Read on Twitter
The next text we’re going to study in 10th grade’s food, culture and identity unit is this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/katarapiujuq/status/1313673898609774599
Reading skills: All students likely have some frame of reference for what the foods in this thread cost. Asking them to ballpark what a bag of salad costs, or a head of cauliflower will activate their background knowledge. Then they click through and see the cost in the Arctic.
Now they can ask questions : why is it so expensive? What could account for the massive disparity in cost? How does that impact people who live in the Arctic? And: what is the writer’s purpose for sharing this? What text features can they look at to determine the purpose?
The final tweets in the thread illuminate this: they’re explaining how hunting for food is not only a traditional facet of Inuit culture, but a necessity based on how much fresh food costs in the Arctic & how many Inuit families live in poverty. It is cultural identity AND need.
In what ways might we project our cultural values onto others with regards to food - consumption, preparation, etc. In what ways is that insensitive and dishonorable to their culture and identity? (Our action EQ is “How do we honor someone’s cultural identity?”).
@CodyMillerELA is a big proponent of teaching Twitter threads as a genre and this is an example of why: the thread is well written AND effective. Students can analyze why- what techniques made this effective writing? How did the writer achieve their purpose?
This thread can be tied back to our unit essential questions and students can create text/self/world connections with it in addition to using it to reinforce reading skills and as a mentor text for this type of contemporary genre of thread-writing.
I’m gonna catch flak because like 3 days ago I talked about ways we can teach writing besides essay but I’ll say again we can teach essay and -beyond- essay. For most people, essay writing after school isn’t super relevant. Communicating effectively w/ thread-writing: moreso.
AND THIS TOO: Indigenous People’s day is Monday. Thanksgiving is next month. To discuss Indigenous people and justice is to include food justice: https://twitter.com/nenagerman/status/1313852864603750400
