Take 20 Minutes!

Business Week is still one of my favorite periodicals to read each time it hits my mailbox. There is always cutting edge information on our industry and our profession of “learning.” There was a section in a recent issue on “most viewed talks.” One of the most viewed talks was by Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity. As stated in the promo for the talk “Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.”

After viewing the video he indeed gives one pause for thought as to whether at the OK Plateau (I talked about in a previous post) or doing things in class or lab that let enable student’s to apply their creativity in an educational setting.

Here is an application of the talk. In last Wednesday’s lab I returned to see how clean up was going. The students informed me that they had been working with the TA to experiment with espresso machine and created a coffee drink they called “The Turtle.” I asked what “The Turtle” was and they told me the recipe and believed it to be one great tasting coffee drink. I said “I believe you” so let us put it on the menu. There was jubilation all around while I reminded them that in the orientation for the class they were to think of the restaurant lab class as their own business and glad to hear they are taking ownership six weeks into the semester. I then told them I expect Turtle sales be stellar during their next lab because they believed in it.

That is teaching to me! I hope it is the same to you. So stop in our lab on Wednesday and grab a Turtle, or favorite beverage, then kick back and enjoy it while watching a thought-provoking heavily viewed video by Ken Robinson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY