- Teacher acknowledges the productivity of the class.

- Class rereads and discusses each position.

- Teacher reads bullet points written by each position group and asks group members to explain.

- Teacher acknowledges the difficulty of selecting a single position.

- Teacher praises the effective use of target words on some posters.

 

 

[clip length—12:44]

TEACHER:  Alright, you guys, really nice work. I was privileged enough to be in on a few really great discussions about your ideas. I loved hearing you use words like, “I agree with this because…” or, “I think this is a strong argument because…” Are you finished? Nice work. Okay? So thank you for participating and for your efforts and for sharing your opinions with one another. Let’s see. So it looks like position number three and position number four were the most popular, because they had to have more than one group, although we have all positions represented, which is great. Who would like to read for us, out loud, position number one? Not what was written by the group, but what the actual position is? Okay, will you please read position number one?

STUDENT:  Three, was it?

TEACHER:  Right here.

STUDENT:  Parents have the most control over children, so they are the ones who decide what food to buy and what their children should do outside of school.

TEACHER:  Okay. So from our list that we created before—and this is a combination of your list and some of the other classes’ list, the different ideas that you guys came up with about who’s responsible for children’s health—position number one says who?

STUDENTS:  Parents.

TEACHER:  Parents. Parents are responsible, okay? And here are the positions written by Paul, Hugo, Jose and CJ’s group, about why they support position number one. “I support position number one because they have the money.” Paul, can you explain this to us? Who’s they? When you’re talking about they, who’s they?

STUDENT:  The parents.

TEACHER:  Okay. So the parents have the money to do what?

STUDENT:  Buy you— give you stuff.

TEACHER:  Parents have the money to do what?

TEACHER:  To buy the food that you eat, right? Okay, good. Excellent. A lot of the times, the students don’t have the money to buy the food for themselves. The parents have to pay for it. Okay? “I agree with position number one, because they are our parents and they buy the food.” Okay. Very similar idea to what Paul wrote. Next. “I agree with position one because when we go to the store, we are with parents. But I partly agree with position three, because we are at school until five-thirty, p.m.” Okay, so this position here… Like I said, I know, Jose, that it’s hard to stick to one position, ’cause sometimes they look like they overlap. Do you know that position number four puts it in the hands of both parents and schools? So maybe—and I’m not saying you have to do this—but maybe, because you have a little bit of it’s the school’s responsibility, a little of the parents’ responsibility, in your opinion, you might wanna consider this position when you choose to write your persuasive essay. It might be easier for you, since you kind of agree with both, right? And that’s why we have a position that represents both. But the argument that supports position one here is that you go with your parents to the store, but they’re the ones, again, who buy the food. So a lot of you, it seems like, the majority of you, your argument was that since your parents buy the food, they’re the ones who should control what it is you eat, and decide what’s best for you. Okay? You don’t have to agree with it, but that’s what their position number one, that’s how they’re supporting it. Okay, position number two, who would like to read? Thank you.

STUDENT:  Schools have the most power to prevent many health problems. They should serve healthier food and make sure all students get exercise every day.

TEACHER:  Okay. So this position is saying it’s whose responsibility?

STUDENTS:  The school.

TEACHER:  The school’s responsibility, okay? And this is Karina, Juan and Linda’s group. And they wrote, “The school should try to influence us to eat healthier and exercise more because it’s the place where we spend most of our time. And when we are at home, the primary reason we don’t eat healthy—” Note the vocabulary word primary. “The primary reason we don’t eat healthy is because we are influenced by the media and advertisements that are put out in the open about unhealthy food.” I recognize Karina’s fancy sentence from he did sentences yesterday. Very nice. And nice use of the word primary. What does primary mean again?

STUDENT:  First.

STUDENT:  Most important.

TEACHER:  The first, the most important reason. So the first reason, the most important reason why we don’t eat healthy is because we’re influenced by the media. Raise your hand if you watch a commercial for pizza or fast food and it makes your mouth water and you get hungry. Mm-hm. Yeah, the media that on purpose. They want us to buy their food. And a lotta times, unfortunately, the food that’s advertised on television is not the healthiest food. Okay? Alright. Nice. Let’s read the next one. “The schools should offer children healthy food, because they need energy to be able to do their school work.” Okay, so there’s another argument for why the schools should be responsible. You know, we’ve told you a million times how much better you do in school when you have healthy food in your stomach. That’s why when we do our state testing, we provide you with healthy snacks, to keep your brain fueled and your body fueled, so you can really think well. That’s an excellent argument, as well. Position number three. Who would like to read out loud position number three? Alright, Shakayla.

STUDENT:  The school should not invade students’ privacy by telling them what to eat or how much to exercise. These choices should be up to the individual student.

TEACHER:  Okay. So this is saying now, the responsibility is whose?

STUDENTS:  Ours. Students.

TEACHER:  Your own, or the students, okay?

STUDENT:  Yourself.

TEACHER:  So— the self, mm-hm. The kids— it’s the kids’ responsibility. We’ve got two groups that supported this one. Okay? That meant it was pretty popular. Sam and Mauricio. “I think that students’ choices are their own choices, so no one should interfere in his or her life,” or in their lives. Okay? Students make their own choices. Next one. “Kids need to make their own choices so they can learn from the bad ones and use the good ones.” Okay. Raise your hand if you’ve ever made a bad choice and realized the right way to do things, and learned from it.

