Have you ever tried to explain a new concept to students who just don’t get it at first? You might ask yourself,“Why aren’t I making connections with my students? Is it me? Or is it because they are from the MTV and Xbox generation?”

You have other options than turning you classroom into a multimedia entertainment center. Another way to engage your students’ brains in learning is to replace explanations and didactic instruction with a classroom culture built on metaphors. For the purpose of this article, metaphors are broadly defined to include instructional activities that describe one experience or concept in terms of another experience or concept. Brain research highly supports student learning through the use of metaphors. Simply put, dendrites in the brain communicate with other dendrites via synaptic connections. Metaphors essentially are one main way the brain makes these connections.

Some of us teach about metaphors as one lesson in a year-long Language Arts curriculum. Perhaps we occasionally use metaphors to help explain a difficult concept. What we are talking about here is something different. It can be argued that metaphors are actually the language of learning. (That’s right, that’s a metaphor!) Imagine a classroom culture where metaphors are really the language we use throughout the day and across the curriculum to think about our teaching, to communicate behavior expectations, to promote effort, and as a key way to support learning of important skills and concepts as well as to engage in critical thinking.

Developing a Metaphor Culture

After all, we can even use metaphors to define the process of teaching and learning. James Lawley and Penny Tompkins, in their article“Learning Metaphors” (www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/LearningMetaphors.html), asked 10 of their students to come up with metaphors for learning. Each student’s metaphor gives a clue to their teaching philosophy:

1. Planting flowers—A seed is planted in my mind which I nurture with water and sun in the faith that it will sprout and grow.
2. Playing cards—I divide things into four categories and look for patterns across the suits until the logic and meaning emerges and I know which card to play.
3. Savings account—I invest the time to accumulate data and information until there is enough interest that I can roll it over into the next idea.
4. Switching on a light bulb—It’s not until the light switches on that I have an insight or an ‘ah ha.’
5. Eating—You need to take in the basic meat and potatoes before you get to the mouth-watering dessert.
6. Being a detective—It’s all about uncovering the facts, looking for clues, and asking the right questions until the whole mystery makes sense.
7. Peeling an onion—I peel off a layer which reveals the next layer to be peeled off. Each time something tells me I’m get closer to the core of the matter.
8. A quest—I’m searching for that ellusive something and every step I take brings me closer to what I need to know, but I never get there ... it’s a continuous journey.
9. Sculpting—You start with the raw material and shape it into a form that’s pleasing to the eye.
10. Wrestling—I struggle with the ideas until they’re pinned down and I’ve captured them.

The first step in developing your own classroom culture where metaphors are the language of learning is to ask yourself what metaphors for learning make sense to you. Do you agree with these students? What other metaphors might you come up with? Share the metaphors with your students, explain them, and post them on your walls as a constant reminder. Your students can point to those metaphors throughout the day and throughout the year as they relate to them.

You can also use metaphors to change student behavior and improve attitudes. Neil Eerdmans, a third grade teacher at Oxbow Creek Elementary School, uses metaphors to communicate his expectations for behavior and attitude and to motivate students. Here are a few of his gems:

• His main anthem is to “Go Green!” To be “green,” is to be full of life, growing, and peaceful— just like the green trees in a peaceful forest or the green plants in a flowering garden.
• He also extols his students to be “on the ball”— which, of course, is better than being under the ball and flattened by it!
• As a bike rider himself, he often will use bicycle metaphors such as reminding his students that bikes often have a limited number of gears but that people have thousands (or millions)! He also reminds students that life can be a messy, muddy road— but that the thrill can sometimes be found in the mud!
• To help students monitor their progress, he ask them, “How is your personal stock doing? Would people invest in you?”
• When students are expressing a defeated attitude, he might challenge them by asking, “Do you live in Happytown or Complainerville?”
• He explains that “your brain is your friend. Don’t ignore it, it wants to help you!”
• To help his students make the most of everyday, he tells them “there are no refunds for today, so make it a good one!”

You can also use common metaphors such as animals, plants, character types, common objects, or the physical world to communicate desired behaviors and attitudes. How could you use the following metaphors to motivate, promote effort, and deal with emotions?

