When people ask me what I do for living I usually answer with, "I'm a high school teacher." Then, that usually follows with, "Oh wow! What do you teach?" That's where I often question how I should respond. How specific should I get here? Do I tell them I teach cooking, and leave it at that? Do I get fancy and say I teach culinary arts? Do I tell them about the program I am responsible for launching? 95% of the time I just say, "I teach cooking." Then I receive the typical response of, "Ohhhhhh, that is SO fun!!" Then, my simple answer of, "Yes, it is very fun." Every once in a while I will go a little more in depth, but rarely do people ask more.
The truth is, it is a lot of fun watching my students learn in an environment that is so hands-on. My heart is so full on those days when I see our planning play out in the lab, but what you don't see is the "behind the scenes" work that is done to get there. My new classroom has been met with such wonder and excitement, and truthfully, some people are jealous that they don't get the "Master Chef" experience that I do. I know because they've told me. Not in a hateful way, just in a playful way. Master Chef looks like fun and I'm sure those participants are having a blast, but think for a moment about all of the people that work behind the scenes to make it look like fun. That's where my job comes in. In the past six weeks, I have been learning more than my fair share of new "stuff," and organizing my brain to figure out how it will all play out in real life. How will they work the six-burner gas ranges that have pilot lights? How will I teach them about all of the cleaning chemicals we will use, and the industrial dishwasher? Oh, and that three compartment sink requires several steps, will they remember how to do that? Will I wash all of the towels, or will I make them do it? How will they set up Mise en Place? Where will be the central location for ingredients? What equipment will I keep at their workstations? How will traffic flow affect their safety and effectiveness? These are just a few of the things I've had to think about since school started. I've been trained on meat slicers, the combi-oven, the gas convection oven, the griddle, the char-broiler, the fryers, etc. I've spent lots of days and nights at the school cleaning, setting up equipment and procedures. Oh, and I need to grade some papers, enter them into the gradebook, answer emails, write lessons, attend meetings, and buy supplies. YIKES!! Finally, this past week, we did a practice lab. The kids were excited, I was excited, and it went very well. As I watched them work, I noted several things that we may need to add, things we may need to take away, and small concepts that we will need to discuss in class the next week to help make things go even smoother for our next lab. It's an ongoing process in my mind that I will always be trying to improve. It's one of the many reasons I do love my job - it's constantly changing, and my brain is always being challenged. That can be the beauty of teaching, it can be fun, but we must rise to the occasion and really challenge ourselves to think outside the box in order to reach these students in new ways, and challenge THEIR thinking. It requires LONG hours, time away from home, weekend work, late-night work, and passion! Why am I telling you all of this? I'm telling you this in hopes that the next time you meet a teacher - any teacher - that you understand the complex nature of what we do. Whether it's "culinary arts," American History, band, industrial technology, English Language Arts, math, or science - we all work HARD behind the scenes to create the fun you see. So, when I say, "Yes, it's fun," I could also say, "...but man, it's a lot of hard work." I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it, but it helps when people respect what you do, and know that your job is just as important as theirs. Teaching is an art - a craft to be mastered - and when you finally think you've mastered it, those darn teenagers go and change things. It's beautiful, and it can change lives. So, when you meet a teacher - pat them on the back for doing the most important and most demanding job in the world.
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