Following the recommendations identified by the acronym, WARM, you can inspire students to reach for ultimate success from the moment they return to or begin their training.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed honoring and celebrating differences; this month, we will talk about ways to begin a semester by making our students feel special—not always something we think about it, given all the other tasks that face us in September, the time most U.S. colleges begin the year again. There are four major strategies: welcoming, asking, reminding and mixing it up, or WARM. Now might be a good time to consider adopting one or all of them.

Welcoming
Welcoming people has always been a fundamental principle of hospitality. As chefs, we welcome people by feeding them or otherwise offering them food. As teachers, we think about the first class of the term, and we do it well.

This year might be a useful time to think about welcoming them back to the institution, however. As your students come back to the campus after a summer break or an internship/coop/apprentice/work experience, how do you greet them? Do you look for ways to welcome them back to school? Do you invite them to notice all the changes that have been made over the summer? Do you focus on providing each of them with a compliment? Or ask about accomplishments?  Have you reviewed the organization of your office and considered rearranging it to be more welcoming to new and returning students? These and other questions will help you think about how to welcome your new and returning students to the campus.

Recognizing and respecting differences among people is characteristic of our industry, and a reality in most workplaces. In the classroom, honoring differences also creates a positive environment where everyone is welcome and feels safe and included.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed ways to promote diversity in our classrooms, a continuing challenge for many of us, especially when it involves more than just focus on different foods, in itself a great activity. This month, we will discuss honoring and celebrating differences—moving beyond recognizing diversity to making special notice of ways in which people are distinguished, one from another.

Reasons for Honoring
There are many reasons to honor individual differences, not the least of which is making the classroom a positive environment where everyone is welcome, everyone feels safe, and everyone feels included. In addition, honoring differences is characteristic of this industry, and a reality in most kitchens, restaurants and hotels. And as a way of contributing to the growth of the profession, we need to role model accepting and honoring differences.

Several Strategies
In trying to honor differences, I practice three of four different strategies: learning and using students’ correct names, remembering and mentioning particular details of their lives, publically recognizing aspects of their lives, and organizing groups that recognize the range of differences.

Creating a culture that recognizes differences in a positive manner is a key element of good teaching and an important strategy for making every student feel safe and secure while encouraging learning.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed ways to encourage critical thinking by using executive summaries and abstracts. This month and next, we will focus on issues of difference and diversity. In some ways, these topics are a natural follow-up to discussions of critical thinking since teaching about differences and diversity is about changing or broadening people’s minds and actions. It also helps them improve their perceptual and assessment skills.

Differences and Diversity
Increasingly, the membership of our classrooms has changed to include a wide range of students from all kinds of backgrounds and with all kinds of interests. The fascination of the culinary world and its prominent status, on the one hand, and the recessionary economy, on the other, has brought students into our programs who might never have been there before. In fact, the range of differences among our students can include any of the following (in alphabetical order to point out that no one difference is more important than another):

Asking students to prepare abstracts or executive summaries of documents they have read encourages separating an article into its relevant parts, synthesizing information from various sections, and describing it in a clear and well-organized manner.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed the value of writing annotated bibliographies as a way to encourage students to read articles—both in scholarly journals and trade publications—and other documents critically. This month, we will discuss the merits of assigning executive summaries and abstracts as ways to encourage critical thinking.

Differences between Executive Summaries and Abstracts
Although both abstracts and executive summaries provide information about the article to which they are attached, they serve very different purposes.

For many students, composing a bibliography with correct citations is a difficult accomplishment, but it needn’t be thanks to the rule of three: Cite, summarize and assess.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed the value of writing white papers, a different kind of assignment. For the next few months, we will focus on critical thinking, something we all value and many of us work to incorporate in our teaching and in our assignments.

This month, we will discuss the value of assigning annotated bibliographies as a way to encourage critical reading and writing. Next month, we will explain how requiring abstracts and executive summaries can serve a similar purpose and remind students not to absorb everything they find in print as the truth.

The Structure of an Annotated Bibliography
For many students, composing a bibliography with correct citations is a difficult accomplishment. Making them write an annotated bibliography, which some of them have never seen, extends the challenge. However, it does not need to be so difficult if you remember the rule of three (or CSA); there are three parts to an annotated bibliography: the citation, the summary and the assessment—Cite, Summarize and Assess.