Handout+3

= //**Making Teaching Irresistible**// by: Jessica Tate =

 Julia Child stated, “A cookbook is only as good as its worst recipe” (http://womenshistory.about.com). Meaning, even the worst recipe in a cookbook has potential. The key to success teaching is you execute obtaining that potential. Education is similar in that not every student learns and understands the lesson in the same way. Students need to be introduced into a style of learning which holds them captivated and keeps them wanting more. Almost as if education is a great suspense movie and you can’t keep your eyes off the movie screen. If students are engaged in every aspect of their learning experience they will want to be there, and they will give 110% effort in everything they do. The question is how do we make education irresistible for students? Successful teachers exercise the ability to be: Listening and flexible: In education there is a need for lesson plans and structure, but sometimes in education, teaching needs to be impromptu. The teacher needs to be flexible in their style and delivery of the lesson. Students want to be heard, they want to be a voice in the classroom. Allow them to express what they know and what they desire to know. Allow students the platform to express themselves not only by paper and pen, but artistically, musically, digitally, in any other manner they might be able to manifest. Students need to know that there isn’t just one way to do something, but that there are many ways (101 ways to cook an Egg) to do many things both in and out of the classroom. A majority of culinary arts students are a kinesthetic learners meaning they learn by doing things with their hands. Culinary art students tend to thrive because they are in a see, do, and touch environment, which trigger all senses. This environment creates a great opportunity to explore the potential learning experience of each student. This environment creates a great opportunity to explore the potential learning experience of each student. When sitting in a lecture the average adult attention span is about fifteen minutes and that is how much time a teacher has to get across the message for that lecture. After fifteen minutes students in the class will tend to drift away from the teachers message. Students with learning disabilities tend to drift away from the teacher’s message even sooner, to avoid this problem be creative. If there is a student in your class who is very active or has a learning disability (LD), give them something to keep them busy such as a stress ball, silly putty, or gum to chew something so they will be able to focus better. For example, if the students are learning culinary vocabulary you could do a card game with the words and definitions and make the students match them. Include a ‘you’re not the cook’ card in the deck and now the game is played like old maid, or you could play culinary bingo with the students. That being said, you have about an hour of interactive teaching to get your message to the students and have them receive it. School is very similar to sports teams everyone is working toward the same goal. Students should be learning teamwork, and goal setting. Remember students they want to be heard, earn a sense of accomplishment, and they want an irresistible education.  In the book //Curriculum 21 Essential Education for a changing World// by Heidi Hayes Jacobs she state; “It is startling that the arts programs still must often seek justification, given the research on how the brain works, the universal demand for creative innovation, and the exemplary student work from arts programs. Technology is currently at the forefront of education. Some students are making videos for school projects and posting them to YouTube. They are writing blogs, creating podcasts, and making wikis. Now it is understood that not every classroom has the means or access to this type of technology. However, if you do, instead of students keeping a journal they could keep a blog which is like an online journal. Students could then invite other students to read their blog and comment on it. This is a fun way for students to not only express what they have learned but for teachers to assess what the students are taking from the lessons they are being taught. Students should have knowledge and a positive utilization skill set for the internet, a great way for them to do that would be for school projects.  When students are asked what they dislike the most about school, the majority of the responses were, being lectured to. ( [] ) In writing this article, I am reaching out to all the educators out there to let you all know that just as you differentiate from your colleagues, your students differentiate from each other. As a means to involve all your students in a single lesson take the students who have an LD and include that as a part of your lesson so they don’t feel singled out. That one thing you changed in that lesson could reach out to other students and enhance their comprehension as well.
 * 1) a good listener
 * 2) flexible within their lesson plan
 * 3) use technology
 * 4) include all students