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Knife Cut Practical Ideas for High School Culinary and Foods Teachers

* Sorry for my typo. This is an example of work from my senior student.

 Teachers, how do you assess student success/ progress at the conclusion of your knife cuts unit? I have come up with an awesome idea/strategy to make sure you are able to evaluate students individual knife cut skills and make sure your students are gaining experience.

Before you assess your students make sure that you have covered the following topics:

1. Discuss and Demonstrate safe knife handling.

2. List and discuss common types of knives and their uses.

3. List and discuss the parts of a knife and their uses(see my other blog post)

4. Discuss  and demonstrate different knife positions and cuts such as bear claw, pull cut, high cut, low cut, parallel cut and rocker step.

5. Demonstrate the following knife cuts stick cuts (julienne, fine julienne, batonnet), cube cuts (brunoise, small dice, medium dice, large dice), concasse, chiffonade, paysanne, rondelle and the tourne (seven sided football). 

6.  Open lab. (Open lab is a time were students practice at their own pace. I usually have them practice in groups of two. Each group is to bring a large bag of potatoes and carrots) This should be about 4 days of your unit. During this process give students goals that they have to achieve and that you check off as they complete them. (example: each student should present 3 knife cuts in the first 45 mins of class) Grade them on their progress. This will keep them accountable. During this time I carry around the red marker of "death" (named by a student). The red marker of "death" a sharpie I mark them with when I see them do anything unsafe. Each mark on their finger is five points off their participation on practical day.  Open lab days are participation lab grades. 


7. Then assess. 
Make sure that you have a written knowledge assessment to accompany the practical. This will help you pace your students. Students may not at anytime use their notes on the practical exam.  You will need to create practical slips (a slip of paper with five knife cuts listed). As students complete their written assessment send them to begin the practical. At no time, are they to talk, and make sure that you do not help them (I struggle with wanting everyone to succeed, but this is a learning experience for them not a judgement of us).

Here is a link to the rubric that I use to assess my students it is adapted from the FCCLA Knife Cut Star Event rubric. Knife Cut Rubric


Feel free to ask me any questions about the practical, and how you can make it work in your classroom.

If I generate enough interest I can post some of my notetakers etc. Just give me a shout out:)

Also, do not forget to follow me on twitter @tz7432 and on Pinterst.com/7432
Thanks for reading!!!! And please leave a comment to let me know if this was helpful or not. 
Z
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Comments

  1. FACSteacherJanuary 27, 2016 at 5:43 AM

    Tiffany, as a new FACS and Nutrition teacher, I found this very helpful. Our book covers some of the cuts but not all that you mentioned. AS a single mom, I'm always looking for ways to cut down my prep time so the structure you provided is excellent. I also wondered how we were to afford the ingredients to practice lots and the students bringing in their own bags is great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 24, 2017 at 10:57 AM

    I am so glad I found your blog, so many great ideas! This is my first year teaching Culinary and I have been searching for good resources like your blog for ideas. Please share your notetakers or any other useful stuff! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. alexJanuary 21, 2020 at 6:18 AM

    Great post.

    https://forum.cs-cart.com/user/65114-tylerbecker/

    ReplyDelete

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