Wk 4 - Lunch by the beach~

The group after us had the theme of 'Lunch by the beach'! I felt that they did really well for their table decor. They used the colour theme of brown, orange and green to bring out the beach atmosphere into the kitchen. I also liked their idea of putting seashells. One plus point - they even played slow drum music to blend everything together!

During the debrief, our tutors also reinforced our decor techniques, where there should not be too many objects scattered all around the dining table as it will take away our attention from the food (which is supposed to be the 'main lead')!

The dishes we made were based on the commodity 

FRUITS

Grilled chicken with strawberry and peach salsa

Coconut baked chicken

Deep fried prawns with apple curry sauce

Panna Cotta with mango gelee

All the dishes tasted delicious. I could see how fruits are creatively added into the recipes and my favourite was the prawns with the apple curry sauce. The apple adds an interesting fruity flavour to your usual curry sauce.

Had such a feast this week, looking forward to the next cooking session!

Adeline :)

Our Microteaching Day !

10th October 2012 was a memorable day for all three of us. It was our micro teaching day. Since we were  in Group 3 and our micro teaching day coincidentally fall after the recess week (for diploma holders), we had more time to prepare for our big day. 

During the recess week, besides meeting up for lesson plan and consultation sessions with Mrs Stevenson regarding our lesson plan, we have also started planning for our table presentation. Our initial group theme was Victoria Style Tea Party but one day Halloween Party theme just came across my mind and our group decided to work on it. We made a trip to Daiso at IMM to shop for the decorations, Giant to buy the treats, Popular to buy materials and also a bell. Liyana even went to Geylang to source for cloth for our mannequeen and table cloth while Adeline went to buy balloons and utensils. 

We researched online to get some ideas on how to decorate our table. We discussed and exchanged ideas whenever sparks came across our minds. We also did last minute shopping like buying napkins from Spotlight and ping pong balls for our creepy eye balls. 

In midst of preparing the decorative items for the table presentation, we had to finalise our powerpoint slides and also recipe handouts. Not to forget doing some research and read up at home before performing our best on the day itself. 

On that day, everyone was so impressed by our table setting. We managed to borrow a skeleton figure from the  Biology Lab to be used as our mascot of the day. We kicked-start our micro teaching with some expectations and also recapitulation of theories which they have learnt in the previous lesson. The micro teaching was running smoothly for first half of the session as we kept closely to the planned timing and we were even ahead for 30 minutes. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the pumpkins in the pumpkin's soup took too long to be soft and so it caused us to exceed the allocated time.We were also weak in explaining and answering  some of the students' questions which we need to read up more and improve our content knowledge.

Below are the feedback from the teachers for our group:

Strengths :

1. We have done well for preparation. They never expected that we would be so well-prepared, be it table setting, ingredients preparation and etc.
2. We are confident in delivering and carrying out the practical. 
3. Our voice projection is good and everyone in the lab could hear us clearly.

Room for improvement :

1. We have to manage our time well. We can skip some demonstration steps which are not the main teaching points, to save time. 
2. We have to brush up our content knowledge. This is the most critical part as teachers are not allowed to deliver wrong information to the students, further causing multiplying effect. 

Overall, it was a successful micro teaching day for us. We will reflect on our mistakes and make sure that we will never repeat it. 

The Halloween backdrop

Mr Skeleton - our mascot of the day. 

Red Sea with eye balls

the skull napkins. 

Halloween candle holder.

part of the decoration.

Spooky Yoghurt Cupcake

Close up for my cupcakes.

Ghostly Quiche

The overall table presentation.

our group photo.

                                                                                                                          - Vivian Lee -

I love FOOD photography!

On 24th Septermber 2012, Ms Soo has shared with us some useful photography tips as shown below:

                              1. Make sure the food looks good to start with

                              2. Shoot from a lower angle than you think you should

                              3. Learn the Light

                              4. Get in close, crop in tightly

                              5. Avoid the blur

                              6. Use shallow depth of field

                              7. Add a little oil

                              8. Don't over prop or set yourself up wide

Besides, there are also some rules that we have to obey such as 

Triangle Rule : We can imagine there are lines going through the picture and form imaginary triangles. Therefore, when shooting, we can frame the objects or food items in triangles. It need not be precise, a rough framing will do. 

Triangle Rule

Rule of thirds : We have to make sure that the ratio of food items and the background is 1:3 or 2:3. Ms Soo also showed us some wedding photographs on Rule of Thirds. For example, the photo could consist of 2/3 background and 1/3 objects if we find the scenery breathtaking. 

Of course, we can also use props such as chopsticks to help achieve any of the rules above. We can also make use of garnishes such as sesame, parsley to provide colours to our food if the food item is too plain. 

Remember, oval plates are for savoury food while round plate is for sweet food like desserts. 

