Five Metaphors for Educators

Metaphors are effective rhetorical devices to explain ideas, organize information, and illuminate understanding. Metaphor is a process of comparing and identifying one thing with another. Two basic principles of instruction are to go from the known to the unknown and to go from the concrete to the abstract. Metaphors do this by using concrete examples to explain abstract principles. This paper explores the use of metaphors to improve understanding, the role of metaphors in education, and five metaphors related to the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of teachers. These metaphors are teachers as parents, as gardeners, as prophets, as pearl oysters, and as physicians. The paper concludes that by using metaphors and visual images, teachers can arrive at a deeper understanding of their roles and responsibilities as educators, the nature of education, and the relationships between the teacher and student. (ND) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document