7th Grade - Animals

Each of the texts for this week shed some sort of positive light on animals and their abilities. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi shows the intelligence of mongoose, Primal Compassion showcases the compassion of gorillas, the Blackfish trailer highlights the cruelty toward Orcas at SeaWorld, the New York times article shows the benefits of a population of trout, and the Scarecrow video also highlights animal cruelty in the way that we feed America. It would be extremely easy to do a unit on the importance of animals and all the fascinating things about them. However, I think that 7th graders and a lot of people in general already have respect for animals - the main reason animals are treated with cruelty is that people aren't aware enough about it for something to be done. So, for this unit I would make that a focus. Instead of highlighting the interesting or good qualities in different animals, I would try to get  my 7th graders to think critically about the way humans interact with animals, and ask them to question what we immediately see in regards to our treatment of animals.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Primal Compassion, Don't Fear the Feral, and the New York Times are good texts to start out with, because their main purpose is showcasing those amazing animal stories. I could introduce the unit with something smaller like discussing the different qualities of different animals, and where we can see immense compassion from animals that we otherwise would not believe is capable of the feeling. I would also showcase the importance of animals to our everyday lives by using the New York Times article and talking about all the revenue that the new trout population brought to that small town. However, I wouldn't spend too much time on these texts, because I think for the seventh grade level it would be easier to discuss this idea of animal cruelty and the fact that its being hushed up in the other texts.

I then would have the students look at the Scarecrow video, and finally, the Blackfish trailer. The food industry is sort of out-of-sight out-of-mind for 7th graders - my brother is in 7th grade and I know he doesn't think about where the food on his plate came from. He doesn't grocery shop, so he has no concept of the path his food took to get to him. I would discuss this topic of the food industry and where our food comes from before diving into the issues held here. If nothing else, just getting the students to think the production process for their food would be a start to get them thinking critically about the food industry. I would try and get a discussion going about what the actual slaughterhouses look like. Is our world that different from the Scarecrow's world? How long do we think it will take for it to look like that? And, what can be done? Finally, I would look at the SeaWorld case and try and get a lengthier discussion going. SeaWorld would probably hit close to home for 7th graders because it is something they cherished as a kid - like Disneyland. It is easy to spot the animal cruelty going on here, so I don't think it would be hard to get the students thinking and talking about it.