Using Our Noodles to Write

Every classroom has a unique dynamic and personality. My last hour of the day is creative writing, and the individuals who make up our class are spirited, zany, and full of intelligence and wit. They have been a powerhouse of writers this year and have produced pages of prose and poetry.

One of the rewarding, but also demanding, aspects of teaching creative writing is that often I have students take my course for multiple years so I am challenged to find new ways to present information and make the curriculum fresh.

Recently in class, we discussed blogging/vlogging as a modern way to publish writing. I have had a food blog for 9 years, and I was trying to come up with a way to get my students involved in being content creators. In class we watched a couple of food videos from Emmymade, and they were inspired by her relaxed delivery, her vast vocabulary, and especially her ramen posts.

Come to find out, a couple of my students are budding home chefs who create gourmet meals out of instant ramen. Therefore, I thought that we could turn our classroom into a "ramen bar," and they could experiment with different combinations and then share their recipes with the world. In addition, we will research Japanese, Chinese, and Korean food and culture. They were excited about the prospect of this, and I told them I would turn to Donors Choose for some help.

I tried selecting noodles/condiments that many of the students had not tried before. In addition to the ingredients listed in this project, I plan to bring in some fresh greens, vegetables, cheese, and hard boiled eggs. I plan to film some of our ramen creations. The students will partner up to write, and I will post their recipes.