Cake Assessment

Do you ever give a lecture or assign a lab and later think, why did I do that or what did my students actually get from that?

I have had this happen many times, like most teachers... I hope...

Often when I teach a lesson on baking or assign a baking lab this thought tickles the back of my mind. I know of course that "let them make cake" is a means of increasing numbers enrolled in my classes but at what point am I becoming the cake teacher?...side bar- my college professor Yvonne Gentzler quote: "what am I going to do with a doctorate in FCS - make more cakes?" (this also always comes to mind)

To beef up the education level of my baking lesson in my higher level foods class's I went back to my schooling - the FACS national standards. 

8.5.2 - Demonstrate professional skill for a variety of cooking methods including roasting, broiling, smoking, grilling, pan frying, deep frying, braising, stewing, poaching, steaming, and baking using professional equipment and current technologies.

8.5.4 - Apply the fundamentals of time, temperature, and cooking methods to cooking, cooling, reheating, and holding of variety of foods.

8.5.10 - Prepare breads, baked goods and desserts using safe handling and professional preparation techniques.

I used these standards to re-create my lecture on baking and added a good deal of the science and fundamentals of baking. Basically I gave them every piece of information I could (from baking ingredients to pan size and placement in the oven) in hopes that they can bake essentially without a recipe.

To assess this knowledge, like a good FACS teachers I strive to be I used a hands on assessment. This came in the form of a multiple day lab. On the first day I gave every student in the class a blank notecard and asked them to write a recipe for chocolate cake to the best of their knowledge. Some were pretty close and some were hilarious such as: "pour contents of box in bowl, add egg and oil, stir and bake for a while" or my personal favorite: "Call Grandma"

That same day I gave them my new baking lecture. The next day I passed back their note cards with a score out 5. 0 being not even close (like calling Grandma) and 5 being really really close or spot on. I asked them to compare with their group then come up with a new chocolate cake recipe to make with this group based on their graded recipes and their knowledge of baking. As a bonus they could also make a frosting recipe. The assignment this day was to finalize a recipe (s) and create a grocery list for me. Here is my lab plan for this.

The next day is prep day, they had to make their cake batter and frosting if they wanted and then work with me to coordinate when it needed to go in the oven, this way I could put them in early or they could sneak in during a passing time to put it in, or my other classes could do it or whatever, that's part of the fun!

The final day of the lesson I recommend they go to the gym before and after school. This is let them eat cake day! When the cakes are done and frosted they must also be graded! I like to switch up how I do this for each cook-off. Here is what my score sheet for this one looks like: