Describe qualities of effective community organizing local community.

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1 SCHOOL LUNCHES: WHAT S THE ALTERNATIVE? SOCIAL JUSTICE & SERVICE LEARNING: LESSON 11 Quick Reference Abstract: Students warm up responding to a prompt that encourages them to think creatively about possible changes in school lunch. During the mini lesson, students learn about creative ways that Jamie Oliver and Michelle Obama have taught parents, teens, and children about healthy eating. During the workshop, students match creative solutions to food justice problems. Students close by prioritizing which program changes are most important in creating healthy lunches at their school. CCSS: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL C SEL IL State Standards: Students Will Be Able To: 3C.4b. Plan, implement, and evaluate one s participation in a group effort to contribute to one s Describe qualities of effective community organizing local community. Connect a specific issue with an action that can effectively impact the issue Essential Question: How do community members affect positive change? Materials: Preparation: Speakers, computer with Internet, projector Ensure the projector, speakers, and the following Post Its (1/student) website is functioning: Sample T-Chart Teacher s Edition o School Lunch Visionaries (1/pair) Write the following prompt on the board: If I were in charge of school lunch there would be Warm Up Mini Lesson Step-by-Step Procedures If I Were In Charge of School Lunch. 1) Share the objective of the lesson with students (see SWBATS above). Ask students if they need clarification. 2) Distribute Post Its and explain: In our last session, we viewed a lecture by Jamie Oliver about the dangers of unhealthy diets in America and rated the food we eat here at school. Today, we ll look at ways Jamie Oliver, Michelle Obama, and many others are working to improve student lunches and the overall health of young people. To warm up, consider what you would do to improve our lunches. On the board I ve written a prompt. On your Post It, finish the sentence in as much detail as you can. Any questions? 3) Invite students to share their responses. Organizing Food Revolutions 1) Explain: Let s compare and contrast two videos to learn more about the strategies community organizers use to influence others. First let s recall yesterday s video, Jamie Oliver s TED Prize Wish: Teach Every Child about Food. Next we will watch a different approach organized by another leader of this revolution, Michelle Obama. 2) Draw a t-chart on the board or a poster. Label the left side Jamie Oliver and the right side Michelle Obama. 3) Facilitate a discussion using some or all of the questions below. Jot student 42 Min 5 Min 15 Min

2 Workshop Closing answers throughout the discussion. The objective of this discussion is to recall and study Oliver s approach as a community organizer. Who was Jamie Oliver s audience? Who was he hoping to influence the most? What strategies did he use to persuade people? What issue was he trying to address with this strategy? How else would you describe Jamie Oliver s approach? What outcome was he hoping would result from this strategy? 4) Explain: Now let s watch how Michelle Obama approached community organizing to promote her passion, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Afterward we will debrief using similar questions along with some comparative questions. 5) Play Elmo Visits the White House Kitchen created following President Barack Obama's signing of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (2:28): 6) Facilitate a discussion using the questions below. Jot student answers throughout the discussion. The objective of this discussion is to study and compare the strategy in this video with Oliver s. Who was Michelle Obama s audience? Who was she hoping to influence the most? What strategies were used to influence others? Why was Elmo hired to say this message? What issue was Michelle Obama trying to address? What outcome is she hoping will result from this message? Whose approach was more effective in addressing this issue? Why/not? What do these community organizers teach us about ways to bring awareness to the issue of unhealthy food in our school? 7) Explain: Both strategies can be effective for different reasons. Let s see how others are causing change in Chicago and beyond. What s the Alternative? 1) Explain: In our last session, we assessed how healthy our school lunch is based on our understanding of nutritional principles. We realized that while there are some healthy options, the food in our school reflects much of American educational food it could and should be much healthier. Today, we ll consider ways students, teachers, and health advocates are changing school lunch for the better in Chicago and across the country. 2) Break students into pairs, distribute School Lunch Visionaries, and read the directions. 3) Give students 10 minutes to match the solutions with the dilemmas; circulate to help with confusing vocabulary. 4) Invite pairs to share their answers. Facilitator s Note: Below is the answer key: 1. E 2. H 3. C, J 4. E 5. A 6. B 7. F 8. G 9. I 10. D Taking Charge of My Food Choices 1) Explain: Now that we ve examined a number of creative projects that have made school lunches healthier and tastier, it s your turn to choose how you would remake lunch here. Look at the activity you just completed. Circle the 3 approaches 10 Min 2 Min

3 you think are the most effective in improving school lunch in America. We ll use these in our next lesson. Facilitator s Note: You will need student answers for the next lesson. Make sure to collect School Lunch Visionaries.

