Ever
since I can remember, I was always helping my mom in the kitchen. I would help
her with whatever she happened to be cooking, but what I enjoyed most was
baking. We have this wonderful recipe for banana bread that we would make for
my family whenever we had bananas in the house. Another memory is during
Christmas, when we would bake many cookies for my teachers as well as for
Santa. I have always enjoyed baking, but I believe that the reason I first
wanted to bake was to help my mom. I always enjoyed spending time with her. Throughout
the years, I became very good at baking. I also enjoyed it even if my mom
wasn’t able to bake with me. To this day, I am the one who makes the cookies or
banana bread in my household.
There is literacy in baking. This
literacy is quite different than the literacy you would commonly think of (like
reading a book). Knowing how to follow the directions on a recipe is much
different than reading a novel. You must first make sure you have all of the
ingredients for whatever you are making and then you must follow the
directions. Directions can be written in many different ways depending on who
is writing them, who is the intended audience, and where they are written (i.e.
in a published cookbook versus a family recipe written on an index card).
Having baking as a background has given
me an insight when it comes to teaching. I like to see things written out in
steps. I find that if a student is having a hard time remembering the order in
which to do things it comes in handy if we stop what we’re doing, and look at
the big picture. For example, when solving a word problem it is important to
break it down into steps. First, you must identify what you are trying to solve
for. Once that has been decided, you must determine which formulas you need to
solve the problem. Then you must pick out the information given in the word
problem. Once your information has been gathered, you can use the formula to
solve for the unknown. After this list is written, the student has the tools
they need to solve math problem. This task is similar to the way you bake a
cake. You must follow the directions in a particular order to arrive at your
final goal (whether it is to bake a cake or to solve a word problem). This
method is very helpful for those students who like to see the big picture. They
like to see an outline for how to do this sort of problem and then apply it to
the specific problem they are working on.
In my years of tutoring students, I find
that students prefer to have this list format. They like it so much that they
even ask me to help them create a step-by-step list for other types of math
problems. It helps them keep track of what is happening and when they have to
use certain methods. It is very rewarding for me because I can see first hand
how simple it made the problem for the student. In addition, I also have the
satisfaction of knowing that I gave those students a tool that they can use
when they go on to further classes. This method can be stored in their
“toolbox” for them to use in not just math courses but other subjects as well.
I believe that baking has led me to
become a better teacher. This tool—something as simple as writing out the
directions of how to solve a math problem—will help my students and I. I can teach
students to write out an ordered list, which can help them in not only their
schoolwork, but in other aspects of life as well. Baking with my mom has given
me a tool that has not only helped my own life, but has allowed me to help
future students who I will teach.
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