Lesson 8

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “Nourish Food System Map,” Nourish, WorldLink, 2014

Materials

Tools

• Global Food Production: Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Vocabulary Journal

Question Sets

• Global Food Production: Section 2 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Global Food Production: Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Global Food Production: Section 2 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Discuss

In preparation for the Section Diagnostic in the next lesson, we will review the questions and task, then the section 2 materials we might use in developing a response. We will highlight the key issues and possible evidence that relevant texts present.

Step 1

First in review pairs and then as a class, discuss the following questions that guided your homework review:

1. What issues in the food system do the materials highlight?

2. Which issues impact you directly?

3. Which issue are you most passionate about or interested in?

4. How do the issues and ideas connect to the challenges facing the global food system?

In light of the class discussion, reconsider the following question:

1. How can we best feed a growing population using methods that are effective, safe, and sustainable?

This question will be central to your response to the Section 2 Diagnostic.

As a class, discuss various ways of thinking about and responding to this question.

Step 2

Using a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool and key details from the texts you have read related to the practice you are evaluating, form and articulate an evidence-based claim that responds to the task question:

1. In what ways is an agricultural practice either viable or not viable within our food system?

In your claim, remember to address the issues that define viable: effective, safe, and sustainable.

Step 3

Find another student who has written a claim about the same practice as you, but who has taken an opposite position about the viability of the practice. Share, compare, and discuss your opposed claims, being respectful and avoiding direct debate about who is right or wrong.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

To prepare for the Section Diagnostic, we will finalize our perspectives and positions about the viability of an agricultural practice in response to the question “How Can We Best Feed A Growing Population Using Methods That Are Effective, Safe, And Sustainable?”

Step 1

Individually, reread the explanation you wrote for the Section 1 Diagnostic, thinking about how you defined the food system and analyzed a critical challenge to our food system. Notice the areas of strength and improvement in your written response.

Step 2

As a class, list and review the critical challenges you identified in Section 1 and wrote about in the Section 1 Diagnostic. Add any new challenges to the list identified in the Section 2 materials and discussions, especially those presented in “Full Planet, Empty Plate” and “How Does Agriculture Change Our Climate?”

Consider and discuss the following question:

1. How can we address the critical challenges to the global food system and best feed a growing population using methods that are effective, safe, and sustainable?

This question will be at the center of your response to the Section 2 Diagnostic, in which you will analyze a particular agricultural practice and explain whether or not it is viable and why.

In light of this question and the previously identified challenges to the global food system, review and list the various agricultural practices that have been discussed and debated, including the following:

• practices of the Green Revolution

  • use of chemical fertilizers

  • mechanization in agricultural techniques

  • developments in irrigation

• industrial agriculture

  • organic farming

  • genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

• other practices you have thought of or that have been identified in class

Step 3

Make a final decision about a particular practice you want to address within the context of an increasing population and other challenges to the global food system. Considering the ways in which that practice seems to be effective, safe, and sustainable, determine your final position on whether or not it is viable.

For each of the four characteristics (effective, safe, sustainable, viable), make a list of what you currently understand about your practice.

For each understanding you list, identify texts from this section of the unit you can reference as you explain your position and claim about your practice’s viability.

Activity 3: Read

We will develop a final organizational plan for a claim we have formed and the explanation we will write about whether or not a particular agricultural practice is a viable response to the challenges of feeding an increasing population.

Step 1

For the Section Diagnostic, you will be identifying and evaluating an agricultural practice you studied in this section, taking a position about whether it is viable, then explaining and supporting your position. You will be developing the foundation for an argument about your practice.

To help you organize and plan the explanation you will write, you can use a Delineating Arguments Tool, the same tool you have used to analyze arguments you have read.

At the top of the tool, begin by writing the question (or issue) you are addressing in the task:

• In what ways is [the agricultural practice you are evaluating] either viable or not viable within our food system?

Summarize your perspective on this question and then record the evidence-based claim you have written about your chosen practice and its viability in the Position section of the tool.

Step 2

Based on your reading and analysis about the practice you have chosen, write three claims that address the factors that contribute to whether it is or is not viable:

• A claim about why the practice is or is not effective as a way to feed a growing population

• A claim about why the practice is or is not safe in terms of peoles’ health and the environment

• A claim about why the practice is or is not sustainable, considering factors involving the economic, environmental, and social parts of the food system

For each claim, list the evidence you previously gathered from at least two texts from the unit, which you will cite and explain in your Section Diagnostic response.

You do not need to identify or respond to a counterargument for this task.

Step 3

Follow along as your teacher reviews the ways you can quote or paraphrase and cite evidence within your written response.

Activity 4: Write

For homework, we will use the Delineating Arguments Tool we have developed to plan our argument in response to the task questions.

For homework, use the Delineating Arguments Tool you have developed to do final planning of the explanation you will write about your chosen practice and whether it is a viable response to the challenges of feeding a growing population.

Think about perspectives and positions that might oppose yours (considering the various arguments you have read), and draft a counterclaim in the bottom section of the tool.

Review the unit’s materials and the notes you have taken, looking again for evidence you can cite in support of your position and claims. Write down notes from two of these sources.

Review and think about applicable terms from your Vocabulary Journal that you can use in your writing.

Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one writing model and technique that you want to use when writing your response to the Section Diagnostic.

Prepare to write an explanation of your position during the next lesson’s in-class writing assessment. You will be able to use your notes and the draft tool you have developed.

As a final step in your preparation, reread your Section Diagnostic from Section 1, noting comments and evaluations your teacher has made. Identify one area you want to improve on when writing your Section 2 Diagnostic.