teaching options when on a farm visit

[journey]

For the teacher who is required to take young students on the local small-scale farm visit, what are some non-graphic ways to teach about what really happens to the animals, this is not ok, etc? (pre-visit activities, discussions, etc.) Sometimes teachers are required to lead these visits, and their requests to take the children somewhere else instead are not allowed.

So in this case, from the teacher's viewpoint (who's just trying not to get fired for being too "radical"), as opposed to the parents who have the choice of whether to allow their children to attend or not - when the teacher is required to lead these visits, what are some appropriate learning activities to address where food comes from (required in the teaching standards) without seeming to suggest to children that all's ok with the farm system?

Looking for non-graphic ideas, remember the teacher cannot always openly address the issue, because of the fear of getting fired, etc. (omni parents can be quite offended by anyone suggesting to their children that there's something wrong with what they're teaching their children to eat, and unfortunately can cause dire havoc to teachers' job future).

Also, if it's a small local farm where animals really do roam freely on large pastures and look happy (until they're untimely killed, a little fact that many people want to overlook), my other fear is that children will go away with the idea that farm animals don't have it so bad after all (they miss all the factory farming horrors and think that the food they eat comes from the animals they got to pet on open pastures of the local farm) - how do can the teacher counter this misperception for the younger kids that these trips are aimed at in a non-graphic way that won't get the teacher fired (when the teacher doesn't have the power to boycott the trip)?

[harpy]

I don't know what you're liable to get fired for, but maybe it would be OK to discuss with the children whether they can think of any objections to killing animals for food, whether they know of anyone who doesn't eat meat, what the alternatives to meat eating might be, etc?

It depends a bit whether the problem is with using graphical material or with the possibility of children going home and telling their parents that they don't want to eat meat.

[Ruby Rose]

Can you suggest going to an arable farm instead of a livestock farm?

[Cherry]

Usually just the fact of 'yes, people keep the animals so that they can eat them' is enough to make the children think.

[pat sommer]

I agree, Cherry.
I did zoos, farms etc with kids for years as a 'Rec'. Let them have their rosy picture then remind them later what's in their sandwiches....
"oh, I'm eating hummus; I'm vegetarian" is a big lesson from a respected adult.

Also, I tried to have the kids listen to the animals language. "what is he saying by wiggling his tail and bobbing his head?"

Children also like to know about family life. Does just mama raise the babies? All mammal mothers make what for their babies? Really, most 7 year olds called cows HE...

Observing farm animals and talking about them as individuals can be a positive thing. Hey, any opportunity to be subversive;)

[journey]

Thanks - these are the kinds of ideas I needed. (I don't have the option of changing where the field trip goes to - there are a number of reasons beyond my power to change at this point).

I was also thinking things like afterward having them draw and name their favorites, talking about evidence they may have seen of how intelligent they are, emotions the animals have, etc., trying to persoanlize the animals for them.

My fear is though, I want to make sure not to leave them with the idea that the animals are happy to be on the farm and overlook that they'll be killed. Pat, I think you're first paragraph about reminding later what's in their sandwiches does that in a respectful effective way (and Cherry's as well).

I'd love to openly teach kids to think about these things, but subversively getting them to think about what becomes of these animals is my best option at this point.

Harpy, there would be a problem with graphic material, and with kids going home telling parents that the teacher taught them they shouldn't eat meat. If that's a conclusion they come to on their own (which it should be anyway), that I think would be different.