Fast Food In a Fat City:

The Obesity Problem in NYC

Mr. Frankel’s Webquest

George Westinghouse HS

Mfrankel2@schools.nyc.gov

Introduction:

Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation gives new meaning to the old saying, “You are what you eat.” Since the dawn of the fast food industry in the 1950’s patriotic Americans have been scarfing down Happy Meals, Big Macs, Double Pounders with Cheese, Supersize Fries, and Big Gulp Pepsi Colas. As a result, we’ve become a proud nation of toxic, lethargic, overstuffed cows.

Fast food may be tasty, it may be convenient, it may be cheap, but it isn’t healthy. The bottom line for multinational fast food corporations like McDonalds is profit--their goal is to make money. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? But what are the hidden costs of America’s love of fast food, especially for teenagers in the Bronx?

You have been assigned to a taskforce to raise public awareness at George Westinghouse High School about the myriad health risks of a fast food diet. You will us your rhetorical expertise and research skills not only to persuade target audiences of the existence of this health crisis but to propose feasible and effective policies to improve the overall health of young people in the Brooklyn.

Task:

Public Awareness Campaign (PAC)—your team will produce a multimedia Public Awareness Campaign to raise awareness at George Westinghouse HS and within the Brooklyn community of the health risks of a fast food diet and propose and effective solutions to alleviate the problem. Your PAC will include:

a poster, a one-page informational leaflet, and a 10 page power point presentation.

Process:

1. You will be assigned to teams of four or five; each teammate will be responsible for a fair share of the work and will be graded equally for the quality of the PAC. You may wish to discuss possible roles and responsibilities at the outset of the project, such as Project Manager, Lead Writer(s); Researcher(s), Copy Editor(s), Artist(s), etc.

2. You will use the various steps of the Public Policy Analyst worksheets to do the following:

i. Define the Problem and Worksheet #1

ii. Gather Evidence and Worksheet #2

iii. Identify Causes and Worksheet#3

iv. Evaluate Existing Public Policies and Worksheet #4

v. Develop Your Own Solutions and Worksheet #5

vi. Choose the Best Solution(s) and Worksheet #6

NOTE: Steps ii, iii, and iv of the PPA worksheets will require extensive and varied research, and should not be limited to internet research; steps v, and vi require original and collaborative thinking on the part of all team members. Again, all team members are responsible for the quality of the research and the responses for these worksheets—this is a collaborative project!

3. You will use the information from the PPA worksheets to produce the three components of your PAC (poster, leaflet, and powerpoint); in addition to the above descriptions, your PAC should do the following:

-address a specific audience

-appeal to your audience’s, values, interests, and emotions

-establish a credible ethos appropriate to your subject and audience

-support claims with logical arguments and convincing evidence

-be thoroughly edited, proofread, and entirely free of spelling errors

4. PACs will be assessed using the rubric below.

5. Final PACs will be presented and distributed to target audiences at George Westinghouse HS and/or at selected sites throughout the Brooklyn Community.

Resources:

Some Search Engines

Some Websites

Evaluation (see rubric)

		Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Ideas/organization (Logos)	Extremely superficial knowledge or confused articulation of the problem and related issues; extremely uneven, illogical sequence of ideas		Superficial knowledge or confused articulation of the problem and related issues; uneven logic and/or sequence of ideas	Solid knowledge and detailed articulation of the problem and related issues; intelligent, logical sequence of ideas	In depth knowledge and clear articulation of the problem and related issues; intelligent, logical, and engaging sequence of ideas
Research/evidence		Poor research; evidence irrelevant and lacking in detail. Did nt use PPA	Inadequate research; evidence may be irrelevant or lacking in detail. Only minor reference to PPA	Solid research from a variety of sources; relevant and detailed evidence supporting claims using PPA	Thorough and thoughtful research from a variety of sources; relevant, detailed, and illuminating evidence supporting claims using PPA
Ethos		Fails to establish credible ethos; inappropriate to audience and/or subject	Establishes ethos but may be inconsistent or occasionally inappropriate to audience and/or subject	Establishes credible, trustworthy ethos appropriate to target audience and subject	Establishes compelling, credible, and trustworthy ethos appropriate to target audience and subject
Pathos		Fails to appeal to specific audience’s emotions, values, and concerns to achieve rhetorical purposes	Insufficient or inconsistent appeals to audience’s emotions, values, and concerns to achieve rhetorical purposes	Appeals to specific audience’s emotions, values, and concerns to achieve rhetorical purposes	Successfully appeals to specific audience’s emotions, values, and concerns to achieve desired rhetorical purposes
Editing/Presentation		MLA format seriously inconsistent; immature and ineffective writing; lapses in conventions, grammar, and spelling hinder under-standing	MLA format inconsistent; lapses in conventions, grammar, and spelling occasionally hinder under-standing	MLA format; writing is mature and effective; occasional lapses in conventions, grammar and spelling do not hinder under-standing	MLA format; writing is mature, effective, and grammatical; mastery of conventions and free of spelling errors

Conclusion:

Upon completing this project you and your teammates will have examined a national (and increasingly global) social problem and how it affects young people right here in the Brooklyn. You will have exercised your higher level thinking skills by exploring the causes of this problem and developing feasible and effective solutions for the good of our community. Moreover, you will have practiced your rhetorical skills by producing an engaging and persuasive multimedia Public Awareness Campaign that will encourage young people in the Brooklyn live healthier, if not happier, lives.

Common Core Standards

At the end of this assignment students will have performed the following standards.

· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to important distinctions the author makes and to any gaps or inconsistencies in the account.

· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.3 Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks; analyze the specific results based on explanations in the text.

· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

· CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.