Article and Socratic Seminar

"Farmer in Chief" by Michael Pollan was quite the lengthy article, but it was all necessary. The article is written directly to the President-Elect. Pollan sets up the article by telling the audience how we got to where we are today, in terms of where our food is made, how it is made, and who it is made by. He also tells the reader specifically how we can change our habits. What I liked most about this article was the solutions he provides. A lot of articles I have read tend to only state the problem at hand and don't provide a solution. On the other hand, Pollan goes into detail and depth with the solutions he presents. After everyone had read the 15 page article, we all had a Socratic Seminar discussing the article and our thoughts about it. It started out with an essential question but, like always, veered off topic and got to how our school should have mandatory P.E. I didn't want to monopolize, but I did share my thoughts on the article and what Pollan was saying. I think the majority of the class liked the articlw, was interested in the topic and really understood where Pollan was coming from and what he was saying; because it was right on. Mr. Pollan was very repetitive when talking about biodiversity on farms and how vital it is to the environment as a whole. Because of the repetition the topic of biodiversity really stuck with me. I had no idea what it was and how important it is. An example of biodiversity on a farm is polycultures instead of monocultures. Meaning growing/raising many things and partake in seasonal rotation of the beds on the farm.

Link to article: Farmer in Chief