Welcome to grade 7/8 Home Ec.
Our first of three cooking labs last week was an astounding collage of new things going wrong. Crying, for one. We don't get many tears in cooking labs. For that matter, I don't get many tears in Home Ec.
Our kitchen can accommodate 5 cooking groups. With class sizes pushing 30 that is, of course, 5 or 6 teenagers to a "unit" (um, "flexible" class space, so not typical Home Ec. kitchen units).
One way to track which groups who have started their lab is by watching ingredients disappear from the supply table. I'm usually at the supply table until the final group secures their goods, since measuring is difficult. If people start to ask for supplies that have run out, I know from my position that something has gone wrong.
If people complain that they don't have enough bowls or measuring cups, that's a sign that I need to break away from the supply table and investigate.
Well, they complained and I investigated. I had SIX groups, not FIVE... and group 2.B was in the midst of a custody battle over measuring cups. Group 2 was bewildered... they didn't know why the other girls split off, and really didn't know why they were taking the equipment with them. Group 2B still seems to think that they were doing what they were supposed to, and have no idea why it wasn't working out.
I'd already decided to work with one boy who no one seemed eager to include in their group, so I was committed to assisting him. Since I'm usually buzzing from group to group, assisting, no one seemed to notice the extra time spent with him, but they DID notice that his muffins looked a heckuva lot better than theirs. He had NO PROBLEM securing a peer group this time around ;-)
In the meantime, the crying started.
Poor bewildered, and now, overwhelmed groups 2 and 2B struggled with everything. They could NOT measure their ingredients properly and attempted to measure 40 or 50 ml of baking powder into their muffins (they needed 10. TEN.) Frankly, they were a little annoyed that I made them dump it out and try again.
They didn't have enough prep bowls to hold each measured ingredient. When I suggested - take your big mixing bowl and put all the dry ingredients together (you're going to combine them anyway) - I was told "I don't think we're allowed to do that".
Raising an eyebrow, I said - "And just who makes the rules in this class anyway?" (thinking she'd giggle and move on). The reply was... "Well, K....'s in charge of our group." Oh, for the love of ...!
There are 24 other young cooks to supervise, so I moved on. By the time I returned to the wayward groups 2, one child was crying, but still cooking. The class was nearly over. The group was nowhere near finished.
I had them contact their classroom teacher with an estimated ETA of 20 minutes late for the next class. The crying intensified, and the muffin peeking began. Every 30 seconds that child opened the door to test the muffins. Nothing could calm her down and her group was coming unravelled.
ANYway... they finished their muffins and I held off on the debrief for a few days.
Yesterday we had a class meeting to rebuild the groups and I clearly stated our goal for the next lab. Make cookies. Without crying. I coaxed a few giggles from my distressed student.
I greeted them at the door after lunch. "What's our goal?" (Not expecting anyone to give me a straight answer) They did - "To make cookies without crying!" (from groups who wouldn't cry if they dropped a hot cookie sheet on their foot). The other teachers think I exaggerate.
They're halfway there. We made the cookie dough. Tomorrow we bake the cookies. Oatmeal chocolate cookies - now, Tear-Free!
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