Studying high school math from home is one thing, but what about culinary arts?
That’s been the challenge for Michael de Leon who teaches culinary arts classes at Thurgood Marshall High School in San Francisco, one of the public schools participating in the district’s Career Pathways program. San Francisco public schools will stay remote through at least the end of the calendar year.
Recreating the classroom environment at home means students need access to kitchen equipment, tools and ingredients.
But de Leon has found ways to adapt. For starters, he is teaching via video from his backyard in the East Bay. And the material has changed.
"This year the recipes aren’t necessarily aligned with what the curriculum is going through right now, because I’m just trying to get food into their mouths," he said.
One added bonus is that while de Leon is used to covering all of the ingredients on a very limited budget, SF Market has now stepped in to help and is providing all the materials the kids need to follow along at home.
"The kit is more than just the recipe they’re working on. We’ve loaded it up with beans, rice, tortillas, flour. This time they’re getting bunch of fruit - pears, apples and stuff. And that’s all extra for them because we have the money to spend. And it’s been absolutely - it’s been wonderful," said de Leon, especially because he knows that extra food is needed. "It breaks my heart…I don’t really come from a place of privilege, but I always have food in my belly. And it bothers me that a lot of these kids don’t."
That element was very important to the Career Pathways Team behind the program, says Cesy Martinez.
"We didn’t want, for example, to send home a list of ingredients and say, 'Hey families now you’re responsible for putting together 25 extra dollars aside every week for you to participate in this program.' That felt really unfair and it felt like it would impact those - especially those who have been badly hurt by the pandemic."
The kids have also been given measuring spoons and all the other tools a chef might need, and they each get to create their own dish, whereas before they had to work in groups.
"This way every kid gets to do the recipe and they get to share it with their family, and for me that’s the best part of it. It really is," said de Leon. "It’s better - it’s more engagement than I’ve got in a regular school year to be quite honest with you."
The program is meant to teach kids about different career paths they could take. And with that in mind, the pandemic has proved to be a valuable learning opportunity.
"What we’ve heard from our partners is that restaurants that are able to pivot, that are flexible, that are changing their model, those are the ones that are surviving and those are the skills that we want our young people to think about," said Martinez.
They’ve been assigned an end of year project looking at the future of the industry.
"How have restaurants adapted," explained Martinez. “That’s something they’re learning right now because they’re doing it at home and not in the classroom."
That’s why Career Pathways and de Leon plan to keep this up until they can get back into the classroom.
"I have seen some amazing work come out of these 9th and 10th graders. I’m like why I am teaching the class you don’t need me," joked de Leon.
Even if all they get out of it is a delicious meal, that’s good enough for Mr. de Leon.
