My first blog. Another blogger got me thinking about the education of adults. Like him, I spent many years as a cook and a chef. Now I teach. I think.
When I first began, I thought, "this'll be great. Students are paying good money to learn what they need to enter a new career. Keen, eager and all that". Ahh, the naivity. I'm thinking they can hardly wait for the pearls of wisdom I'm about to impart and they're thinking about the hot guy/girl across the aisle, the party they're going to go to, the hang-over from last nights party etc. My "pearls" are about 19th on the list of things to care about.
Some of these students put more work into finding reasons not to go to class, not to do the homework and god-forbid they should learn anything. Moreover, they consider it their right not to contribute and support the rest of the students by holding up their end. Professional cooking is a team sport after all. In any given group, there could be one or two that are mortally offended that they are expected to actually do something. To be fair, there are any number of really excellent students that will succeed dispite my best efforts. These wonderful people are deeply angry that instructors are forced to spend time getting the slackers up to speed.
Jaime Oliver's show hah. My world and welcome to it.
Teaching is at once the most fun and the hardest thing I've done.