Slide outline for Lesson 6.8. Twelve slides, one day. Slide 4 is the flowchart and it stays projected or drawn on the board the whole period. [Sal: this is Lab 3. Students know the phases and the roles; do not reteach them. Keep the deck short and keep the clock big.]
Lab 3, Cheesy Pasta Marinara
- Unit 6, Lesson 6.8
- Topic 6.2 Food Preparation Methods and Science
- Forty minutes. Seven people. One pot of boiling water
Teacher notes
Image: a plate of spaghetti with marinara and melted mozzarella, shot from above.
Do now, at your station
- Hair back. Sleeves up. Wash hands. Sanitize your surface
- Role card in your pocket
- Stand at your station with your hands empty
- The timer starts when every station is standing
Teacher notes
This is the same do now as every lab. The second question goes on the side board: "Which task takes the longest, and what cannot start until it is done?"
Today's new thing
- Boiling water is the first real critical path in this course
- Water: about 8 minutes. Pasta: 8 to 10 more
- Nothing else can finish until the pasta is drained
- Everything in this room works around that one task
Teacher notes
This is the hook and the objective. Say it once and point at the flowchart.
The flowchart
Minute: 0 5 10 15 20 25 28 35 40
Water: |====BOIL====|
Pasta: |======COOK======|DRAIN|
Sauce: |=========warm on LOW=========|
Cheese: |portion| |on the plates|
Plates: |set up | |serve |eat |
Clean: |as you go, all period |ZONES|Teacher notes
Leave this up the whole period. The pasta bar runs across nearly the whole cook phase, which is the point.
The pot is on by minute 3
- Three quarters full, not to the top
- Two people carry it
- Handle turned in
- HIGH heat
- One Tablespoon of salt
Teacher notes
This is the only sentence worth repeating during prep. A pot on late at minute 6 is a station eating at minute 34.
The six-step routine
- Hair back
- Sleeves up
- Wash hands
- Sanitize surfaces
- Clean as you go
- Station check before dismissal
Teacher notes
Same six steps, same order, every lab all year.
What a rolling boil looks like
- Big bubbles breaking the whole surface
- Steam rising, the pot loud
- Small bubbles on the bottom are NOT a boil
Teacher notes
Image: two photos side by side, one pot just starting to bubble at the bottom, one at a full rolling boil.
This is the most common mistake in this lab. Students add pasta to hot water instead of boiling water and the pasta goes gummy.
I drain
- Every pot, every time, all year
- Burner off, step back, say "ready"
- Steam burns deeper than water
Teacher notes
Say the reason out loud while you do it. This is the rule students will carry into the Feed the Class project.
Sauce stays on LOW
- Warm, not bubbling
- Stir every two minutes
- Above LOW, the bottom scorches and the whole pan tastes burnt
Teacher notes
Once a tomato sauce scorches, you cannot fix it. Say that before they turn the knob.
Plate and eat, 28 to 35
- Even portions with the tongs
- Cheese on the plate while the pasta is still hot so it melts
- Count the plates. Everyone has one before anyone sits
Teacher notes
Score the Lab Rubric on the clipboard while they eat: Objectives 1 and 2 and the safety row.
Clean, 35 to 40
- Work your zone: stove and pots, counters and supplies, dishes and sink, floor and trash
- Station Manager walks the check
- Nobody leaves until every station is signed
Teacher notes
Call "clean" at 35. Sign only when every line on the check is true.
The question at the station check
- Did we keep the flowchart?
- Where did we lose or gain time?
- What is the one change for the next lab? Name a role and a minute
Teacher notes
The Station Manager answers out loud when you sign. The Lab Reflection is finished in the first five minutes of Lesson 6.9 or goes home. Cost per station: about $9.76 [update from this week's circular].