What Chefs and Teachers Have in Common

A recipe does not make a chef, and a lesson plan does not make a teacher.

The hundreds of decisions an effective educator makes during each class can truly boggle the mind. You must learn to read body and face language. Just because you are in the front of the room, on a stage, holding the marker, does not in any way mean you are in charge of the group before you. Like a batter preparing to step into the batter’s box, a readiness must be summoned and an assessment of what you are facing fully understood. Unlike the relationship between batter and pitcher, you do not want to develop an oppositional mindset — competition for the floor does not work. It is just you and them.

The respect of your classroom/audience will be won by the balance of your expertise and knowledge with respect, humor, and a lack of hubris — but definitely sprinkled with self-confidence. Think Julia Child; she was skilled, funny, and confident in her abilities, yet humble in her presentation (making mistakes, learning from experience, and seeing her audience as capable partners in her endeavor to share something she loved with the world). That, too, is the magic ingredient — loving, or at least finding joy, in the subject you teach. Like any business person will tell you, if you don’t believe in it, it’s almost impossible to sell. If you don’t know and appreciate the topic you are teaching, your audience will see through your words and feel your disinterest. Think of Julia Child and find the joy or drop the lesson.