Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It's about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity. -Guy Fieri
While I am not so sure just how insightful Mr. Fieri meant those words to be, they certainly resonate in many walks of life. Replace cooking with learning, and you could have a great meme that would represent how we, as teachers, feel. After all learning is not about just a single ingredient. Some ingredients make the end product sour or bitter, while some ingredients make for a sweet and delectable treat. Some recipes simply don’t work, while others produce savory products craved by the masses. Cooking can be done quickly on a gas burner or slowly in a slow cooker. Regardless of the medium, the outcome is not complete unless it is combined with love and care.
In cooking or in learning we seek the same outcome, a wonderful morsel that is satisfying to everyone. By harnessing a child’s imagination education can be sweet. When child tastes sweetness, they crave more. When we open imaginations broad doors, the possibilities are endless.
When we empower our students, we allow them to use tools not normally available to them. We allow them to become thinkers, movers, shakers, and stirrers, capable of making their own decisions, and to partner with others. This is a recipe for success. Success in school, in the kitchen, and in life starts with the having faith and confidence in oneself; empowerful breeds confidence.
Creativity, becoming an individual, thinking outside the proverbial box is another wholesome ingredient to success. Allowing students to broaden their mind, to try new flavors, and incorporate spice into their work allows them to develop flavors they would not normally taste. It allows them to develop a pallet rich in color and texture. They will want to share these flavors with others, collaborating and concocting as they go along, all in the pursuit of a culinary/scholastic masterpiece.
While I am not sure it was Mr. Fieri’s intent to be so poetic, but his words certainly resonated with me. Empowerment, creativity, and fostering imaginative thinking have all become the buzzwords in my 2015-16 mantra. I WILL MAKE CHEF’S out of my students!
