Carolina Matthews

by Djamila Moore

Yesterday in my lunch duty at the school where I volunteer I seemed to be out to get untied shoelaces; and they seemed to be testing me as well. When I approach students older than Kindergarteners, I usually ask them: “Can you tie your shoelaces or would you like me to tie them for you?” Children usually prefer to do it themselves, as I have noticed.

This one boy, however, told me: “I am fine”, to which I replied: “You are not safe. Would you like me to tie for you?” “Fine” , he responded. Then, as I tied his shoes he leaned over and whispered: “I am so embarrassed. I don’t know how to tie my shoes. Please don’t tell anyone.”

I was really surprised with his revelation to me, after all I am a volunteer who is there only during his lunch, and only twice a week. Nevertheless, I assured him I would not tell anyone, and I offered: “If you ever want to learn, we can go to a quiet area here in the school and I can teach you.” “Meanwhile, if it gets untied again you can tuck the lace on the side of your foot just so you don’t trip on it”. He smiled as he walked to recess “Thank you”. It was not clear to me whether he was thanking me for tieing his shoes, for keeping his secret, or for offering to teach him.

Today I saw him arrive at the cafeteria, and one of his shoes was untied. I walked over to him and disguised as well as I could: “Hey, I am trying this new way of tieing shoes, but I do not have laces today. Can I practice on your sneakers?” He said “sure”, and so I tied. I couldn’t help but notice that one of the sides of his lace was tucked into the shoe. That made me smile and remember the offer I had made.

As I watched lunch, I spoke with my Principal and explained to her what had happened and my intention to help that boy. She told me he could not go on being embarrassed, and that the one thing to do was to learn. She walked to him and quietly spoke with him. He looked a little self conscious as he held his cheeks for a few minutes after she left him. His classmate kept talking to him, so he went back to being one of the boys having lunch.

When he was done, the Principal walked him to me and said: “You two can go now. This is very special”. And she opened a room where we would not be bothered.

We worked on tieing his shoes over and over again, he experimented different ways of doing it. First I demonstrated and ‘narrated’ each step, then we did it at the same time, each one of us with one of his shoes, then I held his shoe in front of him while he tried several times, until he finally did it without my intervention or even my guidance. He did it all by himself. His eyes smiled, and he looked at me. I felt tears in my eyes, and I tried hard to hold them back, but I told him I was really moved about his achievement, and that I was very happy for the independence he would have from that moment on. He thanked me again, and then he untied one of his shoes. As he walked out to recess he said: “I will tie it out there”.

Moments like this reinforce my engrained idea that the paycheck to me, however necessary for living, feels like a bonus.

Hint: Begin with pre-measured ingredients in larger containers so children can practice measuring, but recipe still works. There are other recipes – simpler ones – that can be used to experiment what happens if the measurements are not accurate. Those are great to discuss following directions, and to encourage children to create and write (or dictate) their own tweaked recipes.

Ingredients

• 9 x 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 x teaspoons baking powder
• 1 x teaspoon baking soda

• 3 x 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 x 1/4 cup milk
• 2 x 1/4 cup sour cream (or yogurt)
• 1 x 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 3 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

• 4 x 1/4 cup thinly sliced strawberies
• 1 x 1/4 cup strawberry jam

Other materials

• 1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon per child
• 1 large bowl
• 1 small bowl
• 2 whisks
• 1 wooden spoon
• 24 muffin tins
• ingredients slips displaying a picture of the ingredient, a picture showing the measuring utensil as many times as it should be used. Under each picture is the name of the object depicted.

My Suggestions For the teacher

Arrange the cooking materials on a table – ingredients and utensils alike – and make sure there are enough 1/4 cup measuring cups and 1 teaspoon measuring spoons for each cooking student so they can be asked to differentiate them when it is their turn to “read” and measure. Cover the materials to help children focus while the teacher works on previous knowledge when presenting the recipe.

Holding the ingredient slips, name the recipe “Strawberry-Orange Muffins” and asks the students what ingredients they think will go in it. As students guess an ingredient correctly, show the corresponding slip, and tape it to the wall or display on a board, in a way that students can see. Give students hints to help them guess ingredients they do not think of independently.

After the ingredients have been presented, recap the ingredients list, pointing at the words under the pictures and reading. Students can “read” along using the pictures as support.

When all the ingredients are clear, introduce the utensils, pointing at them on the recipe slips and explaining that they are a special cup and a special spoon for measuring, that is, for getting the right amount of each ingredient into the recipe so the recipe works. During the explanation, hand each student a 1/4 cup and a teaspoon.

Each child then is given a slip from the wall. This is a good moment to elicit which measuring utensil each student will use and how many times they will need to use it (based on their slips).

When children are cooking for the first time, the teacher should be in charge of reading the recipe. If children are used to following recipes it can be displayed on the wall for them to cook independently. I like to use pictures – to allow children to follow – as well as texts – to encourage them to keep the recipes for later in their cooking experience when they become readers.

Recipe Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 400F (280C).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, the sugar, the milk, the sour cream, the canola oil, the sugar and the orange zest.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon.
5. Add the strawberries and the jam and stir gently.
6. Line muffin tins with paper liners and pour 1/4 cup (leveled) of the batter into each
7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe adapted for class from: Chuck Williams, ed. (2005). Williams-sonoma baking. San Francisco, CA: Oxmoor.