One way to teach students about mass quantity, quality control, and portion control is to sell take home meals to faculty and staff. My students have sold stuffed shells, lasagna, stuffed pork chops, shepherd’s pie, chicken pot pie, apple & pumpkin pies, quiche and coffee cake, shanghai chicken & rice, and burritos. Shopping at large wholesalers for such orders will help keep costs down so you can make a profit. I also predetermine how many orders I can take and it is a first come first served basis. At first teachers were a little reluctant to eat food students had made, but now we have quite a following.
Knife Skills Lesson Plan
This is by far my favorite educational video that I have ever purchased. Most educational videos are over a hundred dollars for a mediocre often corny video hardly worth the price. This video that was under twenty dollars made lasting impressions on my students as the majority of the class listed this lesson as the most valuable lesson they took out of Culinary II.
Enchilada Lab
Have your students create delicious enchiladas and learn about Mexican cuisine.
Iron Chef Competition
This is a great capstone competition for culinary classes! It allows you to get a real feel for how much your students have learned.
Choosing a Place to Live
This is an innovative real life problem solving lesson on choosing a place to live. I came up with it when I was student teaching and was myself in search of a job and place to live. So, I had my students use my scenario to find me a place to live. I gave them lists of my needs and wants and had them try to persuade me to choose the location they chose for me. I made it into a competition-the group that found a location that fulfilled the most needs & wants off my list and did the best job persuading me won.
Discovering Your Life’s Purpose
The subject of purpose is often not taught in school. It brings up lots of other questions and often the uncomfortable topics of belief and religion for the teacher and student alike. The goal of this lesson is to help students examine their past which they cannot change, create their present, and plan and dream for their future to be satisfied with their lives when it is all said and done. The students will investigate what they want out of life and what they can contribute to society during their life times.