Who Are You? Developing a Teaching Metaphor

Your first entry to your teaching blog is an important one, as it will reveal to our class community a bit about who you are and how you think about your work as a teacher. Beginning teachers often face the challenge of figuring out and negotiating their role(s) in the classroom. There’s pressure to “fit in” to the classroom norms, which have already been established by others. Yet, you also have ideas about how you believe a classroom should function, beliefs and ideals about what the learning environment should be for students. This assignment is intended to provide you the opportunity to consider and explore the latter.


Here’s what you need to do:

Propose and explain a teaching metaphor (or simile) that captures the essence of yourself as a teacher. Do you envision yourself as an expert, a lifeguard, a shepherd watching over his/her flock, the captain of a ship? How do you perceive your role(s) as you prepare to enter the classroom and begin your work as a teacher?

Your metaphor should examine and explain your view of yourself as a teacher and also make comparisons that explore your beliefs about students, the act of teaching, and the act of learning.

By nature, metaphors are usually oversimplifications: they rarely capture the complexities of intricate situations like teaching. Nevertheless, they allow us opportunities to think about ourselves and provide a lens through which we might view our work.

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You may wish to read a few sample teaching metaphors to spark your thinking, so I have provided links to some below. Please note that the following represent a wide range - some are highly complex, others rather straightforward. It is important to remember that there is no "right" metaphor for teaching, nor is there a correct way to write about it. Do what works for you. Also, remember that this is your INITIAL teaching metaphor. It will likely evolve and change as you work in classrooms.

http://soe.ucdavis.edu/ms0506/180E/CommonsR/metaphor.html

http://www.cs.rit.edu/~jdb/teachingPhilosophy.htm

http://leader.louisville.edu/edtl/kemp/edtl602/assign/metaphor/meta1.htm

http://leader.louisville.edu/edtl/kemp/edtl602/assign/metaphor/metamayn.htm

EDIS 488 Class Homepage

Welcome to our class blogspot! This page will serve as the jumping off point for your teaching blogs.