Hillary Faeta-Ginepra

I can't control my circumstances in my job right now, but I can change my perception and how I handle the stress and fear.  Taking time to renew and recharge will actually help my performance and productivity.

I continue to work in industry, attend ACF meetings, and read trade journal articles and visit food web sites daily to stay in the know about trends and even updating my own skill set.  I bring in recent articles or food blog sites to share as discussion with my students.  A favorite of mine is cooks illustrated; as it provides great testing and skill development of dishes/recipes.  I tell my students that culinary is life long learning and encompasses so many areas from culture, to ingredients, to psychology, and business.  I learn new things each and every day.

I believe it is imperative to give students real examples of sanitation practices in lab on a constant basis.  It may seem like common sense, but once everyone is in this loud and hot environment, common sense can be lost.  I like to reinforce the importance of teamwork, leadership, and ethical responsibility during each class.  I also find it very helpful to have family meal or a team meeting at the end of each day to discuss positives and areas of improvement.  I let my students know that improvement is something we consistently strive for each and every day, even… >>>

I like the idea of combining General Education instruction with culinary topics as a means to get these students to move past the idea that they won't need math, writing, etc...in their careers.  Many of our students lack the ability to write and spell, which will be crucial to their validity as business professionals.  I am constantly showing students cost controls and showing examples of how what appears to be a minimal amount of extra product or waste can add up to thousands in the long run.  These examples do tend to ring home and even make students excited to… >>>

It was interesting to learn about the different types of work ethic and motivation involved with varying generations.  As a Culinary Instructor, I find the millennials and Gen Z to lack a strong work ethic as a whole.  I know I should not generalize, but this has been my experience.  I am always searching for ways to motivate and inspire them.

It was interesting to learn that driving intrinsic motivation is often overlooked by companies as a means of improving productivity and building teams.  I plan to remind my students about their achievements (showing them the pathway to mastery), thereby also giving them a sense of purpose and how their career will impact others.   Also, giving them choices and opportunities to have ownership over their education.

Life experiences serve as powerful learning supports. Give students opportunities to use personal experiences to acquire new knowledge, using both episodic and semantic memory.  By giving examples from experience students are able to retain a higher percentage of content and find ways to apply it.  Transfer of learning is based on using real world application and practice to move knowledge to working memory.  The 4 cornerstones that can be used by instructors to motivate and inspire are: sharing expertise/model industry expectation, have and express empathy and give students reasonable amounts of work that focus on the objectives, enthusiasm for the… >>>

Learnativity.  More motivation leads to more information acquisition, more memory development and more student success.  It is important to keep information in small chunks and provide active learning opportunities for students to immediately use the new information.  This will also increase their self confidence in the material and keep them on track to progressing.  Keeping variety in instruction will help with mid-term slump and help students and instructor refocus and reinvigorate.  

I found it interesting that 60% of student success is based on self-respect/confidence.  Helping students set achievable goals for themselves and translating course goals into personal goals will help alleviate frustration that impedes the educational process.  Including students in the educational process is imperative.  I work hard to set clear and expectations for success in my courses and relate those to industry expectations.  On day one, I give them a presentation of what they will need to do to be successful in school and work.

Student supports are essential for student success.  I have many students who struggle with basic and safety issues.  Their focus and motivation is lacking because their mental and even physical energy is taken up by the stress of trying to cope with their life outside of the classroom.  As an instructor, I make sure to know about and take advantage of all available student support systems on campus and immediately reach out to them when I learn of a situation in a students life that will impede their learning.  This is a big part of our job as teachers....to connect… >>>