Practical Lesson 1

Hola! Last Wednesday, marks our first practical class. Prior to this class, we were very excited on planning the dishes and the theme we would like to present. My partner and I, had chosen to work on an English tea theme . We decided to bake fruit tarts and scones and served it with earl grey tea. The challenge to this practical session is the time constraint as we were given only one and a half hour to prepare and serve our dishes.  We managed to work within the time limit and we are very pleased with the outcome of our products. We believed that we were able work within the time frame as our workbench was organized and we planned a step ahead. Most importantly we remained focus in completing the task. 

As you can see, the  pictures illustrate the start,the middle and at  the end of the session. Mrs Stevenson had asked us to do so, because it reflects our work process throughout the entire session. With this visual prove, we can reflect on our work conditions and think of ways to improve it. Reflective practice serves to help us become better at what we are doing. 

Reflection:

While preparing for food presentation, I accidentally placed a box that I used to store my crockeries. I feel that this is inappropriate due to hygiene practices. Hence I must be very careful that while preparing, that hygiene is not compromised.

Here are some of the feedbacks by Mrs Stevenson on my product

• Using of odd numbers. When it comes to the rule of serving, often odd numbers catches the attention. e.g. instead of serving 4 fruit tarts, served 3 tarts. 
• We may remove the basket and the butter knife to prevent too many things on our table mat.

After serving, we were given the opportunity to look at other groups and this was a learning opportunity for all of us.

Here are the tips given by Mrs Stevenson:

1. Ensure colour of the crockeries matches
2. Prevent from overdoing the presentation e.g. cluttering of decorations
3. Ensure that a decorative item has a purpose and not forced into the presentation.
4. Be mindful of the serving portion.

Tips to conduct practical class :

1) Always link theory to the practical class. Some teachers do separate theory and practical. However by integrating theory into practical, learning is more meaningful to the students and they will gain better understanding of the topic. Here is an interesting fact I chanced upon :

The percentages listed represent the average amount of information that is retained through that particular learning method. Note what method produces the highest retention rate.

1. Lecture = 5%
2. Reading = 10%
3. Audiovisual = 20%
4. Demonstration = 30%
5. Discussion Group = 50%
6. Practice by doing = 75%
7. Teach others / immediate use of learning = 90%

http://www.ndt-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Constructivist%20_Learning.htm

2) Positioning of the teacher and the students. Mrs Stevenson highlighted proximity is an important factor when conducting a practical class.Ensures that the students are neither too far from us or standing behind our backs. This is actually a classroom management technique to prevent students from deviating and starting their own conversation. In fact it is advisable that we keep a watchful eye during the practical session to ensure safety of all students. Hence knowing where to position ourselves can help to reduce the chance of mishaps. 

3) Recipes should be sectioned into steps. There are several reasons as to why this is important. Firstly by sectioning the recipe, students will be able to grasp the steps and there are higher chance of them doing it correctly, as opposed to demonstrating the entire steps. Students might get confuse and there are higher chances of mixing the steps. Secondly by sectioning, we can prevent students from being too restless while waiting. Misbehaviour can emanate when students are not engaged.

4) General rule of thumb, long recipes should be section into 3 steps while short recipes into 2 steps.

5) Provide time target to complete steps. This will ensure that we work on the time limit and students to remain focus.

6) Provide verbal affirmation as we are facilitating the practical class.This will keep the students motivated and reassure  that they are doing the task correctly.

Recipe for fruit tarts

Ingredients:

Short Crust Pastry:

100g plain flour

50g fat

2 tbsp water

Custard Filling

1 tbsp custard powder

25g sugar

150ml milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

12g butter

Decoration

3 strawberries 

8 blueberries

3 kiwi 

Method:

1. Sift flour into mixing bowl.
2. Rub in the fat using finger tips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Mix in the water with a palette knife or a knife and shape dough into a roll.
4. Preheat oven 190C.
5. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead slightly. Roll out dough to slightly less than   0.5cm thickness.
6. Cut with a cutter and line patty tins with pastry.Prick the base with a fork.
7. Bake “blind” for about 20 mins or until golden brown.
8. Allow pastry to cool.
9. Prepare custard. Blend custard powder with a little milk. Add sugar, vanilla and the rest of the milk. Cook stirring all the time until mixture boils and thicken. Stir in butter. Pour into tartlets.
10. Fill tartlets with custard and fruits.

Recipe for Scones

Ingredients:

175g self-raising flour, plus more for dusting

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

85g butter, cut into cubes

3 tbsp caster sugar

175ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

beaten egg, to glaze

jam and cream cheese, to serve

Methods:

1. Heat oven to 220C.

2. Place the flour into a large bowl with the salt and baking powder, then mix. Add the     -----butter, then rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the -----sugar.

3. Put the milk into a jug and heat in the microwave for about 30 secs until warm. Add the -----vanilla, then set aside for a moment. Place a baking sheet on the tray.

4. Make a well in the dry mix, then add the liquid and combine it quickly with a palette ----------knife. 

5. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead slightly. Roll out dough to slightly less than ------5cm thickness.

6. Using a 5cm smooth-edged cutter, to cut about 8 scones. Glaze the top with beaten ---------egg, then  place onto the baking tray.

7. Bake for 10 mins until risen and golden on the top. Serve with jam or cream cheese.