Effective Modern Learning Strategies

Skills Days:

In all of my Culinary Arts classes, students participate in personal goal setting at the beginning of the year based on their interests, strengths, and weaknesses.  Mastery goals are set to reflect growth in a product, a skill, and a process.  During Skills days, students work on any of their mastery goals, take pictures, and document any changes in skills, whether it is perceived to be positive or negative.  Students have the opportunity to document failure, reflect, strategize, and attempt again.  Many of their portfolio entries will read "attempt 1" or "attempt 4," showing the trial-and-error nature of pursuing growth in each area of their mastery goals. 

Skills days are some of our most productive days in the kitchen.  When I announce a skills day, I am always met with cheers and excitement, as students know that they are in complete control of their learning objectives that day. I schedule them as often as possible to give students ownership of their learning and the kitchen space required. My role during this time is purely a facilitator- I provide support and guidance when requested,  constructive feedback via observation, and make sure that supplies and materials are present to achieve the necessary tasks for that day.

The examples below show the process and the products of a Skills day.  Practicum students often use skills days to create a product they love but are not familiar with the culture and cooking methods for that particular item.  In this case, my Practicum student made Thai Pho and Chicken Pho.  She used spices and herbs she had never been exposed to, and even simmered her stock all day to make it using the traditional method.  You can see the excitement when her mastery goal was complete, and the confidence it built to explore more cultural and unfamiliar foods!