As the American Culinary Federation’s 2013 National Chef Educator of the Year learned from her fourth-grade teacher, to achieve success in the classroom, a good instructor must be able to recognize the learning styles of his or her students and adjust his or her teaching style accordingly. Because every student deserves a Miss Farber.

By Leslie Eckert, CCE, CWPC, MBA

“It takes time to discover what works for you.”

As a child in elementary school I learned differently from all the other kids around me. It took me longer to absorb and retain information, and I had to work twice as hard to achieve accuracy with regards to technique. I was labeled a slow learner in second grade and attended summer school just to keep up with my third-grade class. Fourth grade came like all the other grades, but I soon realized on the first day of class this year was going to be different.

Miss Farberwas an incredible teacher who made learning fun, easy and exciting, and thinking back now, her style of teaching was so different from my previous teachers. Miss Farber incorporated games, pictures, role-playing, colors and sounds in our daily learning and promoted a learner-centered classroom. It was an incredible year, and I missed Miss Farber as I entered into fifth grade, where I found myself confronted with the old style of teaching and learning. Was the magic of learning gone for good?

Culinary instructors from across the nation recently participated in Emmi Roth USA culinary-externship program and American Cheese Society conference events.

Emmi Roth USA, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Emmi Group and a leading provider of specialty cheeses and premium fresh dairy products, recently welcomed six culinary instructors to participate in a Wisconsin Cheese Immersion at the company’s creamery and Culinary Education Center in Monroe, Wis. Admission to the program was supported by partner CAFÉ.

From July 30 to Aug. 3, the instructors experienced a comprehensive cheese immersion though hands-on cheesemaking, working alongside Emmi Roth USA corporate chefs and educational sessions. The externship coincided with the 30^th Annual American Cheese Society (ACS) Conference & Competition in Madison, Wis. This national conference drew cheesemakers, specialty retailers and other industry professionals from around the country and offered additional opportunities for the externship participants.

Culinary instructors who participated in the program were Daryl Nosek, FMP, curriculum chair of culinary arts at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, N.Y.; Chris Bugher, CEC, of  Mountwest Community College in Huntington, W.V.; Colin Roche, Ph.D., CEC, FMP, CHE, of Johnson & Wales University in North Miami, Fla.; Michelle Gaw of Cuyahoga Community College in Highland Hills, Ohio; J. Claire Menck, Ph.D., culinary director of The Art Institute of Wisconsin in Milwaukee; and Todd Barrios, CEC, of Stephan F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Advanced planning, organization, preparation, creativity, flexibility and solid content knowledge are all necessary to challenge students and let them know what is expected of them.

By Bradley J. Ware, Ph.D., and C. Lévesque Ware, Ph.D.

Effective classroom management is possible when strategies that facilitate learning and reduce disciplinary problems are implemented. Solutions that can positively contribute to reaching this goal include:  preparing a well-thought-out syllabus that carefully delineates student accountability; using a system of evaluation that de-emphasizes individual grading; and including course work that is both relevant and challenging.

The Course Syllabus
A syllabus is a document that explains a course in detail. It provides students with precise information concerning what must be done to successfully complete a course. An organized syllabus sets the tone of the course and relays that the instructor is prepared and in control. A good syllabus clearly spells out the instructor’s expectations and should therefore be presented on the first day of class. When reviewing the syllabus with students it is important to make sure that they understand the rationale behind each rule, regulation and policy, and the reasons why these are critical to the overall success of the lab/class. A well-worded, clear syllabus can greatly reduce the occurrence of disciplinary problems.

De-emphasizing Individual Grades
In most colleges and university courses, instructors use quizzes, midterms and final exams as their primary evaluative criteria. Unfortunately, individual graded exams often cause fear and anxiety among students and create a competitive atmosphere that divides excellent students and marginal students. Using hybrid forms of these instruments can reduce test anxiety and provide greater opportunities for student success. A midterm or final exam might include a section that contains essay questions that are prepared at home prior to the in-class portion of the exam. “Take home” exams allow students to plan, prepare and organize their essays in advance, reducing the pressure of time constraints. The inclusion of a collection of essays from which students select a predetermined number and develop these is another option. Students might be asked to select and develop three essays from the five presented.

