From Chef to Chef Educator

In 2010 I began a graduate program at Mills College, and have now completed my Masters degree in Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood Leadership. The focus of my capstone work was the creation of an obesity prevention model for early learning.

My Obesity Prevention Model for Early Learning is supported by the educational theories of John Dewey’s Experiential Learning Theory, Jean Piaget’s Constructivist Theory, and Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. The model is rooted in agrarian thinking (Berry, The Whole Horse, 2002), and the responsibilities we have as educators to connect ourselves and our early learners to the people who bring food to our tables.

Early learners in full time care from age one to five will receive 1000 meals and 2000 snacks in their four years, and will learn from each meal and snack. What are they learning from yours?

Berry, W. (2002). The Whole Horse. In A. Kimbrell, Fatal Harvest (pp. 7-15). Sausalito, CA: Foundation for Deep Ecology.