This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
I’ve been watching a lot of “Top Chef All-Stars” recently. If you are unfamiliar with the show, it pits chefs against each other in a series of challenges rated by some of the most famous chefs in the world. Each episode, the chefs are challenged by the ingredients, style, preparation time, and evaluators they are given.
The evaluation panel includes names that even a little-cooking, non-foodies like myself recognize. The contestants clearly admire and respect those judging their food. Each contestant gets to answer the panel’s questions about the dish before the master chefs deliberate over whose food was the best. Even the losing chefs get told exactly where their dish went right, and where it went wrong.
How do you think a "Top Educator" show would compare?
What would the challenges be? How do you think the contestants would be evaluated? Do you think the student learning on the show would be measured by a bubble test? Who would be the "experts" to perform the evaluations? Most importantly, would the show look anything like the evaluation you get?
