Making Students Better IN and OUT of the Classroom

The opening chapter of Subjects Matter describes a school assignment related to fast food. This assignment reveals how engaging school can be when it appeal’s to the students interests and captures their attention.  When students are intrigued, or shocked, by information, they are compelled to learn more about it. So often, students lose interest in school because the subject material has NO relevance in their life or their interests.  The teachers at BPHS chose a subject that was both relevant to the lives of their students, and also academic in nature

This school project crossed content area lines and combined ELA (students had to read Fast Food Nation), Science (students also learned about health effects that fast food has on its consumers) as well as critical thinking skills that are helpful across all subject areas.  Reading primary articles and documents is a skill often taught in History/Social Studies classes; however reading about McDonald's is probably more interesting to a teenage student than primary documents from the Civil War era-- both are utilizing the same skill.      

Proficient literacy is vital to the success of any person who hopes to be a functioning member of society.  Through the fast food project, students were able to practice their literacy skills as well as critical thinking skills which allowed them to advocate for something that they found interesting.  This is a prime example of how literate students are probably more likely to go on to be valuable members of society-- they have a higher potential of being changemakers compared to those people who may be illiterate or who did not learn the importance of literacy at a younger age.  Literacy across content areas is necessary not only just in a classroom setting, but in students’ future careers, and in everyday life.     

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