Erie Community College
Title III
English Composition Assignment
Interdisciplinary Course Materials
Biology
Course: EN023 Improving Reading and Writing
Topic: Writing a Reflective Personal Essay
Project Title: Reflecting on Your Health
Project Description: For this assignment, students will be asked to explore and learn about
their choices when it comes to nutrition and physical activity. They will be expected to track,
evaluate, plan, and assess choices regarding what they eat, drink, and how much physical activity
they have throughout a week. Along with a 500 page reflective essay based on their experience,
they will also be expected to give a five minute oral presentation in front of the class. This is
approximately a two to three week project.
Author: Anne Benedict (South Campus English Department)
Curriculum Expert: Rozanne Redlinski (South Campus Biology)
Semester Created: Fall 2008
A. Essential Question: Am I doing the best I possibly can to keep my body healthy?
B. Introduction: Health is something many Americans take for granted. We go through our
lives knowing what we should or shouldn’t eat, and how much exercise we should be getting,
but we usually decide it is something that can wait. Before you know it, many of us are
overweight and out of shape. Some of us end up with diseases that could have been
prevented. This project will help you take a look at your food and exercise choices. Are you
eating what you should be eating? Are you exercising as much as the experts recommend?
Do you even know what is recommended? At the end of this project the choice will be yours.
Hopefully you will take what you have learned and be on the road to a healthy life.
C: Basic Directions: In the following activities you will develop the knowledge and
understanding of what healthy eating and physical activity choices are all about. With that
knowledge, you will reflect on your own experience on the road to lifelong health, write about it,
and present it to the class. If you are a student who is already following the guidelines set by the
The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, an organization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
then this project will be easy for you. You will then become our “in-class” expert on healthy living.
D: Things to Learn or Consider Starting This Project:
Before you start this project you should know how to write entries in your writing journal, write
a reflective personal essay, and give a short presentation to the class.
We will first become familiar with the following basic vocabulary words: carbohydrate, calorie,
diet, fat, nutrients, protein, vitamin
Erie Community College
Title III Grant
It is also important that you have computer access for this project.
E. The Project Assignment:
1. In you writing journal (or notebook), write down your physical activity and list all the food
and beverages you consumed the yesterday. After you list the foods and your activities,
answer the following questions (also in your writing journal). Was this a typical day for you
as far as eating and exercise is concerned? Why/ why not? Did you think your eating and
exercise was healthy for the day? What could you have eaten to improve your diet?
Anything you could have avoided? How about improving your exercise? Who/what was the
biggest influence in what you ate and how you exercised yesterday?
2. Be ready to discuss what you wrote in your journal. This discussion is necessary because it
helps you realize the importance of diet and exercise and how sometimes people don’t make it
a priority in their lives.
3. Have you ever heard of the saying “ you are what you eat?” Did you know how your choices
of exercise and food you eat will impact your overall mind, body, and spirit for the rest of
your life?
4. Have you ever heard of the Food Pyramid? The food pyramid is our guide to healthy living.
There have been changes in the recent years with the Food Pyramid and it has been adjusted.
We will watch an introduction to the new food pyramid though a short video (1 minute 40
seconds). This new food pyramid also includes physical activity. It is found at the following
website:
http://www.mypyramid.gov/global_nav/media_animation.html
5. Log on to your computer and to to the MyFoodPyramid website. This website is funded by
the United States Department of Agriculture. and is at:
http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html . You will be using the website for your project.
The first thing you need to do is track your food/ beverage consumption and physical activity
from the yesterday (the information you wrote in your writing journal). In class we will look
at the the powerpoint presentation located at
http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/default.htm to give you a tutorial on how the tracker
works. You may want to refer to it again. The first thing you need to do is register. I suggest
using your same username and password as you do when you log in to ECC (so you don’t
forget it). Then track your previous day (the information that you already wrote down in your
writing journal). Once you are done, there will probably be many recommendations based on
your previous day, but that is to be expected. After you track you day and read the
recommendations, write in your writing journal your reaction to the tracking and
recommendations.
6. Explore the “MYFoodPyramid” website. at http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html . You will
be registering and using the “MyPyramid” Menu planner by planning a healthy menu for a
week. Check out “MyPyramidPlan” and Inside the Pyramid. This will get you started with
healthy ideas.. There is an abundance of information for you to read and learn about,
including BMI information and interesting facts about health.
7. Once you feel comfortable with the website, it is now time for you to plan out a seven day
menu to better health. You should go to the “MyPyramid” Menu Planner and plan a realistic
menu for yourself. Your next job is to try to follow your menu as closely as possible over the
next week.
8. At the end of each day during that week, write a paragraph in your journal on how your
healthy eating/ activities were progressing. Did you try anything new? How did you feel?
9. At the end of the week the you will be responsible for writing a 500 reflective essay of your
healthy eating experience. Look back in your writing journal from the beginning of the week.
Along with this essay, you will also be responsible for giving a five minute presentation
summarizing your experience.
F. Student Resources: Online access is crucial for this project. The website
http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html is the main source of information for this project. You
may also want to consider going to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab for assistance in
writing your essay and giving your presentation.
G. Faculty Resources: Online access is crucial for this project. The website
http://www.mypyramid.gov/index.html is the main source of information for this project.
This next website is an important one as it gave me the idea for this project:
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/pdf/mypyramid/mypyramid.pdf .
H. Grading Rubric: Successful completion of this project will include the a point assignment in
the following areas:
Participation (includes conferences with teacher throughout project) 25 points
Essay
50 points
Presentation
25 points
Erie Community College
Title III Grant
Essay Rubric
Excellent
Adequate
Not Adequate
Ideas (0-10)
Topic, thesis,
purpose, audience
Ideas are thought
provoking,
consistently
supporting a strong
thesis. There is a
clear sense of purpose
and audience.
Ideas are clear and
Ideas are unclear and
support the thesis and demonstrate a lack of
overall purpose of the focus
paper.
Development (0-10)
Details, evidence,
support
Many interesting
details that provide
relevant and adequate
support
Development is
sufficient, providing
adequate support.
Development is
insufficient, not
providing enough
evidence and support
Organization (0-10)
Structure, coherence,
unity, transitions
Shows close
connections with each
section anticipating
the next. Transitions
enhance
understanding
Enables the reader to
follow most of the
text. Some
transitions between
paragraphs and ideas
may be abrupt.
Is lacking so the
reader is often
confused
Style and Mechanics
(0-10)
Sentence structure,
word choice, tone,
grammar, spelling,
punctuation
Correct conventions,
used strategically,
facilitate and add to
the reading of the
text. Sentences have
power, rhythm, vary
in length and style,
are fluent, and easy to
understand
Correct conventions
facilitate the reading
of the text. Sentences
are fluent and easy to
understand.
Errors affect the
reading of the text.
Sentences are
sometimes fluent and
other times awkward,
exhibiting errors in
grammar and word
choice.
Format (0-10)
Presentation, sources,
MLA format
Format is accurate
and all guidelines
have been followed
Most of the format is
correct and most of
the guidelines have
been followed
Format has many
errors and guidelines
are not met