What do you do if your culinary students need help developing their skills?

In my experience, many culinary students can SHOW you where they excel more effectively than they can TELL you where they excel. Give your students projects that will develop their skills through active learning as opposed to reading about the skills or watching a video. I used to spend the first two days of every class that I taught merely observing. I'd give directions and I would avert crises, but mostly I was watching to see where students needed more guidance. Who needed help in knife skills vs. time management? Who really seemed to have grasped leadership, etc. I would always find at least ONE thing that they were good at so that I could start with the positive and gain trust.

The initial step is to assess your students' strengths and areas needing improvement. Observe their classwork, review assignments and feedback, and encourage self-evaluation. This helps tailor your instruction to their individual needs. Use tools like quizzes, rubrics, checklists, or portfolios to assess their skills effectively.

Generally speaking, when I give feedback, I like it to be "just in time" and applicable in that moment. I spent a lot of time (and energy!) wandering through the kitchen. Tasting, evaluating, giving out pointers, offering suggestions, thinking out loud so that all of my students could benefit from the feedback I was offering. I always maintained a positive energy and I made it a point to give people a boost if they needed it. Many students fear feedback; it's human nature in a way. By giving them positive feedback when you can, they learn to put aside their fear and come to understand that you are trying to make them better!

I often invented projects to offer after class and invite anyone who wanted to stay after to help. We taught in live kitchens with live guests, so students were always eager to stay after, do more. Experience is the best teacher so the more I could get them DOING tasks, the more likely they were to retain concepts. I would use that after class project time to continue teaching/reinforcing and just generally sharing what worked for me and what didn't in an effort to model what they needed to learn and give them opportunities to practice. I also met with every student mid-block so that we could have a private conversation about their progress. I would be very honest and not pull punches, but I was kind. They appreciated that so much!

We created opportunities for students to manage a kitchen for a "special project" themed dinner each block. This allowed them to create a menu, cost it, order the food, organize the prep, design the dining room, run the dining room, etc. It was so great to see their creativity come to life!

Integrate collaborative projects that encourage teamwork, mirroring the collaborative nature of professional kitchens. Pairing students with different skill sets for these projects can foster learning from peers, enhance problem-solving skills, and prepare them for the team-oriented environment they'll encounter in their culinary careers, enriching their educational experience.