Thanks for this intriguing list, Jay.

I can only think about metaphors for teaching in the context of a  
particular lesson I have taught, or a classroom or teacher I have  
observed. I suggest  the following two strategies to those whose  
interest Jay has piqued, but who -- as I did at first -- draw a  
metaphor blank:

• Think about a lesson you have taught or seen. Look at Jay's list.  
Do any of these metaphors fit? Are any of them the opposite of the  
metaphor you would choose to describe the lesson? Do they suggest to  
you a better metaphor?

• My colleagues and I have put together (as far as I know the only  
free, public, adult literacy education Web-site) collection of short  
videos of classrooms and tutorials. Most are about 3-4 minutes long.  
It's called the Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS), and it's  
designed for use by professional developers or teachers, to help  
answer adult literacy education (including numeracy, English, and  
secondary education) teachers' needs to see what other teachers do in  
their classrooms. On the main page, so far, there are only a few  
videos, but there will be more soon. On the Other Adult Learning  
Videos page, there are many more. Look at one or two of these videos  
and then either choose a metaphor from the list below, or come up  
with your own metaphor, and share it with us.

The MLoTS (mmmLOTS! -- referring to how many videos we hope to have  
there) Web address is

http://mlots.org

Be sure to also look at the page that is linked: "Other Adult  
Learning Videos".

Here are a few of my own metaphors -- from teaching adolescents and  
adults -- to add to Jay's list:

• Friends' (Quakers) meeting  (i.e. waiting through the hard silence  
for students to think and respond)
• "Sage on the Stage"
• "Guide by the side"
• Roller skating (getting around to each student in the class  
individually)
• Fire fighting (putting out brush fires)


David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


On Apr 23, 2008, at 7:46 AM, jay.derrick wrote:


> 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:

> Doing a jigsaw

> Riding a bicycle

> Caring for an elderly relative

> Changing a fuse

> Writing a book

> Running a marathon

> Painting a picture

> Directing a play or a film

> Growing vegetables

> Conducting tourists round a cathedral

> Cooking a meal

> Trying to persuade someone to agree with you

> Doing a crossword

> Taking a clock to pieces and putting it back together

> Playing chess

> Improvising a saxophone solo

> Designing a building

> Sorting out a gas leak

> Conducting an orchestra

> Sailing a boat

> Lighting a fire

> Filling up a car with petrol

> Changing the world

> 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

>

>

>

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