• Related to animals: crocodile, crow, snake, dog, monkey, bat, parrot, tiger, lion, beast, lamb, etc...
• Related to plants: roots, soil, rain, sunlight, leaves, branches, stem, flower, etc…
• Related to characters: hero, heroine, king, queen, savior, wizard, sculptor, architect, angel, etc…
• Related to objects and the physical world: floor, stage, wall, basement, frame, tornado, house, hammer, vessel, rock, liquid, wind, current, storm, light, volcano, tidal wave, lava flow, magnet, erosion, etc…

Using Metaphors to Develop a Culture of Critical Thinking

Metaphoric thinking encourages higher-level and critical thinking. When students engage in metaphoric thought, they push beyond the basic concept. When readers or listeners encounter a phrase or word that cannot be interpreted literally, they have to think of how to interpret it. When teaching, you can always try to use metaphors to help explain concepts. But you can also empower students to model metaphoric thought as well. Metaphor teaching and learning tools can empower your students to engage in critical thinking all day and across the curriculum.

Metaphors can be used to help students understand new concepts by relating them to known concepts or to help students create mental imagery. As a teacher, you might say “a cell is a factory” or “a DNA model is a ladder.” In biology class, students might connect the heart to a heat pump or the eye to a camera.

Using Metaphors with Bloom’s Taxonomy

Many teachers use Bloom’s Taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis) as a lesson-planning framework for helping students go from simple knowledge to critical thinking. Metaphors can be used to support this process. An example of using metaphors to re-enforce knowledge would be using common nicknames of historical figures:

• Andrew Jackson: Old Hickory
• Abraham Lincoln: Honest Abe
• George Washington: Father of His Country
• Harriet Tubman: Moses

Metaphors are often used to aid comprehension. A perfect example would be to use the “mockingbird” metaphor to better comprehend the theme of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Atticus Finch says: “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, they don’t nest in corncribs, and they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” How does this metaphor help you understand the main point of this book? When students can come up with their own metaphor for a learned concept, it demonstrates that they can “apply” the concept. For example: To demonstrate understanding fractions as parts to a whole a students could come up with metaphors such as branches of a tree, rooms of a house, or spokes of a wheel.

Metaphors can also be used to analyze concepts from a variety of perspectives. An exercise such as the following can demonstrate how to take almost any concept and view it different ways:

1. Generate metaphors that view a concept in a variety of ways—such as the concept of “love.”
a) Love is a magnet
b) Love is magic
c) Love is war
d) Love is madness
e) Love is patient

2. Come up with supportive statements that leverage the metaphor.
a) He was drawn to her.
b) She was spellbound.
c) He won her heart.
d) She was crazy about him.
e) He was slow to warm up to her.

You can use a series of metaphors to synthesize information or create a new meaning or structure from various bits of information. A four corner theme graphic organizer is ideal for taking four related concepts, identifying the literal and metaphoric meaning of those concepts, and then synthesizing them into a united theme.

Metaphors can also be helpful in evaluating information or in making judgments about the value of ideas. Here are some common metaphors that could be used in making judgments when studying various topics:

What historical figure reached for the brass ring?
What politicians participate in finger pointing?
What inventor took a giant step?
What president was behind the eight ball?
What theory was on target?
Which scientists had their ducks in a row?
What type of government has the keys to success?
What historical figure proved that the pen is mightier than the sword?
What historical figures really kept their eyes on the prize?
What explorer put his foot in his mouth?
What scientific theory is between a rock and a hard place?
What current event keeps us on pins and needles?

Summary

As you can see, metaphors can be used everyday and in many ways. You can use metaphors to define your teaching practice and your philosophy. You can use them to motivate your learners and encourage positive attitudes. Metaphors can help students understand almost any key concept you are teaching. Plus, as students become empowered to come up with metaphors, their brains grow—after all, school is a brain farm (another metaphor!). Or as Mr. Eerdman says, “Remember, your brain is your friend!”

Discussion Questions

1. What metaphors best represent your philosophy in teaching and learning?
2. Which of Mr. Eerdman’s metaphors for student behavior and attitude do you like best? Which might you use?
3. What are some metaphors you could use for teaching some of your most difficult concepts?
4. Why is it good to examine why a metaphor makes sense and why it doesn’t?
5. What are metaphors so important in teaching math terms?
6. Why do metaphors in written text make reading more enjoyable?
7. Why is it important for students to see their brain as their friend?

Brenda Vatthauer has her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of St. Thomas and had taught middle and high school for 16 years in northern Minnesota. She currently is teaching at Franklin Middle School in Thief River Falls, MN.