STUDENT:  Oh, yeah.

TEACHER:  It doesn’t stop when you grow up, trust me. Okay? Good. So sometimes making a bad choice is not necessarily a bad thing, if you learn from it. I like that point a lot. “School is supposed to teach the student, not tell him or her what to do.” Interesting. So the— but what you’re saying here, it sounds like, is the school should give students the information, and that it’s their job to make the…

STUDENT:  Right decision.

TEACHER:  The right decision. Okay? Or whatever the decision is that they choose. Whether or not it’s right or wrong, it’s up to them.

STUDENT:  [inaudible]

TEACHER:  Yeah.

STUDENT:  Yeah, but the little kids don’t know and they won’t understand it.

TEACHER:  Okay. So that would be an argument against position three. I remember a lot of what we talked about on Monday and yesterday, when we were talking about the— these issues, is that it kinda depends. When we’re talking about you guys in this classroom, since you’re in middle school, it’s a lot easier to talk about guys making your own choices. Because you’re a lot more mature, you’re a lot more capable, Jose, of making your own choices, right? But if we’re talking about seven-year-olds over on the primary side, it’s a different story, right? If they could, they’d eat cookies and cake and ice cream all day. Right? Alright.

STUDENT:  Lucky.

TEACHER:  [laughs] Yeah, right? Okay, next. “Kids do not have a lot of independence. We should at least let them choose what they eat.” Okay? So it’s an early way to give independence to teenagers, is by letting them choose how they take care of their health. Interesting. Okay. Let’s look at what Claudia and Vonna’s group, Shakayla and Cecilia had to say. “I agree with this position because students should learn how to take care of their body and their health.” Okay? “I think students should be the ones who want to exercise and eat right.” You gotta wanna do it to really do it. And it’s true about dieting, for sure. And exercising, if you wanna take your exercising to the next level, outside of, like, P.E., you’ve gotta want to for it to really happen. Good. “If someone tells a student that they’re overweight,” obese, “they will feel bad.” Okay, you definitely don’t wanna be trying to get students to eat right by telling them they’re obese or overweight. That’s not a good way to motivate people. Okay? That’s a nice point. And finally, “Kids should be able to eat what they want, but they can also restrict foods.” Okay, they can restrict themselves or stop themselves from eating certain types of foods. Right? Is that what you meant there? Good. Anybody wanna comment or question on any of those? Alright, Eric, would you like to read position four for us? Okay.

STUDENT:  Parents can do the job but, um, parents need the school to support them through good food choices and information about students’ health.

TEACHER:  Okay, good. So who’s responsibility does this position say it is?

STUDENTS:  Parents and schools.

TEACHER:  Parents and schools. And up here, we’ve got that. We actually have parents, schools and kids together. Okay? Good. Let’s see what some of our groups wrote. This group is Nancy, Eric, Issaman, and Melanie. “I support this position because the parents are not going to follow us to school and make us— us eat right. So they need to support— they need the school,” excuse me, “to help and support them.” Good, that’s true. I bet your parents wish they could follow you around all day to make sure you’re okay, [students laugh] but they can’t. And I don’t know if you’d like that, right?

STUDENTS:  No.

TEACHER:  No. “The school supports the parents by making sure the kids exercise and stay fit during school.” Okay? “The schools restrict us from bringing— bringing—junk food on campus.” Okay? Junk food on campus. And we do. There are restrictions here at this school as to what you can and can’t have. Specifically ’cause we are trying to help. “Some kids in school are obese. And so now the schools and parents are trying to prevent obesity.” Again, I like your guys’ attempts and use of our vocabulary words. Okay? Nice. Next group is Estephania, BJ and Lex. “It helps the students feel more encouraged with the support of both parents and schools.” Nice, Estephania. It’s definitely  nice to have support on both ends. And I feel that way not just about nutrition and health, but also about your studies in general. If you feel like your parents are supporting you to do well in school and your teachers are supporting you to do well, you’re gonna do better than if you feel like you’re not getting support on both sides. So that’s a great point. “The schools have the most power because the students are at school more than home.” It’s another excellent point. I was talking to this group about a statistic that I read that in this day and age, especially in communities where parents work as much as your parents work, you spend more time with me and the staff at this school than you spend with your parents, on a pretty regular basis. Throughout the school year. That’s not to say in the summer and the holidays, et cetera. But during the week, I see you more than Mom and Dad. Okay? So we do have a responsibility to share the taking care of and the health of our— our kids, our students. Last but not least. “I agree with position four because our parents can’t do it by themselves because they don’t know what the schools give us.” Okay? Now, you guys are here, especially you guys, because you’re here for an extended day. You have breakfast, snack and lunch here.

STUDENT:  But we don’t always eat it.

TEACHER:  Okay? You don’t always eat it, but we have you for two very important meals of your day and a snack time. Okay? So since we are providing those meals, this is a really good point, as well. Is there anything that anybody wants to question or add, regarding these positions?

 

Instructions from Teacher Guide

Teacher-created position posters:

Student-created posters:

Also:

BJ's notes

Claudia's notes

Joel's notes

Nancy's notes