William Apicerno, CEC, MCFE

One effective practice we like to use is encouraging our students to join the local chapter of professional chefs as a student culinarian. Attending the monthly meetings helps them to network. Thinking of themselves as already being professionally affiliated is a boost to self esteem and often gets them involved in professional activities, whether it be fundraising, chairity volunteerism, oreducational/competitive.This helps them focus their goals and enables them to see themselves as a member in the field already.

One motivation reinforcer I've found is consistency. Stay consistently positive with your class and sooner or later they will tag along. Ask people "How ya doin'" and the majority of them seem to want to complain or at least be non-committal. I have bad days like everyone else but never own up to it. When you put forth a positve mind-set people will come along with you - start dragging along and they will drag with you, and where's the fun in that??? I'm having a great day - how 'bout you?

In many occupations today teamwork is as highly sought after as individual skills. We have many teambuilding techniques (though I'm always looking for more)but my immediate question is how can we measure a students ability to work in and with a team and just how much of the grade should that represent? I'm of the opinion that a students level of participatiion and professionalism should count just as much if not more than their score on some multiple choice quiz. But how to accurately measure such a subjective trait, thats the question at hand.