In the Ethnic Foods class, students study all of the regions of the world. The course begins with “Why do we Eat the Foods we Eat?” This lesson was created to stimulate the ‘investigative minds’ of students, encouraging them to ask questions and seek answers. In the study of American Culture, each region is celebrated with an authentic foods lab. This project was created to get students to understand the influence of other cultures on our own American favorites.
Capsule Wardrobes seem to be the latest trend in shopping and not just for the minimalists who strive to eliminate the excess! I decided to have my students explore this trend, create their own capsule wardrobe collection for a specific season and budget range as well as promote it through an infomercial using apps such as Polyvore and iMovie. Students were highly engaged as they looked for pieces to create their collection and somewhat frustrated as they had to revise when prices exceeded their budget range! Overall, a great practical lesson and project, simulating real life practices (except for the infomercial–that was just a fun, creative way to share their collections with the entire class)!
Seems like quotation posters are everywhere on social media! These posters often contain very important and inspirational or motivational quotes that can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Below you will find a way to use them with your students in an interactive way, using the graphic design Canva App or website. A big thank you goes out to Linda Hayes, a FACS teacher from Pennsylvania, for her time and efforts spent collecting the running quotes for various FACS topics that you will find below and sharing them with us!
When I created QR Code Stations in my child development class to learn about newborn care, I had no idea that they would be such a hit! My students really like getting out of their seats, moving from station to station in order to learn about various topics. So, I decided to give it a try with the essential six nutrients and the results proved to be successful once again. So, below you will find a new lesson about the essential six nutrients, utilizing the infamous QR Codes!
I spent time this past summer browsing on the internet and reading teacher comments on Twitter. One of my favorite things is to watch TedTalk videos. I kept coming across ideas that what we teach students will be obsolete in 40 years, many future careers have not been invented, how fast knowledge doubles, advances in artificial intelligence, brain research, etc. So, what’s a teacher to teach? Or more importantly, what is it that students must be able to know and do to thrive in a future world full of unknowns? You may have additional thoughts but some of mine are students must be literate, be adaptive, be problem solvers, be able to think-outside-of-the-box, use technology, communicate effectively with others, work with others, and re-invent themselves in the workplace. Then, for the first time in my long career, my school adopted a partial block schedule with the first 2 days of the school year being block days. Students need to have positive experiences so they want to come back the next day plus I didn’t want to bore them. So, I wrote the Gidgee Gadget lesson. Take a look below to see what it’s all about!
Shopping for a dorm is a necessary task if you are heading to college, and can be quite a daunting experience if you’ve never done it before! It seems like college students today need a lot more as incoming freshman than what I ever needed in four years of college (many moons ago)! I discovered this when preparing to send my first born off to college a few years ago and as we look forward to repeating it with child number two next summer. Having that experience prompted me to create this project to help students see what colleges suggest they bring and the cost involved. It also allows them to discern between what they will truly use and need versus what they don’t, eliminating a lot of excess spending! This is a real eye-opener for students as they prepare for moving into dormitory living!
