I didn't know I was responsible for this too. . .

Sometimes grading papers can be quite entertaining.  I'm grading the diet analysis projects I assigned my Foods class.  They kept a 3 day food diary, entered this into the SuperTracker feature on choosemyplate.gov, and wrote a paper analyzing how well they did meeting their nutrient needs.  One girl was deficient in vitamin D and apparently it's partially my fault.  She wrote: "Shortage of vitamin D is simple to fix, all the teachers need to do is give less homework so I have more time to go outside and save my fragile health."  At least she remembered that our bodies make vitamin D from sunlight!

Who knew?

The new school year is off to a good start.  No major complaints and things seem to be going well in all my classes.  I learn something new from my students almost every day.  In the last couple of weeks we were discussing foodborne illnesses in one of my classes and how many forms of bacteria are spread through feces.  At some point in the discussion of this I used the word poop instead of feces and managed to get quite a response from some of my male students.  The conversation went something like this:
Student:  Oh that is so gross!
Me:  Well yes the idea of poop being transferred to your food is gross.
Student:  No, girls shouldn't even say that word.  They don't even do that!
Me: ? (While looking at the girls, who are also equally confused.)
Student:  They don't!  Guys are the only ones who poop.
After I composed myself from the class wide laughing fit, more conversation followed.  Other guys in the class agreed although none were as adamant as the original. I'm not sure if I should warn his future wife someday (or give her some ammunition) of his disgust at the idea or not. 

Will this burn me?

I've answered a lot of questions as a teacher, but I've never answered this one before.  In Orientation to FACS we are starting to sew.  Wednesday marked the beginning of the pillowcase project.  I was explaining expectations for the day and procedures for putting away supplies and irons and ironing boards.  The kids got to work and one girl who had just plugged in the iron asks, "Will this burn me?"  I looked at her for what seemed like a long time trying to put together a response that wasn't as sarcastic as the thoughts running through my head and finally replied yes, irons get very hot and will burn you if you touch the metal part.  She then proceeded to ask, "how will I know when it gets hot?"  Trust me you'll know.  Some days all I can do is shake my head.

How to Open a Can of Biscuits

By this time in my teaching career, I should know not to take things for granted.  I should not expect my students to know anything and should therefore cover all the bases, especially when it comes to my beginning cooking classes. 

In the past few weeks since Christmas, I've been drilling into them about cleanliness and the importance of sanitation.  I succeeded in ruining appetites in my class before lunch and had them all terrified of me grading their kitchens after our first lab experience.  All seemed to be going well.  In fact, the first lab (which consisted of making refrigerator cookies) went very well.  It was probably one of the best first lab experiences I've had in my teaching career thus far.  And then we get to the second lab.

In the second lab, my students choose between 2 recipes one for BBQ Cups the other for Pizza Cups.  Most choose the Pizza Cups.  Pizza Cups are very simple to make.  You just grease a muffin pan, open a can of refrigerator biscuits, put one in each cup and press against the sides.  Then fill them with sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like and bake for 10-12 minutes.  The kids love them and it's usually the recipe that I have kids coming back later to tell me they made at home. 

This past week I had a first during this lab.  As I'm walking around the room monitoring each group's progress, I notice the green kitchen is all hovering around something.  I walk up to the group, and they turn to ask me a question.  As soon as I see what's in their hands I can't do anything but laugh.  One of the group members is holding the can of refrigerator biscuits in one hand and the can opener in the other.  "Ms. Miller, we can't figure out how to get these open," he says.  They had used the can opener to partially open one end of the can.  It worked until it was about halfway around and then they had tried prying the end the rest of the way off.  Biscuit dough is oozing out the end around the metal.  Amidst their dumbfounded looks at my insistence that they are trying too hard, I take the can and show them where the directions are on the side and peel the paper back to open the can the correct way. 

I had never dreamed of my students not being able to open a can of biscuits, but then again they are in beginning cooking class. 

