In my first summer off from teaching, I decided that grading papers using marks and percentages was simply not something I was interested in. I often say to people, “I don’t know the difference between a 75 and a 78. Do you?” After stating the obvious reply of, “3 percent,” we are often led into some sort of philosophical discussion on assessment.
Being a very kinesthetic and visual person, I decided I wanted my marks to have not only a visual component, but also a vocabulary to go with it. This led me down the path of figuring out what was important to me and what I could really get excited about. This thought process further led me to food, which in turn led me to Grandma Bickle’s chili sauce, which led me to the Scoville scale for hot peppers. An example of the four point scale that I created that summer and still use to this day has been inserted below.
The reason for all of this preamble is to help justify the reason for my personal metaphor for my learning journey. For me cooking has always been a part of my life. Beginning with helping Grandma Bickle in the kitchen, moving on to helping cook meals for my family and today by passing on the enjoyment of cooking on to my daughter Ella. At first glance it may seem a bit of a stretch to relate cooking to a journey, however, when taking a closer look, there are a variety of similarities between the culinary arts and a journey.
There are many fun ways in which you can see cooking and food in general as a journey. There is the growth and nurturing of the ingredients themselves. There is also the entire process if shopping, preparing and ultimately pulling a meal together. Finally, as mentioned above, there is the growth of ones ability and enjoyment of the art as well as the passing of skills from one generation to the next.
The reason that I wanted to stick with this metaphor for my learning journey is that it is something that is already ingrained within me and my students. I will be able to continue to use cheesy vocabulary such as “spicing things up”, and “insatiable appetite”, in reference to my quest for knowledge and my desire for excellence.