This page includes links to and descriptions of the various pedagogical tools that I have developed for the documentary review and analysis project in the Food, Culture, and Society course.

Before assigning the project, I used in-class assessment tool to assess whether students had seen particular films, and also to quickly gauge their comfort with technological tools like WordPress. I used this assessment to pair students for the project, linking students who hadn’t seen the assigned film, and who may have complimentary skill sets that were identified both on this tool, and throughout my first 4 weeks of experience with them in class.

I then had them complete an in-class task linked to the topic of food and health advertisements so that they could gain competency in posting to WordPress. They used the instructions for the documentary project to help them make the post, as well as a few key prompts about health issues, food advertisement, and their perceptions of the links between them. Each student was charged with finding two examples of how the rhetoric around health shows up in a food advertisement. Then they posted to WordPress, using the following instructions:

• Follow the instructions on the Documentary project to create a new WordPress post with your partner
• In that post, please address the following:
  • • What, in your opinion, are the current important health issues that are directly related to food. Specifically, what are they, and why are they so important in today’s society?
    • How, in your opinion, does food impact these problems?
    • What, in your opinion, are the key components to a healthy diet?
    • From a health perspective, what is “good” food? What is “bad” food? Use some examples.
    • What advertisements did you select for today’s assignment? Link to them or upload them.
    • Are your selected advertisements effective in addressing the key health issues you mentioned above? Why or why not?
    • You must include 1 “Featured image,” and 2 other images embedded in your post – and cite them correctly

I used this project description and WordPress / citation instructions document to help them understand what would be expected in the project.

I also gave them access to the project rubric so they knew exactly how they’d be graded.

These projects can all be found by searching the “Documentary Review” tag on this website. I hope you enjoy it!