Pillowcases

This has been a while coming, but here are some pictures of the fabric combos some of my kids came up with. Overall I'd call the pillowcases a success. I'm so glad I ran across that idea on a fellow FACS teacher's blog.

We've finished aprons in this class, well most of us have, and moved on to pajama pants.  Overall we're improving. 
Homecoming is also this week.  We've had dress up days all week.  I have to say pajama day is my favorite!  After making it through all the festivities and the dance Saturday night, we get to start making bread for our FCCLA Holiday Bread Sale.  Last year we sold a total 212 loaves of pumpkin, lemon, chocolate and sour cream streusel breads.  This year we're up to around 370. It will be a busy week next week!

Teaching Moments

I have not done very well at keeping up with this thus far this year.  So here's an update of what happening in the FACS realm at my school.

Foods class is finally cooking.  We've had some really good labs, and some not so good ones.  We're still working on time management.

Foodservice is learning some important lessons.  The first being how important flour is in cookies.  In case you're wondering, it's pretty important.  And here's a picture to prove it.

They did put some flour in, just not enough.  These were supposed to be for the hospitality room for our volleyball regionals.  This is exactly the reason I keep some cookies in the freezer most of the time.  

They've also learning that too much cooking spray on the pan can be almost as bad as not enough.  We're also working on learning to do things as a group and figuring out each other's personalities.

The girls in Adult Living are very excited to start on their Wedding Books.  They've been bugging me about it for weeks now, but we weren't quite ready for it.  Today we began and they're realizing just how much work  they have to put into these things.  Plus, I'm pretty sure they're in for a surprise when they find out we're still talking about more chapters and the wedding planning is done on the side - just like it is in real life.  It should be interesting.

Finally that brings me to Orientation.  We've started sewing.  The first week is horrible.  There are so many questions.  It doesn't seem to matter how well or how often I've explained something before we start sewing, I still have to explain it again later.  The second week goes much better and I have a nice stack of pillow cases to grade in the next week.  I'm pleased with most of them.  The kids picked out some really cool fabric combinations.  One of the best parts of making this project has been the moments when I'm busy with someone else and another student steps in to help someone who's waiting with a question.  They're teaching each other, which is great!  We're also finally developing relationships in my first section of the class.  This is the group that was so incredibly quiet with me at the beginning.  They're finally catching on to my sense of humor and getting a little more relaxed with me.  It makes sewing so much easier.  I also had one student out of each section thank me today for the extra help I gave them or for taking time to explain things to them.  It kinda made my day.  

Passing the Test

I actually wrote this back in September, but for some unknown reason didn't post it.  So here it is, better late than never I guess

I have a short devotional delivered to my school email every day.  The goal is that when I sit down to open my email after I get to school, I will start my day out with that devotional and hopefully keep it in mind as I teach my students throughout the day.  Some days it works, others it doesn’t.  This morning’s devotion was titled “Passing the Test.”  It was talking about character and integrity and making decisions that are pleasing to God.  It was a great message, one that I took to heart for myself, but I got something a little different out of it too. 

The story the author started out with was about a boy who was terrible at spelling making a bad decision to cheat on his spelling test.  The teacher was shocked as she saw what he was doing, but said nothing.  As he got up to turn in his test, he paused in front of the trash can and slowly started tearing up his test.  He had made the honest decision in the end to take a zero on the test instead of using someone else’s work.  As I was reading this several things went through my mind.  First, my heart went out to the student who struggled with his test.  I have lots of students who struggle, not all of them with school work.  The things that some of my kids have to deal with breaks my heart.  And what gets me even more are the poor decisions that so many of them make that make their situations worse.  Secondly, the cheating is something that I’m battling right now.  I wish that some of my students could be as honest as the kid in the devotion.  This too, goes back to poor decision making. 

In three of my classes, we’ve been talking about lifestyle choices, the consequences of those choices, and taking responsibility for our actions.  I realize that most of them that already make poor choices will probably not listen to me or take any of what I say to heart.  But if I can reach one.  Just one.  Then I will have made a difference.  Isn’t that why we teach anyway, to make a difference?