This slideshow was presented at the May 2013 HEA Storyville Conference which was held at Brighton. The presentation focuses on National Teaching Fellows' metaphorical images of teaching.
2. Metaphorical Stem Activity
“My teaching is (like) …………………
because …………”
Complete with a metaphor that best describes your
current teaching practice & state relevant teaching
context.
5. Metaphors are analogical devices
which lie beneath the surface of an
individual’s awareness and serve as a
cognitive device for learning new
information, concepts and skills.
Andrew Ortony (1993)
12. “My teaching style is like a ‘tour
guide’, signposting the interesting
landmarks and providing some
context in a way that encourages
others to explore the landscape for
themselves in a way that is of most
use to them…….”
Fellow B
14. "Teaching is like feeding students
with pre-digested concepts in an
animated and enthusiastic manner -
the students should always feel they
have left a teaching event having
learnt something new." Fellow I
15. “…..It is a bit like being a good
parent, you know when you have
been successful, they can fly away
on their own.” Fellow J
17. “Lecturing (Teaching) is interactive
theatre where you use your physical
presence, social contact and the
physicality of the lecture theatre
and audience to enthuse about the
subject……” Fellow L
19. “Teaching is giving mental athletes
the tools to help them stretch and
develop towards becoming fully
functioning [personally and
intellectually] individuals.” Fellow O
21. “My teaching is like fair-isle
knitting. I am the needles gently
teasing the strands of wool together
and creating the structure and the
framework, yet it is the wool (or
learners) who provide the colour
and substance of the final
result……” Fellow P
23. “I think my preferred teaching
metaphor would be that of
gardener - striving to bring out the
best in the plants under their care
so that they can produce productive
fruit…..” Fellow Q
25. “The teacher is a scaffold that
gradually removes itself to the point
of not being needed. With the
scaffold the building (student) can
go much higher than it could have
done without this support at the
early stages.” Fellow R
27. “Teaching is like learning to fish. You
have to spend time watching the water
before you gradually become aware of
all the activity beneath the surface.
Then you have to recognise how the
fish (learners) are swimming, so you
can align yourself with their direction &
then lead them where you want them
to go.” Fellow S
28. Non-metaphorical responses
• “Teaching is enabling learners to hold on
to what would otherwise be difficult to
grasp. It turns abstractions into tangible
things.”
• “Teaching is remembering that you are
always a student of the discipline and a
student of the best of way delivering
it….”
30. Metaphors are reframing or heuristic tools that can be employed by teachers to reflect upon and improve their practice (Munby & Russell, 1990).
“Metaphors are reframing
or heuristic tools that can be
employed by teachers to
reflect upon and improve
their practice.”
(Munby & Russell, 1990)).
31. “I love metaphors as they are really
powerful ways to convey ideas and
this exercise certainly made me
think about my approach and what
I am trying to do in my teaching so
thanks very much. Thank you for
making me think this evening.”
Fellow P
32. “I don't normally use metaphors but
your question made me think more”
Fellow J
33. Travelling metaphor
Teacher as travel or tour guide,
ship captain, lighthouse keeper
and students as travellers
Parenting metaphor Teacher as ‘good’ parent and
students as children.
Performance metaphor Teacher as actor, tightrope walker,
cheeky clown and students as
audience
Coaching metaphor Teacher as coach and students as
mental athletes
Knitting metaphor Teacher as needle and students as
wool
Gardening metaphor Teacher as gardener and students
as plants
Construction metaphor Teacher as scaffold and students
as buildings
Seminal book by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (cognitive linguists) released in 1980 which has influenced educational metaphor research.
Book’s main premise. Metaphors are not just mere literary devices or short cuts – figures of speech to spice up conversations but conceptual or cognitive tools/instruments used by people to understand and comprehend their social and inner realities – their world. * Most studies in the area of educational metaphors have focused on teacher education rather than higher education – on teacher educators and teacher trainees not academic lecturers.
A fish has no conception of water until it is out of it – metaphors are so subtle and below awareness* The fact that metaphors are part and parcel of daily conversations and interactions makes them invisible so that unless you look out for them, you rarely notice them.
Most of the studies have focused on teacher educators and student teachers but there is a limited study on HE lecturers. I needed a small population sample of lecturers and National Teaching Fellows fitted this bill. These were academics regarded as excellent teachers by the HEA. It was interesting to find out what their teaching methods would be.