By Matthew Bassett
Part 2 of 2
I like having an activity for the students to complete while watching the movie Super Size Me. This is why it takes me a few extra days to get through the video. It also allows me to actually get the students thinking about their eating choices instead of tuning out the video.
I usually have the students watch the first part of the video and stop the video when Morgan is starting his first meal at McDonalds. This gives the students the background to the experiment and also allows them to see the three visits to the doctors. I ask the students to predict what they think will happen to Morgan during the next thirty days as their first assignment.
Another activity is to have the students make a menu of some of the meals that Morgan is eating. During Morgan’s first meal, I have the students write down the items he has chosen to eat. I then pass out a nutritional guide for McDonalds and ask the students to write down the number of calories for each item. This gives me time to discuss what a calorie is and how many calories an average person should eat in a given day. I do the same assignment during the rest of the video and also focus on other nutritional information such as sodium or fat content.
Another extension activity can follow the menus. Have students write a list of physical activities that equal the amount of calories that are consumed in the meal. This allows the students to integrate some math skills into physical education. They will also get an understanding that it takes a while to burn 100 calories and not just five minutes of work.
An activity to complete at the end of the video is for the students to write down five different things that happened to Morgan’s body while eating at McDonalds. The video lists 11 things that happened to Morgan as a result of eating out for the 30 days. These items range from medical information to personal feelings that Morgan was having. It allows students to understand that the type of food that you eat can have a negative impact on your health and also with your mood and behavior. I always ask the students their thoughts on eating McDonalds after watching the video.
I usually ask the students if they were to choose another fast food restaurant if the results would be any different than eating at McDonalds. I was amazed that a lot of my students actually thought it would make a difference. I had more than one student point out the Jared commercials for Subway and said that the food was always healthy. It got me thinking about how I could make a connection that any fast food is really not that good for you, even Subway. I started by downloading nutritional information directly from the Web sites of some of our local restaurants and fast food restaurants. The students were asked to make different meal choices as if they were going to eat at a specific location that night. The students were then asked to find some of the nutritional information for those choices. The goal is for the students to see that the choices at these places are not always healthy.
Another continuation with this lesson is to replace one of the menu items on the menu with something healthier. Maybe it means changing the salad dressing, changing the size of the item or finding a healthier option on the menu. The goal is to help students make better choices and to look for healthier options while eating out. These concepts can be added to the Dairy Council of California’s curriculum for middle school students. They strive for students to understand correct proportions and to try and avoid over eating. The nice part about the Diary Council’s curriculum is that it is free!
Another addition that I have made this year is to purchase the regular DVD of “Super Size Me.” This video comes with some bonus features that are appropriate for the students. The regular version of the DVD is not appropriate for our students since it does have inappropriate language and it also has some scenes that are inappropriate for our students. The bonus feature called “The Smoking Fry” is on the regular DVD and can also be found on YouTube. This bonus feature shows Morgan placing different McDonald’s foods into glass jars. They show how the food decomposes every few days. It’s amazing how long it takes for some of the food to finally start to break down. This is a great time to discuss with the students about the added things that are placed in fast foods to keep them fresh. These additives may not be very good for you in the long run.
Tags: instructional video, Morgan Spurlock, PE video, Super Size Me