Hi there, I'm an adult basic education teacher, trainer and researcher from the UK. 

David Rosen recently posted a list of metaphors for Assessment on the Assessment list, suggesting that people comment and add their own.  I'd like to suggest some metaphors for the activity of teaching in the same way, for comment and discussion.  I have found group discussions of these a useful activity for professional development sessions.  Here they are:
  a.. Doing a jigsaw
  b.. Riding a bicycle
  c.. Caring for an elderly relative
  d.. Changing a fuse
  e.. Writing a book
  f.. Running a marathon
  g.. Painting a picture
  h.. Directing a play or a film
  i.. Growing vegetables
  j.. Conducting tourists round a cathedral
  k.. Cooking a meal
  l.. Trying to persuade someone to agree with you
  m.. Doing a crossword
  n.. Taking a clock to pieces and putting it back together
  o.. Playing chess
  p.. Improvising a saxophone solo
  q.. Designing a building
  r.. Sorting out a gas leak
  s.. Conducting an orchestra
  t.. Sailing a boat
  u.. Lighting a fire
  v.. Filling up a car with petrol
  w.. Changing the world
  x.. Unpacking a box of books
A parallel list could be made for Learning, and it seems to me that some of the metaphors might do for both teaching and learning.  What does anyone else think?

Jay Derrick
BlueSky Learning Ltd
jay.derrick at blueyonder.co.uk
07984 649 776


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20080423/1da687bf/attachment.html