A note to self – Do not deviate from lesson plans that work well!!! Not ever! I got the bright idea from somewhere to let my classes make muffins from scratch the very first time they were in the lab. It was a big mistake. Don’t get me wrong. Their muffins were very good, it was just so hectic. They are not familiar with the people in their group. They know where very little equipment is in the kitchen. They are not familiar with the equipment. So no matter how smart and energetic my students are the first lab has to be something very simple to do. It’s too much for five group members times six kitchens. And please don’t let one group have what they think is an emergency and my assistance is needed in their kitchen. For example, an oven gets magically turned off or a glass is broken or the timer is hard to set!
It was an exhausting day for me, but the students really enjoyed themselves. I heard one young man saying has he was putting on his apron, “Man, I feel just like Bobby Flay!” That was priceless. Every group was excited in their own way. After all these years it never ceases to amaze me how they all cannot wait to hear what I have to say about what they have prepared! How did they do? Some were better than others, but we have an entire semester and a lot of learning to do! I am ready and I know they are , too. Here is the recipe we used today if you want to check it out. Now here are the results and if you like vote for the group that you felt did the best job. Of course, that’s not going to be a true test of quality. Some may taste good but look bad and some can look bad but taste great!
The Teacher Cooks 
They have potential. By the end of the semester, should be real pros!!!!
They look awesome. The presentation I like best is the one from 2nd block, kitchen five. I like the simple approach and the decorative plate. Great use of picnik to display your pics. Love it!
Thanks for your help!!!
What a lovely job they did! Hurrah! I’m sorry it was so hectic.
You tweeted me once to get in touch and I haven’t done it yet but want to — I’m teaching my first cooking class this upcoming fall and would love to send you my syllabus, ask for some advice, and ask about how your day-to-day classes are structured. Do you have a bit of time for that (I know how incredibly busy we always are as teachers, so please don’t let me interfere!)?
Could you email me, if so? And I’ll email you back with some questions 🙂
go first block kitchen four! we did a great job !!! so proud of us !!! it looks delicious !!
These were very fun to make and I dont think i couldnt have done it without the help of my group but i really wish i was there to see the demo.
I think my first lab experience with my group was very well but we could of helped each other little more.
My group actually did pretty well on this lab. We all worked efficiently and we had fun. I still need to work on peeling and chopping an apple but other than that, everything went great.
My group worked well together overall. At times we got a little confused about where things were in the kitchen but we bounced back and made some amazing apple muffins.
It seemed like you made it more complicated in the demo than what it really was. Our kitchen got a little hectic with everyone doing different things, but everyone did their job and we made some pretty good muffins.
I learned in my first lab experiment that i have a really awesome group and that we work well together!! (:
I had a lot of fun working with my group to make these! 🙂
I think we did a really good job for our first lab! next time we’ll remember that we have to work faster as a family!
For our first lab I think everyone did great! Once we are able to remember where things are, we will be able to work together more effeciently and alot faster.
My lab group works so well together! I’m so excited about the rest of the year!
For our first lab I think that everyone did great! Once we are able to remember where things are in the kitchen, we will be able to work together more effeciently and alot faster.
I liked that as a group and that we don’t know each other that much but we worked together as a family and i had alot of fun.
1st block kitchen 5 you guys did a very nice jon. cant’t wait for my first time to cook with you guys.
I realize that we must work more quickly next time and always place the napkin in our laps.
We had great team work. I learned not to stir the batter to much so muffins don’t peak. I love 1st period kitchen 4…yay 🙂
What i learned in our first lab is that you should always work together at cooking your food and treat your gropu as if its your family. I had a lot of fun doing this lab and i hope we do another one soon!
I think we could have done better but we worked great as a team and we know what to do better next time.
our group did good, we just need to work on managing time better. other than that we beasted it. lol
I think our group did pretty well, next time i think we will stay more organized and use our time more wisely. Other than that, I too believe we beasted it (:
i learned that i can chop apples really good.
