Pre-planning
The Year 7 programme is divided into two terms of Hard Materials Technology, one term of Soft Materials Technology and one of Food Technology. With a class returning every 12 days this means Jacquey has four days to deliver her Food Technology programme, one unit per day.
Having a day to deliver her unit, rather than rushing to beat the bell, is an advantage Jacquey enjoys. However, it does mean there is no opportunity for finishing anything the next day, and every part of the lesson must be precisely timed. She tries out every activity and times it, to ensure it will fit. Even so, the first class is a guinea pig and, allowing for different reactions from classes, she doesn't write up her 'final' teaching/learning sequence until it's been done at least two or three times.
The class starts the term with a unit introducing Food Technology in which students prepare and bake bread cases, made with a white sauce and completed with their chosen ingredients.
In the second lesson, Mobile Food, students make bread for pizza bases which they bake with individual toppings. The class also looks at the importance of packaging, so students have some knowledge of this which they can develop when they move on to the Food Preservation: Space Nuggets unit, taught in the third lesson of the term.
The focus in the final unit, Winter Warmers, is on the impact of processing changes on the flavour and texture of a product, in this case the soup the students develop.
Jacquey emphasises to her students that they're not doing cooking, that they're doing Food Technology and that the cooking they do is supporting this. She explains that they might not necessarily cook during every lesson (even though they do), so that there is no expectation that they've got to cook. This also sets them up for Year 9, where some lessons focus on aspects other than cooking.
Jacquey has worked with Diana Eagle, Tararua College, to provide students with a smooth transition in moving from Year 7/8 to Year 9/10 Food Technology, ensuring that they use the same routines and terminology in class.
Jacquey and Diana both base their programmes on a Food Technology Toolbox (see the Food Technology Toolbox case study) which was developed by Diana and food technologist Carol Pound. Jacquey has found that the Toolbox is helpful for programme planning and reassuring, in that she can see she is already using the various 'tools' suitable for Years 7-8. Her programme shows how each unit of work fits into the Toolbox framework.
