Cooking by the Book
In my experience there are several kinds of cooks: bad, by the book, and from the soul. Bad cooks have no sense of what the finished product should look or taste like and no idea how to end up with an digestible, much less edible dish. Even when following a recipe, they can't seem to pull it off. By the book cooks read directions in detail, measure carefully, and can often create food that looks right, but doesn't always taste right....even though it should. Those who cook from the soul cook with love and joy. Sometimes they follow a recipe, more often then not they tweak it or create it as they go along, using their knowledge and following their instincts. Sometimes they have a specific dish in mind, other time they follow where the ingredients take them and almost always create something incredible or at the very least, tasty.
I'm afraid that there is not enough room in the profession for teaching from the soul. We have been given a very clear (albeit unrealistic or unappealing) picture of what our lessons should look like (or what our students should look like). We have been given scripted lesson plans and detailed steps to get us there. But the end result is stilted, unauthentic and while it may look good 'on paper", it looks and feels terrible in the classroom.
We need to find and connect with not only our teaching "voice", but also with our teaching "soul". What characteristics do I have that will allow me to connect with students and to communicate my passion for my subject? A sense of humor? A love of poetry? An innate sense of logic? An attraction to art? An interest in graphic novels? A gift for storytelling? A musical ear?
Brain research has been an enormous gift to our students. It has challenged us to rethink how and what we teach. We have learned in recent years to "chunk" the information that we impart. But we also need to learn how to make connections. What good is it to break a topic down if we offer our students no way to put it all together?
Making connections is to teaching what mixing is to cooking. Stirring produces a much different product than whipping. In teaching we also need to pay attention to the moments which require us to choose between folding gently and beating. Adding ingredients at different points in the cooking process will change the taste of the dish. Changing the roles of output and input can completely change the learning process.
Cooking by the book is safe. It usually works. But it lacks flavor, passion, love and power. Teaching by the book is much the same. We need to look for moments to add our own personal touches to the recipe, stop and taste the batter at different stages, honor our creativity, savor the process as much as the product.
We must also always remember who our guests are. Our most impressive Cordon Bleu lesson will sit untouched in a grilled cheese classroom. We must first become the finest grilled cheese chefs for our grilled cheese connoisseurs. When they trust that we know how and what to feed them they will be willing to try some of our more exotic dishes.
Bad cooks (and bad teachers) don't enjoy it at all. Cooks who only cook by the book (and teachers who only teach from a lesson) are more concerned with what might go wrong than with what might go right.. Cooks who cook from the soul (and teachers who teach with one) appreciate the ingredients, the process and the audience....and that is very obvious in the delight and flavor of the finished product.
with love,
Laurie
who is not the world's best cook but would love to be a better teacher
I'm afraid that there is not enough room in the profession for teaching from the soul. We have been given a very clear (albeit unrealistic or unappealing) picture of what our lessons should look like (or what our students should look like). We have been given scripted lesson plans and detailed steps to get us there. But the end result is stilted, unauthentic and while it may look good 'on paper", it looks and feels terrible in the classroom.
We need to find and connect with not only our teaching "voice", but also with our teaching "soul". What characteristics do I have that will allow me to connect with students and to communicate my passion for my subject? A sense of humor? A love of poetry? An innate sense of logic? An attraction to art? An interest in graphic novels? A gift for storytelling? A musical ear?
Brain research has been an enormous gift to our students. It has challenged us to rethink how and what we teach. We have learned in recent years to "chunk" the information that we impart. But we also need to learn how to make connections. What good is it to break a topic down if we offer our students no way to put it all together?
Making connections is to teaching what mixing is to cooking. Stirring produces a much different product than whipping. In teaching we also need to pay attention to the moments which require us to choose between folding gently and beating. Adding ingredients at different points in the cooking process will change the taste of the dish. Changing the roles of output and input can completely change the learning process.
Cooking by the book is safe. It usually works. But it lacks flavor, passion, love and power. Teaching by the book is much the same. We need to look for moments to add our own personal touches to the recipe, stop and taste the batter at different stages, honor our creativity, savor the process as much as the product.
We must also always remember who our guests are. Our most impressive Cordon Bleu lesson will sit untouched in a grilled cheese classroom. We must first become the finest grilled cheese chefs for our grilled cheese connoisseurs. When they trust that we know how and what to feed them they will be willing to try some of our more exotic dishes.
Bad cooks (and bad teachers) don't enjoy it at all. Cooks who only cook by the book (and teachers who only teach from a lesson) are more concerned with what might go wrong than with what might go right.. Cooks who cook from the soul (and teachers who teach with one) appreciate the ingredients, the process and the audience....and that is very obvious in the delight and flavor of the finished product.
with love,
Laurie
who is not the world's best cook but would love to be a better teacher
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