Varying food and craft blogging techniques for student and team reflections of FACS projects Part 1

Recently another Illinois FACS teacher posted how she introduced her culinary students to food styling and photography so they could use those skills to help reflect on their teamwork and individual contributions during and after their lab experiences.

As I was seeing her photos, student examples, and explanations, I immediately thought about how I used to write my paper-crafting blog posts with steps and photos showing some of the actual stages from start to finish. (Lately I've been using my printer's scanner function to get different sections and whole views of the card fronts whereas before I used cell phone camera and could stand up the card or lay it flat or angle it.)

It struck me that this could be a wonderful way to integrate technology & ELA communication career skills into culinary, sewing/fashion, and housing/interior design projects. Even advanced child development course students who need to create booklets, games, and/or bulletin boards/learning centers could document several stages showing their processes and progress from start to finish.

Exciting isn't it???!!!!!!!

So to help us all with the planning of this, here are some applicable National FACS Standards:

for this part one posting, I'm just focusing on culinary class usage standards; however some of my added notes share transferable usage to other FACS courses...

A. 8.0 Food Production & Services
8.1 = Analyze career paths with the food production and food service industries [incorporating food blogging and marketing skills to students' laboratory practices as a way for them to analyze and assess their team efforts and individual contributions to the team]

8.1.1= Explain the roles, duties, and functions of individuals engaged in food production and services careers [food bloggers; food stylists and photographers; food company marketing PR specialist; transferable skills= craft and/or fashion bloggers; teacher bloggers; ]

8.1.2= Analyze opportunities for employment and entrepreneurial endeavors [bloggers that promote and link company product(s) can receive some type of compensation; sometimes it's free product and sometimes they receive financial payment whether in form of gift card, discount code, or check]

8.1.3= Summarize education and training requirements and opportunities for career paths in food production and services [the other IL FACS teacher has her culinary students use those lab documentation to create a semester portfolio that serves as their final exam!!! These digital portfolios can be shared with future employers, college admissions counselors, and other training apprentice programs! School guidance counselor can be a guest speaker to help advise and lead students to website and reference materials that give specific education requirements and future outlooks for potential employability.]


B. 1.0 Career, Community and Family Connections
1.2 = Demonstrate transferable knowledge, attitudes, technical, and employability skills in school, community, and workplace settings

1.2.3= Apply communication skills in school, community, and workplace settings and diverse populations [Google classroom can be shared with more than the FACS teacher and her students--administration, other faculty and staff can be added on; Google's blogger can be used for sharing student work identified by number or code name instead of identifiers and then students' families and friends can view their work; students take turns maybe with taking photos of how or what they've contributed; type their answers to journaling or assessment prompts....]

1.2.4= Demonstrate teamwork skills in schools, community, and workplace settings and diverse populations [one obvious example is students working in kitchen lab zones in a small group; ECE students can be divided into small work teams, too; Fashion or H/ID students could work together for a service project to demonstrate the teamwork skills...the second example is applying photography and blogging skills for formative assessment and reflective practice as a team]

1.2.8= Demonstrate employability skills, work ethics, and professionalism [take part of a class period for students to look online at different blogs, company websites that are food production, and TV channels like Food Network and Cooking Channel for appearance/visual appeal of their page layouts, photographs, videos, etc. and then apply this and incorporate into classroom practice; get a local bakery or another company marketing PR staffer to guest speak; websites like Career One Stop, Career Cruising, and others can give work skills and attributes needed for various FACS careers]

*****

Photo examples from a past paper-crafting blog post of mine from Becca's Heart for Creativity

Card 1 uses a required digital image to use for a design team commitment for a challenge blog:

A. Photo taken of three of the tools used=  textured rubbing plates I used to add waves and fish scales/scalloped lines to cardstock and some old crayons=

B. Photo taken of one stage when the created textured cardstock has been measured and cut and ready for applying to the card base

