunch - Monday

I then asked the students what was missing and the conversation completely took off  ... "No fruits or vegetables!", "No wait there is one, but it looks the same.", "I don't eat it, it is boring." "Always the same food over and over again.", "We always get carrots, or apples or oranges.", "But sometimes they are not fresh. I see them they come in boxes or cans. They are not fresh!". Whew! I didn't expect them so have such powerful reactions. But I have to admit they are right. I wasn't until I started taking pictures that I realized how brown and bland their lunch really is. The only color in their lunch is artificial. After our discussion, I wanted to ask them so badly what our actions steps should be, but I refrained. I have scheduled Ms. W, cafeteria staff, to be a guest speaker. Before we decide on our action steps I want them to interview Ms. W to further investigate where their lunch food comes from. I think that once they are aware of where their food comes from and who gets to choose what they eat, they will be armed with the information they need to then take action.

Above & Below: Students are enjoying a orange for snack during NJASK test prep. 

I have been bringing in different types of fruits and vegetables for them to sample.

Below: Students try peanut butter and celery. They all liked it and went up for seconds and thirds!!! I had one student that was allergic to peanut butter, he was brave enough to try the celery all on its own. He said "it's not that bad. It's crunchy, like a chip but healthier". My goal is to expose my students to a variety of fruits and vegetables on a weekly basis. I am thinking about writing a letter to supermarkets in our area to see if we can get donations.

Their smiles say it all!!!

After thought: Trying to incorporate a Social Action Project during NJASK is extremely challenging. I highly recommend generating a topic at the beginning of the school year and incorporating it into your daily schedule. Currently, I am teaching Social Action once maybe twice a week and I notice that I spend at least 10 minutes reviewing what we did last time. Also, I am feeling the time crunch. The end of the year is approaching and between talent shows, graduations, make up testing, district and grade level trips it's becoming harder to schedule time for this project. But "there is no time like the present".

NJASK is done and long gone..back to work!

So FINALLY NJASK is over, done, finished. Whew! This is the first week back after the test and we are starting it off with a guest! The students will be interviewing Ms. W from our cafeteria staff to ask her questions about food safety, nutrition and most importantly where our lunch comes from. The students are excited to have Mrs. W as a guest. I look forward to her insight as a food service expert for our school. Below are a list of questions we generated in preparation for her visit.

INSERT PICTURE

In addition, we will be visiting the computer lab later on this week to research how we can work towards including more vegetables and fruits in our school meals. The students will be investigating the following sites in groups of 6 and answering short response questions. At the end of the class a representative from each group will present information about their website to the whole class.

Websites: 
http://www.chefsmovetoschools.org/ 

http://saladbars2schools.org/

http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/fn/childadult/fruitandvegetable.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STwSaDFgMWk&lr=1&uid=NnBe12n6q4QT39Fz2y7BPg

 Short Response Questions: 

1.      What does the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program help schools do? What resources can it bring to our school?

2.      Who in our school can we talk to about the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Program?

3.      How will having the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program help students eat more fruits and vegetables?  Would you like to have this program at Franklin School? Why or Why Not?