Hi David,
These students are challenges that is for sure. I work hard on reinforcing the professional aspects of the course and the content I am sharing. I lay out the expectations clearly and then consistently enforce them. This doesn't always work but the majority of time I do reach them and get them engaged. I have dismissed some of these students from the class because I will not let them reduce the learning opportunities of the other students. When this happens the remaining students within this group get the message and the course goes well.
Gary
Hi David,
Repetition, application and relevancy are key points in the learning process. Your approach hits on those components and helps the students leave the course with all of this stored in their working memories.
Gary
Hi Glenn,
I like the way you approach showing value to the products your students are using in their cooking. I think this background is important for them to know as they bring their dishes to completion. Since I ranch in addition to my teaching I always appreciate it when a chef shows and tells the background on where produce, meat, etc. originated from.
Gary
In the previous section it pointed out that the average age of career college students is about 28. But what I see is the 19-year old and the 50-year old in the same classes so I get the original premise. What I can do is get more mature students together regardless of age, but what I struggle with is getting anyone to adopt the immature "psuedo-student" as they frequently distract the rest of the class with BS and horseplay. These I find I have to work more directly with. I'm way open for sage advice though this has been working. What bothers me is the sense that I'm rewarding those behaviors with time.
Practical application on a daily basis would be best for my enviros: breaking up hands-on concrete learning, such as skills practice, with abstract discussions and "taking that one step further" to piggy-back off the skill should aid in moving memories from semantic to episodic- essential in teaching application oriented service careers. Simply planning my days in this manner should see a great increase in retention from day to day that can last a career.
As an culinary instructor i always try to have my students imagine the final outcomes of the dishes that they're creating. I have them think really deep about the actual food item from the time they receive it. I make them go way back to the early stages of the vegetable from seed form through all the hard work of farmer laborers tending to their crops before they work with it so that they can appreciate the value of their food. I ask them to use their aquired skill set to prepare this item to become something tasty while following the proper techniques of preparing it. The outcomes are great for those individuals who can grasp the entire concept.
Hi Trinidad,
Good strategies that I know will enhance content retention for your students while increasing your skill as an instructor. This sets up a win win situation for everyone.
Gary
Understanding the basics of learning will benefit me as an instructor by allowing me to cater my instructional technique in order to take into account brain function. I could adapt my instructional strategy in such a way as to take advantage of episodic memory. I can also make sure to tie the coarse material to my students’ life experience.
Hi Rob,
Good for you. Using observation to see how students react to situations and process information will give you ideas on how you can customize your instruction to meet their respective needs.
Gary
Hi Gregory,
Good to hear that the content will help you have insight into how your students process information. You are right about using episodic memory as much as you can. The more students can create connections between their life experiences and the content the higher the level of retention there is going to be.
Gary
Hi Karyn,
Good way to reinforce what has been and will be taught. Visual, verbal and hands on applications of content helps the students to store the content in their working memories. This way the content will be there for use the next time they need to pull up something from memory and apply it.
Gary
I like to identify the needs of individual students by observing there performance in the shop and listening to there questions.
Understanding the basics of learning will benefit me as an instructor by putting me in the shoes of my students. Taking this course helped me learn that there is much to lear about the human brain and how it functions. I will try to adapt different learning strategies for challenging students.
I found this lesson very interesting. By understanding how the brain processes information (short term, long term, working), you can tailor your approach to "how" you deliver information.
I like the concept of episodic versus semantic memory and plan to incorporate these approaches into my examples. The goal is to assist my students in the way they relate the information to the lesson material. Each student is unique and this just helps with recognizing that.
On Our white boards we set them up into 3 sections. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There is always a brief review of what we did yesterday, What we are going to produce today, and what is going to happen tomorrow. during demo, while a product is mixing is a great time to review a mixing method instead of just standing in silence as well as being able to review products that may also use that method. So it is written, talked about and shown and then reviewed daily
Hi Edward,
You have a great medium to work with and you understand clearly how it can be used for maximum effectiveness. You are appealing to so many different learning preferences that your students have to be impressed with what they are able to accomplish while in your class.
Gary
As an art instructor I use clay modeling to promote learning. As it is pointed out, perception is based on both concrete and abstract elements, so it makes sense (no pun intended) to make use of the senses (visual, tactile, building on an armature) and moving students to more abstract perceptions and promote new ideas. Clay modeling helps students develop skills working in both the concrete and abstract application areas in a fun and creative manner; further tapping into their more positive episodic memory and blending both short-term and long-term memory while stimulating their working memory.
Hi Chanel,
Good points about how to approach the culinary arts classroom. I support your efforts to establish a strong base (concrete) from which your students can operate. Once the concrete base is established then they can start working on the more abstract concepts that apply to their field.
Gary
As an instructor it is vital to know the different learning styles and the basics of them so that you are able to relay the information you know to be able to reach everyone. As a culinary instructor, it is important that I use both concrete and abstract learning with my students. When discussing something as simple as parmesan cheese, I could compare it with another cheese like cheddar in order to have them learn about the differences (concrete).
Hi Pamela,
Good plan. I think you are going to have success with both classes in addition to having fun teaching them.
Gary