C. Photo of the finished card with first one laid on my printer and scanned and the second one was photographed with my cell phone's camera function and then sent digitally to my email account and downloaded to my personal computer. Being able to photograph with a camera allowed for closeup angled shot that helps shows depths of gem dots and the bling trim added to the card:

Example 2 is a scrapbook layout:

Photo 1 shows a mass of papers and some embellishments that I pulled out of my stockpile to use in March 2019 for layouts and cards=

Photo 2 shows some papers and embellishments separated to make a smaller mini kit. A scrap size section of the green tonal floral print paper was used for the featured layout that you will see further in this post:

Photo 3 features the layout base (green mottled cardstock 8.5" x 11") with 6 "quilt" squares of patterned papers to use on the layout. I had moved around the pieces several times until I had a balance of colors and prints that I liked:

Photo 4 is a closeup photo for the bottom portion of the finished layout in order to see my hand-written captions, stickers serving as sentiments, and some additional scrap papers used in the middle. Did you notice that the layout direction changed from the above photo to the finished product? Yep! I went vertical.

Photo 5 is the full finished layout taken with my cell phone's camera function. The butterfly stick-ons help the viewer's eyes to move around the layout. The different patterned squares also do that as well as the scattered stickers and hand-written captions:

Are these photos helping you see the possibilities for students' reflecting on their work and how they contribute to either individual or team work?

****
Imagine transferring these kinds of stages in production for sewing a pillow or apron? or for creating a teen dream bedroom in a shoebox? or for a bulletin board showing apple counting and number recognition for #1-3?

HMM??? Transferring skills...come on FACS teachers, let's incorporate more career skills into our classroom formats.

Loving all things FACS,
Becca S

Accessories topic post 2 expanding on environmental theme lesson planning

STEM in FACS classes...Reduce, Re-Use, and Recycle...Earth Day...

Teacher challenge:

How can you use this game board as an interactive small group activity in FACS/STEM classes?

Credit: Leah Popinski, teacher/author/blogger at Sum Math Fun

How can you use this staggered tabbed index card series idea? 

Credit: Simply Skilled in Second blog for these photos of her tab-its (tabbed index card type concept reviews) idea for students to add to their interactive notebooks. This could be an exit slip/formative assessment tool, too.

From the USA heartland, Becca S

personal home space being rebuilt post 2

Post 1 yesterday showed a house full of purple painted walls! Yes, purple! 

I have loved all things purple and pink for a very long time, but for many years it was isolated to clothes and fashion accessories. In my first apartment as a young single 22 year old, I started decorating my bedroom with purple. But by the time I reached my later 20s I had already switched to burgundy and hunter green followed by the trend of mauve and sage green combo.

Then about 13 years ago, I started using purple again for a spare bedroom.

1 1/2 years ago, our current home was purchased through a personal property and real estate auction and imagine what color of paint was in the LR-to-DR open area? Yes, a taupe-gray-lavender hue!!! I was so excited to be able to bring out all my extra stored items and start filling this place with all things purple. So 2 bedrooms got a light pink-lavender paint. A new bedroom made out of the enclosed front porch got a vibrant purple. And I started using purples in other rooms too.

Then the fire happened last August while I was in the hospital and unfortunately we've been displaced since then and have had to work with insurance company and their hired crews to go through the process of valuation and restoration.

The crews are getting closer and closer every day now and it is getting exciting. Finally! I've been sort of numb for so many months now. I still can't dwell on many sentimental gifts that have been lost or the treasured antiques that we've discovered in our travels and now lost. Since almost all was lost in our kitchen and being displaced to a rental house property, we needed to have some minimal kitchen wares in order survive. We also were in a financial flux to be good stewards of the monies advanced and another issue of not wanting to buy too much during this time because it means moving things at least twice.

So in the rest of the post I will show you some home décor purchases and kitchen buys or gifts.

1. From Metamora Mennonite Women's sewing guild, this beautiful quilt coverlet=

My aunt is a part of this busy and generous group and knew I would love to have a quilt in purple! Thanks, Auntie!

