Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Special Metaphor Assignment (Blog Post 14)

a clock with wings

Why did so many of us miss the metaphor in Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home by Tom Johnson?  Although I cannot speak for the whole class, this is my answers to our special assignment:

Why did you miss the metaphor in Tom Johnson's post, or, if you "hit the nail on the head", why do you think you understood the metaphor and why do you think that others in the class missed the metaphor?
I missed the metaphor in this assignment because I looked too deeply into the post.  I was trying to find the real meaning behind what he was saying and I guess the literature lover in me decided to dig as deep as possible.  I thought that he was inferring that teachers need to open up to real issues and collaborate with their colleagues.  I had no idea that he was replacing pencils with technology.  Looking back on the blog post, I see now how that all fits together. 

What metaphors have you encountered since I asked you to create a log of them?
It’s raining cats and dogs.  –My grandfather on the weather in central Florida
The cup is half full. –My boyfriend on my pessimistic view of the day
Your room is a pigsty. –My mother to my brother
America is a melting pot. –My teacher at South Alabama
We are all sheep.  –Robin Williams on Law and Order SVU
I am sure there were many more, but these are the ones that I recognized and remembered to add to my list.

What other things can we do as educators to help our students to understand and to use metaphors?
As educators, we can teach our students how these types of metaphors relate to a broader picture in their own experiences.  We can teach them to look deeper into the meanings of what is being said.  One of my literature teachers did this often with what we were reading.  I plan to be an elementary teacher, so I may do exercises where my students can recognize metaphors and interpret what they mean.  For example I can teach them about “it’s raining cats and dogs out there” and have them explain to me what that means.

Why do we use metaphors?
This is a great question!  I have been thinking about this question for over a week now and all I can come up with is to broaden our own way of thinking by using our previous knowledge to determine what is really being said.  I’m still not sure why people tend to use metaphors instead of what they really want to say, but then again what if they cannot say what they think freely?  Then there has to be some way to get the opinion out there.  What I can take away from this is that we need to be able to think about things on a more complex level.  

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