Howdy from Nevada!

[DC1346]

Thank you for the info and the pics, very informative and very interesting. I have really enjoyed having this conversation with you. Looking forward to hopefully having more conversations with you in the future.

Thank you.

If you decide to finish your degree and to pursue a career in the industry, I will be happy to offer you constructive advice. Please feel free to PM me as needed.

One last tip ... my district, Clark County School District, is one of the largest public school districts in the states ... though it may not be for long as our state legislature has decided that we're too large and we're supposed to break up into smaller districts in three year's time unless the legislature overturns the bill they passed last summer.

At this time, CCSD is one of the larger employers of Culinary Arts teachers in the country. There are some 60 culinary teachers in my district.

Vegas also has some of the best restaurants in the industry. The Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace and the Picasso at the Bellagio are both 2 star Michelin rated restaurants.

There are also lots of one star restaurants like the Alize at the Palms Casino and Hotel ... Andre's at the Monte Carlo ... L'Atelier Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand Hotel to name just a few.

Why am I telling you this?

If you want to finish your degree, there will be an externship requirement and you will be required to work under the supervision of a chef for 3-6 months depending upon your school. If you have the financial means, you might consider finding an externship in Vegas. A successful externship could lead to a job. If you worked 2-3 years on the Vegas strip and still wanted to teach, I know of at least two colleagues who did just that ... though both of them worked for considerably longer than 2-3 years.

My district LOVES hiring people with industry experience. We even have several academies which are basically CTE (Career and Technical Education) centers. Students interested in vocational studies have to apply to get in and the instructors choose the best of the best. The Culinary Arts Departments at these schools have commercially licensed kitchens and operate full service restaurants and bakeries.

If teaching at an academy with 2-3 other Culinary Arts teachers isn't your thing, there are all sorts of high schools. Some are inner-city. Some are suburban. Others, like mine, are rural.

I like working in the a rural setting because the cost of living is lower. The lower population density means there is less traffic. My classroom enrollment is much smaller this year than it was when I taught in the Vegas area last year.

If your ultimate goal is to teach, you might want to consider finding an externship in Vegas, parlaying that into a full time job, and entering the teaching field after you've developed enough industry experience to qualify for a provisional teaching certificate.

At this time, CCSD is very serious about hiring people with industry experience and they support these teachers with workshops and classes so that they can transition from a three year probationary (nonrenewable) certificate to a standard 5 year (renewable) certificate ... or if you have a Master's a 6 year certificate.

 

[Tnorton2015]

Ver nice info to know, thank you for that.

 

[Progster]

Hi fellow teacher, and welcome to the forum

I see that we have quite a bit in common besides teaching: I also have a masters' degree, a house and a car (which I can't really afford), but not three cats

I have also taught abroad in several countries, but I teach languages and EFL. I have special interests based round foreign languages and different countries/cultures, and that is what drove me to go abroad to teach.

I used to work in a school, but found it too stressful, had a burnout and gave it up, was diagnosed with Asperger's and now I'm a private online teacher and proof reader.

 

[DC1346]

I have also taught abroad in several countries, but I teach languages and EFL. I have special interests based round foreign languages and different countries/cultures, and that is what drove me to go abroad to teach.

Whereabouts have you been? I have lived in Ghana, Thailand, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. While working abroad I was elementary but after returning stateside, I pursued chef training, worked in the food service industry for a few years, and am now back in education as a high school Culinary Arts instructor.

I used to work in a school, but found it too stressful, had a burnout and gave it up, was diagnosed with Asperger's and now I'm a private online teacher and proof reader.

I burned out of elementary but mainly because everything has changed because of NCLB and it's all teach to the test. Culinary Arts has testing as well but it's not nearly as stringent as those taught by core academic instructors.

I sometimes wish I was an online teacher but largely enjoy working with the kids on developing their culinary skills.

 

[Progster]

Whereabouts have you been? I have lived in Ghana, Thailand, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. While working abroad I was elementary but after returning stateside, I pursued chef training, worked in the food service industry for a few years, and am now back in education as a high school Culinary Arts instructor.



