Teachers: What Is Your Metaphor?
Understanding your value system can help you grow as a teacher
I’ve been teaching special education in a public school for over fifteen years. Over that time, my teaching “style” has changed, as it should as one gains experience and knowledge of the craft. Teaching is a never-ending process of self-renewal. It’s a rookie mistake to think that one reaches some “golden age” of teaching perfection.
Teaching is a Life-Altering Enterprise
I’ve grown to realize that teaching is a big deal. I mean, sure, I realized it back when I started that this job was far more significant than the one I had in college selling gas and cigarettes at the corner store. But experience has taught me it is harder, more complex, more nuanced, and greatly more frustrating yet rewarding than I could have ever imagined.
Since research tells us that nearly one in three new teachers quit after their first five years, many educators are clearly facing an existential crisis of sorts in the classroom. It is not my intent to go into all the myriad reasons why this is so or to blame one cause over another. Instead, I want to focus on a deeply personal and potentially career-altering question: What is your metaphor?
The Child’s World Matters
I think, deep down inside, we all have one even if we’re not conscious of it. It holds our biases, hopes, dreams, fears, and constraints as educators. Having a deep understanding of this thing we call education can be helpful in many ways. A metaphor can help describe our particular role in the classroom and our stance toward students, and might even hold predictive value about how our students may respond to us.
For example, at the onset of my career, I mainly saw myself as a smart person eager and willing to impart knowledge of the world to children. Paulo Freire calls this the “Banking Concept of Education,” in which children are devoid of the necessary knowledge and skills they’ll need later as adults. Between my school district’s curriculum and my own extensive learning, I felt uniquely positioned to dispense essential facts to my students. The only question that needed answering was: how best to handle the dispensation?
It is easy to see what stresses can arise in a classroom if the teacher lives this metaphor daily and inflexibly. An empty vessel such as a cup is meant to hold whatever the user chooses to put in it. We do not seek the opinion of our tableware. Likewise, teachers put into students whatever learning we hold dear. The schism this creates between student and teacher can create all sorts of problems, which usually manifest as disruptive behavior in the classroom.
Certainly one could argue that teachers understand the adult world better than children do. However, it is foolhardy to ignore the child’s world, a dominion over which they hold unquestioning authority. When two “mental models” of reality collide, which they do every day in classrooms, it is inevitable that sparks will fly during this sudden, thunderous collision of seemingly contradictory ideas. For some children, it is not only nerve-wracking but downright terrifying to have their worldview questioned, especially if they were feeling invalidated in the first place. And a terrified child, struggling with uncertainty and the expectations of both adults and peers, can react with defiance and even aggression.
But we must teach children, for that is our job to broaden horizons, spark new insight, motivate and inspire. What we need are better metaphors of teaching and learning, ones that promote children above the role of docile, passive, incurious, and ultimately empty vessels.
“Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information.” ~Paulo Freire
Over the years I’ve struggled with where to put myself in the classroom: as the sage on the stage or the guide on the side. Now I’ve come to view myself as “protector of the flame.” What this means to me is that children, already alit with heat and passion for learning from the moment of their birth, instinctively carry a desire for meaning-making everywhere they go. They are born learners; they learn as easily as we breathe air. They are natural inductive reasoners, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting their way to understanding their world. Yet many graduate from the public school system with little semblance of their five-year-old selves. In some cases, their flames have been extinguished, or so greatly diminished that they care little for school except to get it behind them and move on with their lives.
Insofar as I’m able to as their teacher, I strive to keep that flame lit by creating a learning space that’s as engaging, thought-provoking, and relevant as I possibly can.
Other Metaphors
Teachers everywhere are acting out their metaphors without even realizing it. Some may see themselves as kind, loving people and their classrooms as “safe spaces” for children to learn. This could be called a “guardian angel” or “benefactor” metaphor. In this role, children are protected from the angst of a high-stakes test or the cruelties of the adult world, with the teacher assuming the role of defender of the innocent. This metaphor is at play when teachers carefully curate reading materials for a classroom library that uphold character or community values. However, taken to an extreme, this sort of guardianship can also lead to censorship and other “thought-control” measures. There is, in all things, the potential to “over-reach” and cause more harm than good.
Another metaphor common in schools is what I call the “lemon metaphor.” We set high goals for our students and expect their best each and every day. We demand quality work and won’t take the pressure off until our students deliver, regardless of what they bring to the table. Like a real lemon, which we throw away after we’ve squeezed every last drop out of the rind, we need to be watchful of the students who are losing their native curiosity. Some may also rebel against what is taught since children are well aware of our efforts to make them jump through hoops. After so much time performing for dubious goals such as stickers, prizes, candy, privileges, and grades, students can be left feeling tired, bored and stressed about school.
Let Empathy Lead
Is there a correct metaphor? One that would lead educators to a teaching method optimal for all students? I don’t think so. All have their flaws. It boils down to what feels right for you, what aligns with your understanding of children and learning, and what works best for you in the classroom. However, a little empathy can go a long way to choosing the right metaphor.
There is value in thinking deeply about this enterprise we call public education, for the human mind and spirit are ever-shifting like the ocean tides. We can improve our teaching by honestly evaluating our metaphors.
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