Observations on Classroom Management
This was my 2nd week of teaching both Foods 10 and Cafe 9-12.
In my foods class, kitchen unit groups were determined by the students themselves. Students had the priviledge to pick who they wanted to work with at the beginning of term. However, because of this, the students who were in the same groups with their friends were often quite ‘chatty’. Yet because these were coincidentally the more self-sufficient and responsible students, they were still able to complete their work both on time and with quality.
On the other hand, classroom management was completely different in my cafeteria class. Each class began with a theory component which took place in the staff lunch room. Unfortunately, this was quite disruptive because teachers had the freedom to walk in and out to purchase food and beverages during classtime. I noticed that the students had gotten used to this by now, as it was already halfway through the school term. On most occasions, teachers respected our class when I reminded them that it was in session (most of the time teachers did not even notice!). For the rest of the class, students worked in the kitchen in their assigned stations. Each station was led by a staff/TA who instructed students on their job for the day. As the teacher, my job was to manage both the staff and students, making sure they were on task at all times and that the food was prepared and ready by the specific time. For the most part, students were on task, cooperative and respectful, with the few exceptions of students using their phones in which I had to ask them to put their phones away in their backpacks.