2. From a Dollar Tree shopping trip yesterday in Peru, IL, I bought these home décor items and organizers=

"Enjoy the little things" has some grays. And the "love is all we need" has some blue which will be another accent color I'm planning to use. Black, white, silver/chrome/stainless steel, and gray will be the neutrals and metallics that I will also focus on including throughout our rebuilt home.

3. Kitchen ware gifts from my sister's family=

The Turkish cotton kitchen towel set has a sage green, gray, white, and lavender. The drying mat is a creamy ivory. The little cutting board is white and so are the darling Mason jar salt and pepper shakers! There is a small clear glass storage containers with a hinged snap on lid. And then a set of terrific silicone spatulas!!!! Thanks, sis!

Thank you Lord for all our many blessings both large and small! 

personal home space being rebuilt post 1

Basic facts: House fire August 13, 2017

*reported by neighbor at approx. 5:10-5:15 pm

*insurance adjustor estimated $71,000+ for structural and labor costs for rebuilt

*and $19-20K in personal total loss or severely damaged items

*fire marshal and arson investigator determine cause was nightlight bulb in the laundry room (not the holder or the outlet or the wiring)

About mid-December, construction crews begin working earnestly on interior with exterior completed before weather and temperature conditions worsen.

These interior photos were taken today, January 9, 2018 and show great promise that soon all will be finished for us to bring back items that survived and those few items we've purchased:

foyer's new light fixture and freshly painted ceiling and wall across from front door

BR 1: doors stored temporarily for bedroom and closet; baseboards, walls, & ceiling were given fresh paint with new ceiling fan

BR 2: closet is the 'near' wall on right side and has small area to the left of the closet and there some small space to the left side of doorway that I didn't photograph

LR looking toward the DR/office space on right; on other side of wall seen on left is a 1/2 bath, a 3rd small BR that they are still working in  and the main full bath; the kitchen doorway is shown at back

Main Bath: the wall had to be cut between bath and BR 3 in order to get the ordered shower stall to go in and now they are fixing the wall on the BR 3 side. Plumbers are still working on this.

Kitchen: This room is next to the laundry room where the fire started so there were lots of projects in here. Originally the water heater was in the here (to the right a foot or so from what's shown). With some agreements and additional costs paid by us, the water heater got moved into the basement. The plumbing for the sink is barely showing there on the left. The window used to be twice that size but the old window on the left was not replaced per my request because the previous owner made decision with her kitchen cabinetry on that sink wall to come out into the window space. To me it was a reflection of poor planning or use of space to have done that. Since that wall had to be rebuilt, sealed, insulated, etc. it didn't cost us anything extra. Appliances just got ordered on Friday, January 6. For the kitchen we will have a stainless steel refrigerator, sink, microwave, and stove/range.

Laundry room/mud room: I was standing in the doorway on the kitchen side and am looking towards the right in the space and out the west wall windows.

Laundry room/mud room: Still standing in the kitchen doorway shared with this space, I've shifted to look more towards the south wall to show new overhead light fixture, new back door to the enclosed porch, new wall paint, new ceiling paint, etc. The outlet below the window is where the nightlight was plugged into that it's bulb exploded causing the fire. So this room and the not shown "closet" on the left or east wall of this room that has the basement entrance's floor 'door' have been totally rebuilt from roof down to the sub-floor.

And this completes the tour for the majority of this little 900+/- sq. ft. home at this time.

Color palette has some shade or tone of purple in every room as you move through different zones or from east to the west and southwest corner. Lots of white will be used everywhere in the window, door, and baseboard trims as well as the boiler baseboard heat vents and most standard overhead lights. Brushed nickel, chrome, and stainless steel will also be found throughout to in plumbing and lighting fixtures. Vinyl flooring will be a imitation slate look. The LR and DR/office area will have a low level loop carpet that has a mixture of grays, black, tan, and brown colors. I did that to add some visual interest plus a visual 'grounding' to help prevent the house interior looking too feminine. The carpet is to put down on Wednesday January 10.

I will post again soon as excitement builds as we draw closer to moving back in. (squeal)