We worked really well together in the lab. Everything was kept clean and everything was organized. A lot of fun!
oh and im voting for first block kitchen 6 (:
1st block kitchen 6 looks amazing! :] We worked great together as a team and learned how to cut up the apples.
Working on these muffins in class were fun! I had a good time cooking together as team, and getting to experience the basics of cooking.
i am proud to be a part of 1st block kitchen four! we succesfully mixed the batter without overmixing and i learned that its much easier to bake with people than to multitask
I learned that mixing the wet and dry ingredients together too much will make the muffins peak.
Although our muffins didn’t taste like professional muffins, i feel our group still did a superb job with our teamwork and we have a great future ahead in this class!
Kitchen 6 was fun.. And had many laughs. We worked good together. and they tasted really good!!
My first lab experience was fun. Our muffins turned out pretty good. We worked pretty well together and cooked efficiently as soon as we found out where everything in the kitchen was located.
I felt like our muffins came out really well and our group worked well together, but I did feel like we were a little rushed for time.
Our muffins were delicious! They turned out good, and our goup worked really well together!
our group is fun. but the banana muffins we had to make were plain.
the muffin my group made was good…i liked cookin them in the groups becuase its showed you how to reallly cook and make stuff rite:]
the muffins my group made were really good we worked every hard together a a group and i learned that you can keep some of the peel on to see what it would be like an it came out right
my group did pretty good the first lab. Overall it was a fun activity
I liked our muffin’s! I thought we did really good together, it was very easy and fun. The only problem was that our oven kept shutting off!
it was fun working together with everyone we all agreed on things and everything went smoothly. we did get a little worried wen the oven turned off good thing we realised this soon enough.
I thought it was fun and interesting to make mufffins as the first thing we cooked and my group worked well together
An interesting day it was… First time for me ever cooking anything of significance in the kitchen. I learned a lot though… It was difficult working with so many people in a small place, it was hard to move around and everyone was kind of in my way… All in all, though, we did all right. I’m glad that you enjoyed our muffins.
working from scratch is harder than i thought! but i still enjoyed the food! GO KITCHEN 1!
Our muffins came out very well, but I felt that they should have rose more than they did. Although are muffins did not ride well i’m glad you did enjoy the taste
I felt like our muffins turned out great and were cooked well
our first time in kitchenwas really BAD because didn`t put enought.
i think that the muffins were awesome! i think that at some point and time wer should make them again.
making the muffins were fun . my group worked well together so we learned alot and had fun while doing it.(:*
i love them!!
i like our first lab expierience i was nice that we got to do it ourselves it was fun and i cant wait to do it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!;)
i enjoyed the demo .
my groups first time in the kitchen was kind of crazy, we didnt add enough bakin powder and they didnt rise.
it was a fun experiance! im looking foward to the next labb
The first lab was crazy! it was a good experience with my lab partners!
The lab was alot of fun and our group didnt have many problems so it went good!
i learn how to mix the ingredients together
it was a fun first lab
i learn how to chop apples without cutting my finger off
Wow, those muffins like great. It sounds like a fabulous way to kick up the school year — even if it was hectic. I bet those students learned lots with this exercise.
Thanks Sarah! They did learn quite a bit.
Great idea! Everyone looks like they came out with a wonderful bunch of muffins. I can’t even imagine how much chaos it must have been, but it must have been nice to see the finished products. Yum!
Love these! Would never had known there was hectic-ness by those great pics! Congrats to your students for turning out some great muffins!
Those sound amazing! And look it too…not to mention perfect for fall.
Fun post, Wanda!
Hard to choose though, without tasting! 🙂
never judge a book by its cover, right? i love an apple muffin, even though it reminds me that fall is right around the corner… 🙂
it was a little hard finding where everything was since i think it was are first lab in the group but learned a few things from that experience