I burned out of elementary but mainly because everything has changed because of NCLB and it's all teach to the test. Culinary Arts has testing as well but it's not nearly as stringent as those taught by core academic instructors.

I sometimes wish I was an online teacher but largely enjoy working with the kids on developing their culinary skills.

I was in teaching in Romania and Greece, but have also lived in Germany, Switzerland and Canada for varying lengths of time.

I can't imagine that teaching culinary skills would work well online due to the practical element, but I teach languages, and it works quite well, though technical difficulties can be frustrating at times.

 

[Elemental]

Hi & welcome to Site Central! I did some voluntary working in adult literacy with people on a one to one basis, helping with letters & numbers work & it was about the most satisfying thing I ever did works-wise.

 

[DC1346]

I can't imagine that teaching culinary skills would work well online due to the practical element, but I teach languages, and it works quite well, though technical difficulties can be frustrating at times.

True enough ... but I hold dual certifications and in addition to culinary, I am an elementary teacher.

I had the opportunity to teach in Romania a few years back but turned it down. The headmistress wanted to hire me simply because of my ethnicity as everyone on the faculty and everyone in the area was white.

Since I objected to the idea of being objectified as a token minority rather than having been hired because of my skill set, I said no and wound up going to Saudi Arabia instead.

 

[Progster]

True enough ... but I hold dual certifications and in addition to culinary, I am an elementary teacher.

I had the opportunity to teach in Romania a few years back but turned it down. The headmistress wanted to hire me simply because of my ethnicity as everyone on the faculty and everyone in the area was white.

Since I objected to the idea of being objectified as a token minority rather than having been hired because of my skill set, I said no and wound up going to Saudi Arabia instead.

Did they want to hire you to teach English?

 

[DC1346]

The job was at an American school. I would have taught 5th grade had I accepted the offer.

 

[Ste11aeres]

A rather unkind person at another site suggested that I was using my condition as a scapegoat to justify my behavior.

That's only bad if your behavior is something evil. For instance, if you had a child, and you treated that child the same way your parents treated you, and you said "It's because of my condition," that would be wrong. But if your "behavior" is introversion, seeking solitude, etc...well, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I'm fairly certain that her Baptist father was quite angry though I do not fully understand why since Rachel and I would have been married. Her mother burst into tears.

The fact that you would have been married, meant that the things you (or, rather, she) were planning to do would have been morally acceptable. (For those who don't believe sex is reserved for marriage, I'm speaking from the viewpoint of her father), but-apart from actual morality-it is highly socially unacceptable to talk about such things to most people. Her parents may have thought that you were an extremely crude person to talk about such things.
Strangely, such social mistakes can shock people more than actual moral/ethical wrongdoing.

 

[DC1346]

But Rachel said she loved the fact that I was unfiltered ... but I was apparently too unfiltered? And her father DID ask ... so should I have lied or told a lie of omission?

I am not good at lying and I continue to be perplexed by the concept of unwritten social rules of conduct.

Sadly my experience with Rachel and her parents were not covered in Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior.

(Sigh)

 

[Ste11aeres]

But Rachel said she loved the fact that I was unfiltered ... but I was apparently too unfiltered?

Yes.

And her father DID ask ... so should I have lied or told a lie of omission?

You should have talked about other things you would be doing in Vegas. That was what he was really asking about.

It wouldn't have been a lie of omission. Not lying, doesn't necessarily mean telling everything.

 

[DC1346]

Hmmpfff ... well ... I suppose it's just as well as things did not work out. Better a break up before a marriage than a messy divorce (and a division of property) afterwards.

To be candid, I was extremely relieved when Rachel broke things off. She had a voracious appetite for physical intimacy ... far beyond anything I really wanted or needed. She had a huge tattoo of a dragon on her back that covered her from just beneath each shoulder to just above her backside. I accepted the tattoo because it was part of her ... but I never understood why she (or anyone else) would want a tattoo in the first place. She was also addicted to on-line gaming and would play games while we were on dates ... at dinner (in a nice restaurant) ... while hiking through Red Rock Canyon ... while having breakfast etc.

Other than our shared culinary backgrounds and the fact that we both had reclusive personalities, I really don't think that we had much in common.