4 Name: _ SAMPLE T-CHART TEACHER S EDITION Date: While most of the questions used during the mini-lesson are open-ended, use this to cross-check main ideas and increase analysis from your compare and contrast discussion. Remember, the purpose of the activity is to identify and evaluate different strategies used by community organizers to increase awareness and influence policy. Jamie Oliver Used photographs of Americans who will die young from obesity Story of a young woman whose father and uncle died in her arms from obesity Pastor tired of burying people Showed size of obese coffins Stacking meals on a mother s table Video of kids not knowing how to identify any vegetables Wheelbarrow of sugar to illustrate how much sugar is in the milk we give to kids at school Used a passionate, angry tone to demand justice Michelle Obama Used Elmo from Sesame Street Took place in the White House, a symbol of justice Created to appeal to a much younger audience The main idea was don t worry, your lunch will be healthy which implies that kids should also want healthy food Showed desirable examples of healthy food If Elmo thinks it looks good, kids may also like it or at least see it as normal not gross Used a humorous, light-hearted tone

5 Names: SCHOOL LUNCH VISIONARIES Directions: Students, teachers, and activists around the country have made school lunches healthier and tastier by using the ideas below. With your partner, read and match each solution with the school lunch health dilemma it solves (write the number of the best solution). *There is one problem that can be solved by 2 of the solutions below. Date: 1) School lunches use recipes tested by students 2) School-wide healthy cooking contest 3) Cooking classes that emphasize nutrition and ease 4) Lunch menus are developed by students and school officials together 5) Local farm and farmers market tours for students 6) Student nutrition classes 7) Student greenhouse and/or gardens to grow veggies 8) High school cafeteria has a fully working kitchen to cook in 9) More money to spend per student on lunch 10) Food for lunches grown locally and organically A. One hundred years ago, our families knew where and how our food grew. Now, living in the city and getting food from all over the world, we are disconnected from our foods. Touring local urban and family farms allows us to understand how our food grows and appreciate all the hard work that goes into growing it. This issue can be solved by: B. There are so many different foods to choose from and much of our food is processed in complex ways, making it hard to know what s best to eat. When students learn about ways in which food affects their bodies, they are more likely to choose healthy food. This issue can be solved by: C. When everything we eat is pre-made or prepackaged, we don t even know how to cook nutritious, flavorful meals. Teaching students how to cook gives them the power to make their own meals to their liking and know every ingredient that they put into a recipe. It also makes eating more fun! This issue can be solved by: D. Food is shipped thousands of miles to reach school cafeterias. This means preservatives have to be added so that it doesn t spoil. Buying food closer to home would mean that food is fresher and we d be supporting local, small urban and family farms. This issue can be solved by:

6 E. If students are invested in creating their healthy food options, they will choose foods that they like to eat. When students are not involved in creating the menu, adults may choose healthy foods that teens will not like or eat. This issue can be solved by: F. Because we live in the city, it s hard to be knowledgeable about how and where our food is grown. When students have their own gardens, they can take pride in growing their own food. We can also grow it organically, without the use of pesticides, to be sure we aren t eating any poisonous chemicals. This issue can be solved by: and G. Right now, all most schools can do is heat food up that s already been made somewhere else because they don t have a working kitchen with an oven, stove, and workspace that would allow people to make home cooked meals in the school. A fully working kitchen would allow for meals that are fresher and tastier. This issue can be solved by: H. An element of competition could help students to think creatively about ways to make healthy meals taste great, but there s no cooking team. This issue can be solved by: I. Today schools have $1.00 to spend per student per lunch. By raising it to $2-3, schools could buy more nutritious food. This issue can be solved by: J. For the first time in history, researchers have found that Americans are spending more at restaurants than at grocery stores. Restaurants tend to have foods that are higher in sodium, sugars and fats than those prepared at home; however, Americans have noted that they like the convenience. This issue can be solved by: