I really like coming up with things like analogies, because it gives me a good reason to put my creativity to use with a free license to be cheesy. So here goes...
As an analogy for teaching, I would say I view my role as that of a dance instructor. Yes, I am aware that comparing a teacher to a teacher may be a little redundant, but I am focusing on the dance part for this analogy. I draw this comparison because I think the most important components of education are the interests and understandings that children bring to a classroom. Multiple dancers can hear the same music, but can hear within that music a unique rhythm and/or beat within it to move to. If you've ever been to a dance recital and seen a class of small children, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The song is playing, and they can all hear it, but they have each brought their own ideas about what looks good, and their own opinions about what they want to do. After a few years of instruction, there is a dramatic difference in a dancers performance, especially when viewing an individual as a member of a whole class. A good dance teacher helps their students to listen to the music for certain cues and clues to help the class work better together as a whole. He or she can also take the dance skills (or even just the enthusiasm for dancing that seems in lieu of skill) and make the movements more graceful, suitable for the ideas being expressed in the music, and can do so without limiting the original expression and attitude that each dancer adds to his or her own performance. By equipping dancers with certain exercises, tools and feedback, a dance teacher can help a dancer reach their fullest potential. In the same way, as an elementary school teacher I will have students with many varying levels of skills, abilities, and interests. My in-the-grand-scheme-of-things goal is to equip them to be succesful members of a community when they finish getting their education, and learning to "hear the music" of the way the world (and things in it) works is an essential part. But their learning must be based on what they can bring, and how I can help to shape and grow it in the best way.
I took dance classes for many years, so this analogy makes a lot of sense to me. I hope it does for everyone else, too :)
As an analogy for teaching, I would say I view my role as that of a dance instructor. Yes, I am aware that comparing a teacher to a teacher may be a little redundant, but I am focusing on the dance part for this analogy. I draw this comparison because I think the most important components of education are the interests and understandings that children bring to a classroom. Multiple dancers can hear the same music, but can hear within that music a unique rhythm and/or beat within it to move to. If you've ever been to a dance recital and seen a class of small children, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The song is playing, and they can all hear it, but they have each brought their own ideas about what looks good, and their own opinions about what they want to do. After a few years of instruction, there is a dramatic difference in a dancers performance, especially when viewing an individual as a member of a whole class. A good dance teacher helps their students to listen to the music for certain cues and clues to help the class work better together as a whole. He or she can also take the dance skills (or even just the enthusiasm for dancing that seems in lieu of skill) and make the movements more graceful, suitable for the ideas being expressed in the music, and can do so without limiting the original expression and attitude that each dancer adds to his or her own performance. By equipping dancers with certain exercises, tools and feedback, a dance teacher can help a dancer reach their fullest potential. In the same way, as an elementary school teacher I will have students with many varying levels of skills, abilities, and interests. My in-the-grand-scheme-of-things goal is to equip them to be succesful members of a community when they finish getting their education, and learning to "hear the music" of the way the world (and things in it) works is an essential part. But their learning must be based on what they can bring, and how I can help to shape and grow it in the best way.
I took dance classes for many years, so this analogy makes a lot of sense to me. I hope it does for everyone else, too :)
posted by Sydney @ 9:27 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:24 PM,
Jen P said…
Sydney-
I'm certainly glad you enjoy analogies! I'm definitely a metaphorical thinker myself--helps me make sense of the world.
Your teaching metaphor dows a nice job of translating the work of teaching dance to a classroom setting. I like the idea of the dance teacher empowering students by not just teaching them how to dance, but also how to listen for cues and clues. As classroom teachers, I do think it's our responsibility not just to teach kids content, but also to let them in on how they can be successful members of society. Giving them the tools to develop self-knowledge is one way to do that.
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