A Message from the President
July 2024
Trust the Chef
In our inaugural TODOS book, I wrote about a beloved principal who trusted me to head and teach the school’s gifted math program, having arrived at the school only a year before. It remains one of my favorite teaching experiences in which I came into my own regarding my personal pedagogy. Recently, I thought of a conversation I had with a former student. I was teaching gifted math at the time, and this student had imposter syndrome despite the fact that he had qualified for giftedness in mathematics for two years prior. In fact, most of my students suffered from this since they had not tested well on their gifted benchmarks which were publicized throughout the county. Parents were furious; students were deflated.
During a conversation about fractions, this student lamented that he had a distaste for working with fractions. I responded that fractions were, in fact, a delicacy to be enjoyed. Our culinary references continued as he stated he just did not have the palette for them, and I insisted that the magic was in the presentation and preparation. I implored him to “trust the chef”, a phrase I would repeat often during the year.
We recently reconnected some fifteen years after our year together in fifth grade math class. Now a third year dental student, he still remembers the phrase, saying,
“Basically you gave me a lot of confidence in math
as well as in myself -
but I didn’t realize that until years down the line.”
Trust the chef.
As the chef, I was happy to have the trust of my principal, who empowered me to boldly seek the trust of students and families through a host of methods: intentional parent meetings and preconferences, consistent communication and carefully planned joyful experiences. We had a glorious year, setting records for achievement as a class and program. We were in the zone. We had the magic.
I do not believe that teaching and learning takes place without trust that educators audaciously ask students and families to give them. We ask them to begin a journey with us that demands that they risk failure as they grow. Being a chef takes faith that your skills will lead to success. The journey of the educator is, in fact, a walk of faith.
The art of teaching allows educators to select ingredients and prepare our dishes with care. We understand that presentation always matters, since we are constantly convincing students to try each ingredient and cooking method. Educators are wise to be open to new ingredients from a variety of sources, including the students themselves. With time, we realize that memorable dishes are made when we invite our students to prepare them with us, tasting as we go.
Educators sow seeds not knowing quite how our students will grow and develop. Every now and again, we are delighted to hear that they grew more spectacularly than we had imagined. Thank you for reconnecting, David. May you continue to flourish.
