This past summer I went on a brigade to New Orleans where we conducted several workshops surrounding the idea of food justice. We tackled the lessons by first showing our participants either Food Inc., like we watched in class, or a a newer film called FRESH (http://www.freshthemovie.com/). When watching Food Inc. in class, our teacher constantly paused the film to ask us questions that would further our thinking, which I think helped my understanding of what was going on. My first viewing of Food Inc. had a large impact on me- it made me more concsious of my food intake, and eventually I became a vegetarian. But, some people's understanding of eating healthy isn't so strong, and I realized that I still ate at certain fast food restaurants (excluding McDonalds- I had banned it from my diet months before). My teacher assigned the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser to us not too long ago, and my initial reaction, before reading the book, was that I already knew everything I needed to know. After the first chapter, I realized that there was so much that I hadn't known about- and constantly writing blogs about what I had learned helped increase the amount that I understood. After watching Food Inc. for my first time, I paid attention to select pieces that stood out to me, but by demanding to know what I understood about the book, I got so much more out of Fast Food Nation than my first few viewings of Food Inc. When watching Food Inc. a second time, I tried to focus on every detail that I might have missed the first time, and I was able to gain so much more knowledge, but at the same time, try and critique the directors propaganda.
Naima,
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm and larger awareness make your posts fun to read.
But the lack of attention to the instructions means not only frustration for the teacher, but often a lack of depth in your work. In this post, for instance, I had asked you to compare the book (and the larger experience of text exploration) with the movie (and the larger experience of consuming video). You didn't touch that.
Similarly, in your often interesting chapter responses you haven't demonstrated the ability to write a thesis, which was one of the main skills I'm hoping you'll learn this semester.
To improve - follow the instructions. I put thought into making assignments in such a way that you get 'added value' from carrying them out, other than just "talking about" a topic.