This workshop is led by Ms. Rotha, who is an Agriculture teacher. She followed this workshop herself in the Kampong Chnang Province 2 weeks ago and she’s now organizing it for our school.
It is very well organized indeed. Congratulations to her.
The subject is desserts. We learn how to make the dough for bread and doughnuts, the batter for cakes, and even the choux pastry for the traditional French éclair!
Taking part in this workshop confirms me how important practical work is for our students; it is definitely the best way to remember and understand what they’re taught.
I noticed something that could be improved in here teaching:
As most teachers, she has a tendency to speak too much which results in a very teacher centered teaching. In this special workshop that wasn’t a problem because the input part was very limited.
Here are 3 opportunities she had to be more student centered:
She explained the capacity of these measuring spoons she was holding. The positive aspect is that she was using the real object while talking. The visual cortex of the students ‘brain was stimulated. She could have done an even better job giving the utensil to students and asking them about the 4 sizes of the spoons (1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon and 1/4 teaspoon.)
She also had 3 bags of 3 qualities of flower. She read the packages. She could have given the packets to groups of students and ask them what this flour was specific for. (bread, cakes…)
She also showed a bottle with a liquid that what meant to be diluted at a specific percentage. Students could have worked on that too.
