Being in the field of working on powerlines it is almost daily that a story is related in one aspect or another that is tied into what we are teaching on that particular day and why it is taught so the students have a better understanding of what to expect when they graduate and start working in the field.
Hi James,
Students enjoy hearing about personal experiences. What personal experiences have you shared with your students?
Patricia
Relay past personal experiences that relate to the subject and try to relate that into why the requirements for the course are what they are.
Hello Anthony,
What kind of stores and/or experiences have you shared with your students to bring about excitement?
Patricia
Hi Anthony,
The workplace is definitely deadline driven. Establishing deadlines truly prepare students for the work world.
Patricia
I try to use real world experance and stories to create excitement. requirements I use deadlines that the working enviorment makes and expects also have clear course expectations
I give stories that relate to the course and use my experance in the field to create excitement
I have a difficult challenge, teaching math to students in a culinary school. Most of the students have had little experience using math in their daily lives or have had little success with math in school and some prefer to avoid using math as much as possible. To get students excited about a subject they do not want to take is not easy, so just reaching a basic level of interest may be considered as a success in getting them excited about the course. I sometimes start the first day of a course by asking a series of questions in a very positive and upbeat manner, for which I expect little or no positive response. How many math majors do we have in this class? The expected response should be none of the students. Whose favorite subject is math? The expected response is maybe one or two out of 40 students. Has anyone taken a math course in algebra or a higher level of math? The expected response is about one third to half of the students. How many students are at this school to study culinary? The expected response should be all of the students. Since many of the students have a fear of math, the series of questions help the students start to participate in the math course, even though they have yet to actually start the math portion of the course.
To help the students understand each of the math courses, course information packets are created. The packets contain the course syllabus, course notes, and projects. After thoroughly covering all of the aspects of the syllabus, including the course requirements, learning objectives, and grading criteria, each student is given the opportunity to discuss their background and expectations for the course. I then explain my background, knowledge, and experience. By having an informal discussion about the course, it helps the students to become engaged in the course. I tell them that together, we will be successful in learning math. I follow this by explaining each of the course projects and relating them to their career objectives and required skills.
Since the subject of the courses is math, relating each of the learning objectives in the courses directly to the skills needed by culinary students can sometimes be a challenge. I can make the projects contain information and skills they will need for their future courses, such as costing recipes and inventory control, but other aspects of the math courses can be applied only in a general way. I can try to explain that they are developing critical thinking skills or effective decision making abilities, but applying a quadratic equation or the factoring of trinomials as learned in the algebra course to the kitchen courses is difficult. Sometimes the only answer they will accept is that the math courses are required for their culinary arts degree. The introduction to the course takes about one hour of time on the first day of the course. After a break, we start the math portion of the course with chapter one from the course textbook.
-Bill Lembke
I do a contact (using power point slides) at the begining of the introduction phase of the course and ask questions with comments from others in the group and we define the attributes of an effictive educator. It leads to attitude!
Hello Brad,
Money is always a super motivator. I use money as a motivator in a lot of my classes as well. I have you found that students really focus whenever you mention money?
Patricia
I talk to the culinary students about how the course will help them in the jobs or future careers. By understanding how to prep food items for class is like prepping for the hot line in a restaurant. Creating a daily plan (Mise en place sheet) will help them be more successfull in school and in the kitchen.
One of several tactics I use is to talk about the money. I explain that in our course, we are learning about the the most profitable and demanding areas of our soon to be professions. I explain that after sucessufly completeing this course they will be in a position to demand top wages due to thier abilities and new found confidence to diagnose and repair problems most others can not.
Hello Jose,
Yes, students do want to know ahead of time what learning will take place. The advanced notice gets students very excited. Afterall, it is part of our job to keep our students interested and involved. Keep up the good work!
Patricia
Hello Patricia,
I Find that most students want to know ahead of time what they will be learning, so i make it a point to give them a preview of what will be covered in the days ahead and how important that will be for them, ie. ( on day 7 of the course we will be preparing a mini buffet and will invite other students and faculty to try it, it is very important that all the recipes and material we cover from now until then is clearly understood so we need to be on top of our game, please feel free to ask questions) this is just an example, and normally it gets them exited and are more willing to participate in the process.
meeting with the students before the course starts and giving them the syllabus well in advance. this way they are better prepared for day one and consecutively for the whole course.
letting student know how valuable new material is to the career and that there will always be something new in the field to master
I usually do an activty that brings them together and addresses some basic information on the course content. I also give them specific examples of how the information is applied to the real world and how there grade can be an A, B, C, D or F.
Hi Rory,
Students are always interested in knowing what they are going to learn in a course, and they are even more interested in visual aid. Continue to keeps your students interested!
Patricia
Hi Phillippe,
What do you do to get students interested and involved?
Patricia
I show them examples of what they’ll be doing after the course is completed. I video tape them before and after the course so it really makes them see how much they improved.