After a short introductory course by Ms Soo, we are given the opportunity to apply what we have learnt. Below are a few snippets of our trial and errors of the day.
                                      

First attempt : arrange the donuts and strawberries in triangle form.

We tried to shoot it close.

We chose a better background to match our accessories but the lighting is dim at the back. 

   

We shot from a lower angle. 

Another setting with triangle rule.

We felt that the background is too complicated. 

We tried to focus on the donut and blurred the background.

It is indeed not easy to use correct photography techniques. After this session, i will be more particular in taking photo by applying the rules and tips that I have learnt in class. Practice makes perfect. I believe that our photography skills will definitely improve.

- Vivian Lee - 

It's a vegetable day!

 After spreading the tomato based.

Fresh from the oven! - Carrot cake

Our star and love shaped pizzas. All ready to be baked (: 

Proofing the pizza dough.

Ready to shallow-fry.

The bottom layer of the carrot cake.

Presenting the carrot cake! (:

Theme - Garden Tea Party.

On the 19th September, Wednesday, group 1 had conducted their micro-teaching. Their topic was on vegetables and their theme was garden tea party. Despite their strength and weaknesses, they successfully taught the class a total of 3 dishes using eggplant, tomatoes as well as carrot. Personally, I had tried baking a pizza before so it was not something totally new to me. However, it was my very first time trying the bruschetta and carrot cake. I am glad that I got the opportunity to try out something new and that it turned out well too. Through this practical session, I had learned to make use and prepare vegetables in a versatile way.  

- Liyana

F&N E-learning!

This week is e-learning week and we are tasked to review a total of 5 online resources that are useful for our F&N lessons in future. Here are the 5 that I find useful:

1. BrainPop
www.brainpop.com

Brainpop.com has been around since 1999 as a video resource for many different subjects and thus the content and information covered are considered as reliable. These videos are useful in F&N lessons when the teacher wants to teach topics related to the systems in our body i.e. Digestive system. The content and interactive characters in the video would be able to let students visualize the processes clearly. It would also engage the students during the lesson and make the lesson less boring.

2. Food Craft
http://ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com/

In food crafting, food is usually utilized in a way where it would look like a piece of art. It involves design skills and cooking skills for completion. Teachers can allow students to make food crafts during practical sessions to expose them to a variety of fun ways and techniques to manipulate food in terms of presentation/decoration/garnishing. This would really benefit the students when doing the coursework as they would be able to apply these skills learnt on the dishes during their practical exams.

3. Recipe4Living
http://www.recipe4living.com

This website is useful as a recipes resource for the students when they have to research for dishes to make for their coursework question. It provides recipes from many categories such as Appetizers, Crockpot, Casseroles, Desserts, and Main Courses from its recipe collections. It also contains e-cookbooks covering different categories of food, meal, season of the year, and more. These recipes are usually tried and tested as recipe providers included real-life photos of the dish itself. Thus, this website can be considered as a trusty website for recipes that would be able to 'work out' when tried.

The website also contains articles on different topics related to food, nutrition, healthy eating, and more. Some examples include 'Healthy fast food alternatives' and 'The dangers of sodium'. Students can make use of these articles if the coursework question given is related.

4. Dietary Guidelines
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/article?id=2758
http://www.nutrition.com.sg/he/hesdietg.asp

These websites on Dietary Guidelines are extremely useful in the teaching of F&N coursework as this is one of the most significant components of nutrition, to eat healthy and right according to Singapore/Asian lifestyle standards. Students are definitely require to have online resources on this for their coursework research to support their recipe choices in the 'Decision making' section.

5. Home Baking Associations
http://www.homebaking.org/

This website contains recipe resources. It has an ' A to Z Baking Tips' section which would give many good reminders and things to note for the students when the teacher is conducting a practical session which requires baking. The education resources provided also give teachers inspiration on how to conduct certain lessons. For example, the website has a lesson plan on how to teach 'Healthy Diet Pyramid' to the student by letting them come up with a meal plan that contains different food groups of the HDP. These lesson ideas are very useful in stimulating students' thinking skills in the F&N lessons.


After doing this e-learning, I realized there are many useful and interesting lesson ideas, recipes and resources available for us, future teachers, to use as reference. It is only up to us if we are willing to take the extra step to research in detail to be able to plan better lessons for our future students!

Adeline :)

E-learning

Family and Consumer Science at the University of Georgia 

http://www.fcs.uga.edu/fdn/research.php

Articles on: 

1. Overweight/ obesity situation Ghanaian children and adolescents: implications for health promoting intervention. (Topic - Diet and Health Problems)

2. Preventing bone loss and weight gain with combinations of Vitamin D and phytochemicals. (Topic - Vitamins, Diet and Heath Problems) 

3. Control of Food Intake and Regulation of Energy Balance Research. (Topic - Energy from Food)

Food Tube. net 

http://foodtube.net/video/video/listTagged?tag=breakfast

Contains: 

- The video guide to recipes and restaurants. 

