Polk County Public Schools
Five Polk culinary arts teachers were honored during state and local events held in September.
Brenda Doss, a culinary teacher at Lakeland’s George Jenkins High, was named ProStart Teacher of the Year during the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association’s FRLA 2009 “Salute To Excellence” event held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
Brenda, who has more than 30 years of teaching experience, has been involved with the FRLA’s ProStart program since its inception. ProStart is a teaching program focusing on training, job skills, tasks and results in the hospitality industry. ProStart was developed to increase the quality and employability of high school graduates to work in the foodservice and lodging professions. The ProStart program is meant to develop students for careers and higher education. ProStart combines a curriculum with on-the-job training.
Brenda has successfully placed her students in jobs and culinary schools and given them the tools to earn industry certifications. Brenda was also recognized at the event as an honorary alumnus of Johnson and Wales University, a leading culinary arts college with campuses in Providence, R.I., North Miami, Denver and Charlotte. Johnson and Wales donated $500 to Brenda’s classroom.
In addition, four other Polk culinary arts teachers received $400 mini-grants each for their classrooms from the Polk County chapter of the FRLA. Teachers receiving the mini-grants were Karen Kilday (Lakeland’s Kathleen High), Kimberly Martinez (Lakeland High), Rebecca Rhodes (Haines City High and Ann Redd (Eagle Lake’s Lake Region High).
Grace Ford, a science teacher at Lakeland’s Kathleen High, was one of 30 teachers nationally that participated in a National Science Foundation professional development and training event held over the summer.
Teachers from 18 states participated for a week at the event held at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Teachers received training and instruction on the Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Methodology (POGIL).
POGIL is a research-based learning environment where students are actively engaged in mastering course content and in developing essential skills by working in self-managed teams on guided inquiry activities. POGIL is a classroom and laboratory technique that seeks to simultaneously teach content and key process skills including analytical thinking and the ability to work as a team.
Ford will use POGIL to facilitate student learning by appropriately guiding and questioning the student teams as they work through specially designed activities.
