teaching

[danno]

Has anybody here ever considered teaching or has done it at a culinary school? what may be some of the advantages and dis advantages from being in the industry.
Danno

[pjm333]

Danno
I volunteered and was a paid substitute for for B.O.C.E.S
"tech center" for 2 yrs and loved it ! I went to tech center for cooking in high school and kept in touch with my teacher and he asked me to sub one day ! I think the students related to me more because i was alot younger than the teacher .I found it to be very rewarding. I Think one thing that it does take is alot of Patience !!

pat

[isaac]

danno,

thats a good question. i have a lot of friends who are teaching at culinary schools.

some of the advantages are that you can use whatever ingrdents you want... another is that you can move around from topic to topic... like one semester teaching asian class...another time teaching garde manger. it also allows you to get better trained and cross trained. for example... at the CIA they hold the CMC tests for the ACf. some of our chefs took the test and they had an addvantage... they took classes prior to there tests that helped them. i think that would be cool... just knowing that your always in the learning loop of it all.

the hours are pretty resonable versus working at a hotel or restaurant. sometimes you might teach a weekend class and sometimes you might need to do doubles but hey.. most weekends off... holidays too.

i will be frank with you... some chefs.. even though they are good at what they do in the field... SUCK at teaching. i had a few chefs that just didnt teach worth crap. its a diffrent ball game teaching a class of culinary students.

i wish you the best of luck

[thebighat]

What's that old saying? "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

[m brown]

Hey, that is not true. those who can, teach.
teaching is a great way to learn, grow and maintain a family life!

i love teaching because creating a course includes much study and refining of technique. as there is more than one way to skin a cat and you must choose the technique that best suits the students abilities while giving them a base to go off and work in a professional kitchen with confidence and curiosity.

the pay is not great at culinary schools but then most of the instructors have side jobs or their own co.

[thebighat]

I never said it was true. It's just out there. My experience at J&W was that all the instructors had a solid background in industry, and they all knew their stuff cold. One in particular was a very gifted artist, but as a teacher could have been a poster boy for the Attention Deficit Disorder society. One of my instructors was a team member at the Coupe de Monde de Boulangerie this past weekend, and another J&W instructor, our old pal Peter Reinhart, just copped a Best Cookbook of the year award.

[isaac]

sometimes teaching can be a lot harder then working on the line!

[danno]

well If you would have asked me 6 months ago if i would ever teach I would have said probably not. but since my wife is in the military and we got transfered to a city where the oportunities dont grow on trees. and the jobs that are out there would be like taking 3 steps back and taking salary cut in half. but with teaching i will not have to face that. I have taken that route before, and dont want to do that anymore.
Anyway,, Bighat so you went to J W Prov. OR Charls. I went to Charls. You may have a praline formula I have been looking for . Look forward to hearing from you.
Danno

[thebighat]

(I feel like that guy in the old HBO commercial...) "Yes, yes, I do." Sorry. I'll get it to you..