teachingcommons winter dam house event - methaphors feedback

The most provocative metaphor we discussed was…

Fill the vessel

•Fill the vessel (pot/container)• static in modern exam based

education

•Fill the vessel (ship)• Mobile in allows freedom of

movement with educational cargo• Choose direction


Syllabus as a straight-jacket

• It can be constraining to a teacher and learners

• Stifles independence in learning space, freedom for learners

•Opposite of a ‘cook-book’ syllabus where you can choose ingredients to ‘bake a cake’ for your individual learners that tastes right


A vehicle of aspiration: Starship Enterprise

• Vehicle – journey:• needs a driver and crew and maybe a destination• Or is it a mystery tour?• New places - discovery

• Aspiration:• standing on the shoulders of giants• Personal growth ambitous• Pushing the boundaries

• Mostly harmless • Resistance is futile• Growing our collective knowledge and understanding


Spinning disco ball

•Multi-faceted; seeing things from different angles, bright sparks, holistic (not linear)

•Teachers ‘mad hatters’ spinning the unexpected

•‘3D’ thinking


Jazz band/band leaders

•Direction, not prescription

•Structure, but freeform, and room for solos

•Rise of ‘standards’ for exploration

•Needs skills/practice to perform


Teacher as head chef (vegetable soup)

•Used for action learning

•Everyone contributes

•Head chef facilitates rather than dictates


Kim McShane’s concept that there are no metaphors for facilitation

•Presence of two facilitators

•Midwives? Nectar flowers with students as butterflies or bees?


• Multi-purpose tool: as support teachers, we are active in the students’ heads, to help shape academic work.

• Reformer – in China, language teachers are giving students freedom to talk/use language in ‘real world’ ways eg drama


Parent/Priest/Caddy

• Slightly on the background, sharing experience, giving helpful hints, carry great burden! But ultimately it’s the student who makes the decisions …..

• Acknowledgement and existence of belief/value system within which relationship takes place – can be contested or reinforced.

• Trust, long-term relationship. Exploration of the range of tools/terrain. Limits?


Planting trees

• Long-term effect

• Branching/process

• Nurtured from roots


The teacher ‘playing god’

• We felt strongly about it! (largely negatively)

• We felt it was an inevitable consequence of our institutional context


Jigsaw

• Small pieces make up bigger picture

• Different approaches to completion of puzzle

• Encourages collaboration

• Last piece makes sense


Domestication of the wild

• Making society genteel (middle class values) through education


Magician

• Surprising/inspiring• Audience participation• Engendering inquiring


Conductor

• Opportunity for improvisation (within structured context)

• Strict compliance at times

• Apply same process to a range of material (type of music)


Club

teachingcommons winter dam house event - methaphors feedback

Education