Embedded Files
Big Idea: Make it your own
Inquiry Questions: What makes food taste good? How is cooking a creative art? How can we improvise and perserver in the kitchen and in life?
What makes cooking a creative art for you?
Gabrielle Knight: Creating new things with food
Ivan Sosa: We get to mix interesting ingredients to make a good result
Julianna Whitley: I get to explore the different foods I can make
Marcos Guzman: When you cooking you’re making art and the best part apart about it’s survival skill
What's one important skill that you learned through cooking club?
Ivan Sosa: Patience
Julianna Whitley: How to make Banana bread
How it Started
How it Started
How it's Going
How it's Going
Classroom Evolutions/Year Overview:
When we started the 2021-2022 school year, the plan was to transition the club to an in-person meeting. We just assumed that there would be more connection to the students and higher engagement. We pretty quickly determined that the kids preferred cooking at home and they learned more when they cooked at home.
One thing that was new this year that we will continue doing is after-school grocery sorts with the students. In previous years, the teachers did the sorting and inventory, which proved to be difficult and time-consuming. This year, we changed the grocery sort into a club meeting and included the key students.
We also determined that a later time worked better for cooking than 3pm. When we reverted to online, with the students cooking in their own kitchens, the pre-dinner hour of 5pm made great sense for the families and it gave the students an opportunity to get out of “school mode” before joining the video meet.
In previous years, we had done some ingredient challenges and open kitchens, but this year, we were able to lock down a rhythm of teacher-chosen recipes vs student-chosen. On Mondays, we had either an ingredient challenge or an open kitchen. On Wednesday, we provided a recipe that all students followed. It proved to be an excellent balance for the students and for us. When we started, we would have never guessed that the students would want to be self-directed 50% of the time. We also noticed that this year’s students made bolder choices than in the past when they had the chance to choose the recipe.
How are agency, power and voice negotiated?
Openness invokes agency, power, and voice. The structure of our video meets gives students agency over their cooking process and even their recipes. During our video meets, Ms Betsy canvases the students about what they would like to cook in the next recipe cycle. The students make suggestions and Ms Betsy returns a week or two later with “Would you rather…” options for the students to vote on. Half of our video meets use these group-selected recipes. The other half of our video meets are either open kitchens or ingredient challenges. For open kitchen nights, students choose what they are going to cook. Sometimes they choose a family favorite and other times they try a recipe they have never attempted before. For ingredient challenges, we give the students a specific ingredient to use in their recipe. Past ingredient challenges have included spinach, sweet potatoes, and lentils. For group recipes, students are encouraged to “make it your own” by adding and subtracting ingredients to suit their tastes. We model how to research replacement options for the class and discuss daily how developing workarounds and adjusting recipes is part of cooking.
As students have become more comfortable, some natural leaders have evolved. Early on, Stacy Harris told us that she likes to eat healthy foods and prioritizes working out. We started asking her about the health of various recipes and she always weighed in with solid feedback and suggestions for adding fruits and vegetables. Over time, Stacy’s feedback and role became part of our recipe process. She sometimes would even join planning sessions to give early feedback. Another leader who emerged was Ivan Sosa. Ivan’s cooking station is always on point and he always pushes the recipes to the next level. The students look to him as an operational role model when they are unsure what to do. Lastly, Gabby Knight ended up more than once catching mistakes during the grocery sorts. She evolved into our go-to person for proofing and inventory. She also has become a role model for researching replacement options on recipes.
A video/research artifact found by Stacy Harris when she requested the class make African Fufu, a dumpling made with casava or plantain flour. We sourced the ingredients, picked a delicious stew to go with it and shared our observations about this special food which was new to all of us.
OPEN KITCHEN TRACKING SHEET: What Students decide to make!
Every Monday Students take charge of their own kitchens and find or create a recipe on their own. We call this an "Open Kitchen" when students create whatever they want and an "Ingredient Challenge" when we give them a mystery ingredient and they do the rest. These challenges are a great opportunity to research family recipes, cook from our culture and passions, check out new tick tocks and YouTubes, or improvise with familiar and unfamiliar ingredients. Open Kitchens and ingredient challenges are a key component of student agency and responsibility in our classroom.
How is agency increased by cooking in our own kitchens?
The short answer is that cooking at school was a de-risked experience. Students cooking in their own kitchens caused them to be in control of significantly more real-life variables including:
available equipment and tools
inventory issues
station organization
managing customizations
Also, when we were cooking at North-Grand, we would cook as a group or in small groups, but the kids were not cooking individually. Cooking at the school took the onus off of the students and put it on Ms Betsy. Students assisted her, but they did not synthesize the recipe like they had to at home, the ingredients were already there, and we were able to step in when things went wrong. While this made the club probably a little lower stress for the students, it also lowered the engagement level and the learning.
What skills are built during grocery day and how does having access to the school help our remote project?
We found that the students who attended the grocery sort days built skills in measuring, dividing, checking inventory, and problem-solving improved dramatically. These are all skills that students struggle with when they cook at home, so it was nice having a small group of them working with us in person on these skills. We found that the students did a better job than we did and it took us less time to complete the task. The students who typically worked the grocery sort would get a bonus ingredient that often they’d been curious about. We found that the students who attended the grocery sort had fewer questions once they were online.
Adamaris demonstrates how to make homemade biscuits, step by step, from measuring to baking!
How did we include external members/community/audience in our project?
Because the video meets take place in the students’ kitchens, which is the social center of many homes, many family members would participate. Some parents would drive the dish creation while the student prepped and other parents or siblings would make cameos or give reviews on the dish.
We are lucky to have a unique situation where we cater to students with diverse learning abilities and backgrounds. Students who would not normally interact with each other during the day have an opportunity to interact virtually during cooking club. We have been lucky to watch social communication skills grow individually and as a club. We have watched students who were scared to participate grow and start to lead part of the cooking club. Our students used skills such as active listening and empathy to help each other when they are stuck on how to finish a recipe.
Students participating in the costume contest.
VID_20220602_144353529.mp4Students participating in the chopstick contest.
Winners of the marshmallow tower contest!
THE MIXER:
The Mixer was created to build community with the other CAPE clubs at North-Grand High School. The Mixer took place during 7th and 8th period classes so the students had to get permission from their teachers to join. During the Mixer students participated in team building activities and ate pizza. When the students first arrived they enjoyed eating pizza and spending time getting to know the people at their table. The first activity was building the tallest tower out of pasta noodles and marshmallows. The students used problem solving skills, critical thinking and social communication skills to build the tower. Once a winner was decided the students prepared for the next game. During this time they had time to build relationships by strategizing together and getting to know each other. The second activity was moving candy from one bowl to another with chop sticks. There were many students who had never used chopsticks. The teams had about five minutes to practice using chopsticks. Next they had to use teamwork and strategy to figure out how to get the pieces of candy from dish to dish. At the end of the mixer the students had time to relax and reflect on the activity with their peers.
FYI: We are **STILL** Hungry... Must keep cooking!
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