Following the recommendations identified by the acronym, WARM, you can inspire students to reach for ultimate success from the moment they return to or begin their training.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed honoring and celebrating differences; this month, we will talk about ways to begin a semester by making our students feel special—not always something we think about it, given all the other tasks that face us in September, the time most U.S. colleges begin the year again. There are four major strategies: welcoming, asking, reminding and mixing it up, or WARM. Now might be a good time to consider adopting one or all of them.

Welcoming
Welcoming people has always been a fundamental principle of hospitality. As chefs, we welcome people by feeding them or otherwise offering them food. As teachers, we think about the first class of the term, and we do it well.

This year might be a useful time to think about welcoming them back to the institution, however. As your students come back to the campus after a summer break or an internship/coop/apprentice/work experience, how do you greet them? Do you look for ways to welcome them back to school? Do you invite them to notice all the changes that have been made over the summer? Do you focus on providing each of them with a compliment? Or ask about accomplishments?  Have you reviewed the organization of your office and considered rearranging it to be more welcoming to new and returning students? These and other questions will help you think about how to welcome your new and returning students to the campus.

Students in teams don’t necessarily have to like each other, says Chef Weiner. They won’t have the luxury of choosing their teammates in the real world, after all. But they do have to learn to work together to execute a successful meal. Here are proven tips to teach them how.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

At the recent CAFÉ Leadership Conference in Miami I had the privilege of attending a seminar by Paul Sorgule of Harvest America Ventures. Paul said something that was a proverbial slap in the face for me. He stated that all culinary instructors teach with teams, but we don’t really understand how teams work, nor do we specifically teach our students how to work in teams.

One of the key items he covered is that there are four phases in each team project:

Testing

Infighting

Organization

Mature Closeness

The first thing people do when assigned to a team is to test out the other team members and themselves in the team. How much do the other team members know? How much can I assert myself in the team? Will I be able to ride on other people’s coattails?

Dr. Tso-Cheng Chang was a pioneer of “no pesticides or herbicides” farming in the United States. His farm, which grows vegetables for his award-winning restaurant in Amherst, Mass., not only is one of the largest bean-spout producers in the nation, it also grows schizandra berries—which might be the ginseng of this decade.

Long before “shop local, buy local” became something Americans came to value, Dr. Tso-Cheng Chang grew his own Chinese vegetables to serve at his award-winning restaurant, Amherst Chinese Food, on Main Street in downtown Amherst, Mass. So when in 1983 he converted his farm in nearby Whatley into a small factory designed to mass-produce bean sprouts, it barely caused a ripple on the local business scene.

That same factory on Dr. Chang’s Farm recently celebrated its 30^th anniversary with the distinction of being one of the largest soybean- and mung-bean-sprout facilities in the United States.

“You would say from the success of his restaurant and the sprout farm that Dr. Chang epitomizes the American dream, but his story goes beyond that,” says Steven V. Dubin, spokesperson for Dr. Chang Naturals, which grows and wholesales the company’s certified schizandra berries. “In fact, it’s quite fitting that his farm is in a region known as Pioneer Valley because Dr. Chang has pioneered a number of things, most notably ‘no herbicides or pesticides’ farming.” 

Chang’s journey began in a small town in Shandong Province, China, where he was born in the late 1920s. He earned an undergraduate degree in agronomy from Taiwan University in 1953 and later emigrated to the United States, where he earned an M.S. in crop science from Michigan State University in 1966.

A new video from the American Meat Institute featuring a noted animal-welfare expert is part of the Glass Walls Project to increase transparency in the meat-and-poultry industry.

The American Meat Institute (AMI) recently released a video tour of a pork-slaughter plant hosted by leading animal-welfare expert Temple Grandin, Ph.D., professor of animal science at Colorado State University. The video is available on the institute’s dedicated animal-welfare website, www.AnimalHandling.org.

Also released with the video was a print companion brochure that may be downloaded. Single copies also are available upon request from the AMI. The pork-plant video tour and brochure augment the beef-plant video tour, also hosted by Grandin, which was released in August 2012. Since its release, the beef-plant video has been viewed nearly 50,000 times online and in countless classrooms and other settings.

