Michele Cotter and Betsy Lopata

Cotter’s and Lopata’s innovative teaching idea, “Madison Munchies,” focuses on changing the current curriculum at Madison Central School from a basic cooking class to one that provides real-life experiences for students. Students involved in the program will be engaged in a program that combines areas of everyday learning that they may not otherwise experience. Utilizing three class periods, the program will combine cooking, English and math classes into one “life experience” class. This will involve researching different recipes, creating grocery lists and keeping track of all expenses and income accordingly. The students will keep a log similar to that of a bank account where they will monitor the funds that have been spent and made throughout the school year. Math skills such as addition, subtraction, ratios, fractions, and percentages will be utilized during this process. This program will also allow the students to go on field trips where they will be introduced to different job opportunities that might be available to them after high school, leveraging the skills learned in class and seeing how they translate to everyday life.