Charlene Mitchell

I wish there was more here for me to show. I wish all of the Maker ideas I had for my first-year teaching could have been done, exactly how I had envisioned them. It would have been so, so perf---.

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Nope. Don't say it.

 

What I was able to do this year with my students meant something. There are more years. There are PLENTY ideas, and more to come. But for this year, I did what was best for me and what was best for my students.

 

There was one idea that came to fruition better than I had anticipated. Better than my preconceived idea of how this project would have gone perfectly in a normal school year. I have two words for you. Edible Soil.

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This project fell into our unit in AP Environmental Science that covered soil and its properties. We

studied different types of soils, their characteristics, uses, and more. As a self-proclaimed foodie, I 

knew this was the perfect opportunity to implement food into my instruction. This was done by having

the students create their own soil profile using edible ingredients only.

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At the genesis of this idea in my head (prior to COVID-19 and its restrictions), the plan was to raid HEB

and purchase an obscene amount of pudding, gummy worms, Oreos, chocolate chips, white chocolate 

chips, sprinkles, whipped creme, and whatever else my stomach led me to pick. Though this would have

been very enjoyable - and this is what happened for the in-person students - what I got from the virtual

students was mind-blowing. When I do this project again next year, I will have to highly consider doing

it in-person or at home, or possibly combine both. 

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Students at home essentially had access to any conceivable food item that their family members could

part with until the next grocery run. This made the interpretation of this project almost unlimited for 

them.

 

Students created their edible soil profile and made a FlipGrid video discussing what they made and what

soil level each food item represented. What I got was 11.3 hours of yummy, yummy goodness.

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