OMNI-TV host and associate producer Lucy Zilio visited the Culinary Arts Centre at Centennial College in Toronto recently to take in the sights and aromas of a live kitchen lesson. In a video (110 seconds) on the program’s website, Zilio speaks with chef and professor Samuel Glass about the special focus Centennial’s program places on international cuisine. Visit http://www.centennialcollege.ca/successstory/omnitv-culinaryartscentre to watch the video.

Centennial’s shiny new Culinary Arts Centre is a great teaching and learning facility designed with students in mind. The kitchens are spacious and well lit to ensure the safety of all users working in what can be a busy and creative environment. The teaching is hands-on with students working side by side with instructors, while large-screen video equipment can play back instructive lessons and provide real-time feeds and access to Internet and broadcast content, as well.

Centennial College is Ontario’s first community college, established in 1966. It primarily serves the eastern portion of the greater Toronto area through four campuses and seven satellite locations.

PHOTO: Chef and professor Samuel Glass (r.) of Centennial College in Toronto discusses education best practices with other instructors during the roundtable lunch at the 2013 CAFÉ Leadership Conference in Miami in June.

Chef Reginald Martin, culinary-arts instructor at Westside High School in Houston, Texas, is the recipient of the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation’s 2013 Educator Excellence Award. Martin has been leading Westside’s program since 2008 and has more than 100 students enrolled in the program. 

The Educator Excellence Award is presented to an educator who has made significant contributions to culinary education through both an unwavering dedication to students and a strong presence in the community using the Texas ProStart curriculum.

“Reggie works tirelessly to provide the most rewarding culinary and hospitality education possible for his students,” says Jerry Walker, TRA Education Foundation chairman and owner of Lunada Tex-Mex Grill, Dallas. “According to his students, he has taught them professionalism, teamwork, ethics and leadership skills. These are skills that they will take with them no matter what career path they pursue.”

Martin is also a successful business owner, and his industry experience and connections with other industry leaders allows his students to engage in unique learning opportunities and gain real-world experience.

“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by my peers in the education and restaurant industry,” Martin says. “Receiving this award really validates our students’ achievements in the Texas ProStart program. We have worked extremely hard at Westside High School to challenge our students in the classroom through the Texas ProStart curriculum to prepare them for careers in the hospitality and restaurant industry. This award is a daily reminder for me to strive for excellence as I educate the young culinarians that will be the future of our industry.”

The award was presented at the 2013 Southwest Foodservice Expo, June 24, in Dallas. Texas ProStart is an industry-based high school culinary arts and restaurant management program that prepares students for careers. Currently, the program is offered in more than 200 Texas high schools, reaching more than 15,000 students annually.

PHOTO: (l. to r.) Linda Bebee, Texas Beef Council; Don Courville, Auto-Chlor; Reginald Martin; Earl Mulley, TRA Education Foundation chairman.

The great work of chefs and those in the hospitality industry is often gone once guests leave the restaurant, but a new Hall of Fame at the esteemed Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago will showcase the work of the best in the industry. Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago has been chosen to house the new International Food & Beverage Forum “Hall of Fame.”

Launched June 23, the new International Food & Beverage Forum Hall of Fame provides international recognition for prestigious chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers and other food and beverage personalities. The Hall of Fame features certificates, historic menus, commemorative plates from special dinners held around the world, and other items to showcase the success of these respected professionals. 

“The new International Food & Beverage Forum Hall of Fame is a gem to share with current and prospective students, as well as visitors to our school,” says Kirk T. Bachmann, president of Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. “It is an honor for us to permanently house this collection on our campus, as it will serve as a great source of inspiration and a valuable resource to aid in our students’ professional development.” 

The grand-opening celebrations began with a 20^th-anniversary gala dinner on June 22 at Technique restaurant on the campus of Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago. A ribbon-cutting ceremony followed the next day with remarks from Dr. hc Kurt H. Fischer, founder of the International Food & Beverage Forum. “Le Cordon Bleu is a perfect match for the International Food & Beverage Forum as both organizations share a passion for excellence in the hospitality industry,” Fischer says. “The Chicago location is an ideal home for the International Food & Beverage Forum Hall of Fame to showcase the great work of food and beverage industry personalities who have come before these students and will fuel their passion for the industry.”