Erica Jacobs, The Examiner
2008-05-05 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Recently I have been a short-order cook in a high school classroom. It all began with the scheduling of five Advanced Placement English review sessions after school. I had a notion that maybe they’d be more fun with food, but didn’t announce that ahead of time.

The first day, 30 students arrived and were thunderstruck to find me cooking hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. “Who’s that for?” they asked. “You!” I replied.

Their jaws dropped open but shortly thereafter closed again; they were chewing. Oh yeah — we also did some work preparing for the test.

The next session, I brought in some homemade chili for chili dogs. Word had gotten out that I was cooking; some just followed their noses. 81 squeezed into a space designed for 60 students.

They starting lining up as though it was a buffet, and I had to order them to their seats while I grilled four sandwiches at a time on one grill and a dozen hot dogs on the other. Not a lot of work got done that day.

I bought lots more of everything at Costco (noting that the price of bread and hot dog rolls had increased 10% in two days), and then  had an inspired idea: I would make quesadillas for the last two sessions! We’d pretend it was Cinco de Mayo instead of May 1 and eat guacamole, sour cream, tortilla chips, salsa and chicken quesadillas with hot pepper sauce.

It was a great idea and one that was only slightly insane. I was beginning to get the hang of talking about Hardy’s poetry over the sounds of a sizzling George Foreman grill. The Tex-Mex review session was a hit, and word got out that my quesadillas were “intense.”

The last day dawned, and I decided it would be a mop-up operation: move out everything that hadn’t been eaten so far. I didn’t want a single Nathan’s hot dog, quesadilla or slice of American cheese left over. I prepped all the quesadillas I could with the remaining chicken and added the jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese and salsa. There were about 15 stacked up before the school after school session began.

Then Katie walked in and said, “Can I help?” Sezan wanted in on the action as well. And here is where I learned something I should have known all along: when a teacher models a valuable skill, it’s soon time to step aside and let the students demonstrate that they can do it on their own. And that’s exactly what happened.

Katie made quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs exactly as I had shown her, and Sezan brought out the plates to the students sitting at their desks studying the review packets. I was able to devote my time to my real purpose: teaching. In that last session, as crowded as it was, students were able to work AND eat, and I was able to stay focused on people and not grills.

Katie and Sezan taught me a valuable lesson: sometimes, teachers just need to step aside. At the end of the last session, only a few tortilla chips remained. Mission accomplished.

Erica Jacobs teaches at Oakton High School and George Mason University. E-mail her at ejacob1@gmu.edu.