fisrt class
After many many years teaching baking and oastry I realized that we, instructors, use to assume that our students know certain basics that they dont!! So, I start my first class by doing my mis en place at the right way, showing them what they should be looking for.
sandra,
This is so true. What seems to be second nature for us is often truly new to students. They may not only be seeing or hearing something for the first time, they may also have no idea where a product came from or why it needs to be prepared a particular way. Good point!
Jae Gruber
I find this to be very ture also. Even though all the kitchens in my school have almost the same layout, I give the students a tour of the kitchen on the first day.
Also with my culianry students that are taking baking and pastry, I play a weights and measures game with them. So that you get comfortable with using a scale and renforcing pounds, ounces, grams, tablespoons, etc.
I try and put myself in thier shoes. Not knowing ingredients and not knowing or remembering how things work. So that I do not say "You should know that by now!". If the student knew, then they would not be asking the question.
Shani,
It's a great idea to make weights and measures into a game for the students to enhance their compfort in using a scale. Your point is very good that if a student already knew the answer to the questions, they wouldn't be asking the question! In addition, even if they do know the answer, sometimes they like to ask again just to make sure or due to lack of self-confidence.
Jae Gruber
The first item we prepare in our class is the St. Honore Gateau. It is made with pastry cream, whipped cream, simple dough and pate choux. The students used the exact same ingredients in the previous block to make cream puffs and eclairs. This Gateau is a review of previous technical skills with a twist- it has the assembly of a full cake rather than bite sized pieces. It is a great opportunity to repeat a skill we were teaching without having to do the exact same project. It forces the student to see beyond the recipe's intended application and allows them to start developing skills for thinking outside the box. Just because us Chefs know a thousand and three ways to use choux paste, eclairs, profiteroles, cream puffs doesn't mean that students will just know what a croquembouche is.
Angela,
It is obvious by your post that you review and remind students of previously learned techniques that they will incorporate in their current class. This is critical, as it helps students to understand the path of learning and how skills learned and mastered are the foundation for additional learning.
Jae Gruber
Can you give some examples of games taht have worked? Esp inconverting grams to oz. etc.
I always tell the students, "Chef Jeannie is 29ish years old. And there are roughly 29 grams per ounce."
Haa ha!! If only the first part were true.
But you know what? They remember it. Because they like to think about the fact that there is no way I'm 29 years old.
Mnemonic device!
That sound like a great idea. I am going to star using that technique as well.