- It is a good platform for students to learn how a dish is being prepared from scratch. 

- The vidoes promotes self-directed learning. 

- It might help them in selecting the suitable dishes to choose in the decision making section of the coursework. 

- The videos will help them in terms of the execution section of the practical. 

Food Craft 

http://pinterest.com/curbly/recipes-and-food-crafts/

 

~ Allow students to explore the different ways to present their food. 

~ Encouraged students to be more creative when presenting food. 

~ It will help the during the practical lessons. 

Nutrition Education for Preschool Children 

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/documents/effective_eating_presch1-5.pdf

~ Some coursework questions is subjected to target groups such as preschool children. 

~ This website allow them to understand the needs of the preschoolers which may help answer the task question. 

American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences 

http://www.aafcs.org/Resources/Journal.asp

Contains: 

- Journals of Family and Consumer Sciences 

Liyana (:

Food & Nutrition E-Learning Assignment : Website Review

Website 1 : Cyberbee

I find Research Tools from Cyberbee useful for students in doing their coursework research. Students are required to research the key factors and relevant information for one of the components of their coursework. Most of them will be clueless on selecting the information from an array of resources on the internet. Big 6 is a good platform for students to learn how to find, evaluate and cite information from the websites. The students will be able to identify whether the information is reliable, how to cite information and know more about copyrights through the activities.

Cyberbee uses Raccoon babies as an example for the research topic and the following pictures show the 6 important steps :

                             

Task Definition : Questioning techniques are introduced to guide them in generating the relevant information based on the topic.

                               

Information Seeking : Brain storm the possible resources and also the keywords or phrases for research.

                                 

Location and Access : A few examples of search engines are introduced such as google, yahoo, dogpile etc. Students can also consider some other related websites such as the Electronic zoo and eNature (in this scenario).

                                 

Use of Information : There are some guidelines for them to evaluate the content and citing resources. Students can log on to Easybib to create a reference page by typing in the information about the resources.

                                   

Synthesis : After gathering all the information, students have to organise and present them. Creating a webpage using aDreamweaver, presenting in Microsoft word or powerpoint slides are some of the examples. Of course, students can always present their ideas in a more creative manner such as prezi.

                                 

Evaluation : Last but not least, they have to evaluate the entire process as this is vital for them to reflect on what they have learnt. Students will definitely improve on their research skills by following these guidelines in Cyberbee.

Website 2 : Learning Seed

It is a treasure discovery when I came across this website “LearningSeed” as the videos embedded within different titles are informative. The videos can enhance the teaching of theory for upper secondary students as this serves various groups of students who are visual or audio learners. Students can have a better understanding on the topic, for digestion especially, as it aids them in visualising the pathway in which the food goes through and the reactions that happen along the way in our body.

However, there is a limit to it as we can only watch the full version of videos upon purchase. This is a good investment for teachers to raise the students’ interests in food & nutrition and make use of ICT to facilitate our teaching.    

Website 3 : Helpguide.org (Healthy eating)

There are 9 useful tips recommended for planning a healthy diet. Explanation for each point is detailed with examples of food sourcesThis website not only benefit the students in their daily meal planning, but also helpful for their coursework. The food sources that are suggested can be a guideline when they choose food recipe that are related to healthy meals.

The 9 tips are as shown below :

Tip 1 : Set yourself up for success

Tip 2 : Moderation is key

Tip 3 : It's not just what you eat, it's how you eat

Tip 4 : Fill up on colourful fruits and vegetables

Tip 5 : Eat more healthy carbs and whole grains 

Tip 6 : Enjoy healthy fats and avoid unhealth fats

Tip 7 : Put protein in perspective

Tip 8 : Add calcium for strong bones

Tip 9 : Limit sugar and salt

Website 4 : Food and Nutrition Information Centre

This website provides reliable information on food and nutrition, diet and diseases, food labelling and food safety, dietary guidelines, etc. Students can access the information and link this website easily. For example, a tool, foodpicker.org, designed to help diabetic patients to make better food choices can be found under Diabetes. I believe students can discover more facts on diabetes and have a better understanding on this disease. This way, students can practice more self-directed learning and explore for more exposure.

Website 5 : Food network.com

This is another platform for students to look for food recipes in their coursework. The recipes are attached with total preparation and cooking time, serving sizes and the level of difficulty of the dishes. Students can follow the recipe easily as the ingredient list and procedures are clear and organised.

Through this assignment, I am able to explore more resources which will assist and enhance my teaching. I hope that both the students and teachers can benefit from these ICT resources.