Although typically viewed as the domain of the English classroom, Wormeli illustrates that metaphors and analogies can be used successfully in every subject and across all grade levels.  Beginning with the notion that metaphors are comparisons that offer new information, he plants the seeds of effective lesson planning and assessment incorporating metaphorical thinking and then details specific strategies for the classroom.  In absorbing Wormeli’s practical insight, I was struck by three key ideas: students should be taught to evaluate the quality of metaphors in addition to recognizing and using them; if students don’t have the personal background to recognize the metaphor’s connection to the content, we must work to create the context; and metaphors are not limited to words.

Evaluating Metaphors

All metaphors are, by their nature, flawed, but some are more useful than others. According to Aristotle, the ability to create memorable metaphors is “a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.”  Consider John McPhee’s metaphor for the magnitude of geologic time: “If the history of the Earth were represented by the old English measure of a yard, the distance from the king’s nose to the end of his outstretched hand, all of human history could be erased by a single stroke of a file on his middle fingernail.”  While we may never achieve McPhee’s level of linguistic prowess, Wormeli provides a simple and efficient quality scale that can improve our use of metaphors (p. 12):

• The items being compared can be identified by the recipient.
• The metaphor does not distort the truth or present false facts.
• When taken literally, the metaphor is false.
• The items being compared exist in different domains.
• The metaphor engages the recipient personally; it’s clever, insightful, and sometimes witty.

A strong metaphor has 4-5 of these characteristics; it clarifies and strengthens the recipient’s understanding.  As a simple exercise, consider the most recent metaphor that you used as an instructional strategy; would it be considered effective under these terms?

Context is Essential

Context (aka background knowledge) is essential for learning.   As Wormeli notes, “According to cognitive science David Sousa, very little goes into long-term memory unless it’s attached to something already in storage.”   When students lack prior knowledge, Wormeli asserts that we have an obligation to provide it for them.

Consider the aforementioned example from McPhee; would a student who has never used a nail file appreciate the richness of McPhee’s metaphor?  Perhaps, but it would be unwise to make presumptions.  The challenge, which Wormeli rightly points out, is that teachers don’t want to include material beyond the curriculum just to teach a portion of the curriculum, but if students are going to move information into long-term memory they need a base on which to hook the new learning.  It is here that knowing one’s students becomes invaluable.

Large, heterogeneous classes set against the rapid pace of the instructional day can make this challenging, but Wormeli suggests even a simple activity like a student background survey (p. 44) can be enlightening.  Having a sense of students’ travel experiences, family structure, interests, and aspirations, coupled with sustained efforts to build personal connections, can lead to a shared understanding of background and facilitate differentiated instruction.  In this setting, metaphors and analogies are truly the “power tools” he describes.

Metaphors Are More Than Words

Wormeli makes the claim that nothing in the K-12 curriculum is too symbolic or abstract to be represented physically.  At first pass, this seems rather implausible; how does one make nuance, Taoism, or existentialism experiential?  His answer is that metaphors are grounded in physical experiences.   To be effective, however, we need to ensure that physical and symbolic connections to content match the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic inputs that students are primed to receive.

Wormeli suggests three basic steps for making the curriculum more physical for students (p. 64):

1. Identify the essential components or definitions of whatever you’re teaching.
2. Develop physical representations as metaphors and share them with the class.
3. Ask students to critique the metaphorical physical representations for accuracy, comprehensiveness, appropriateness, and clarity.

Just as charades, dramatizations, and other physical techniques can bring concepts to life, so can visualizations.  Wormeli observes that “Students best remember information if it is presented in a coherent structure the first time they experience it.  Metaphors and analogies provide that structure.”  Photographs, graphic organizers, tables and charts, even cartoons and comics can be powerful visual metaphors that  promote understanding.

Personal Metaphor Wrestling

In addition to the numerous, varied, and well-researched examples throughout Metaphors and Analogies, Wormeli shares several personal metaphors with which he is currently wrestling.  Each is worthy of considerable reflection, but I was especially drawn to these three (p. 141):

• Schools  shouldn’t be places of stability.  Instead, they should be places of compelling disequilibrium.
• Teaching is not a 50-50 partnership with students.
• School shouldn’t be about the information presented to students; it should reflect what students carry forward after learning.

Every educator has conceptual metaphors to contend with, and it’s important that we periodically reflect on how they shape our philosophy and practice.  Metaphors and Analogies provides an excellent starting point for understanding the promise and pitfalls of these important devices, and I would encourage you to explore Wormeli’s book for yourself.  In the spirit of its title, it truly is a buffet for the hungry mind.

*Metaphors and Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject is available from Stenhouse Publishing.  You can browse the entire book online here.

Since I don’t predict that “Show and Tell” will become a regular part of faculty meetings anytime soon, I’ve compiled what I would “bring” if given the chance. Some of the resources may be quite familiar, others are relatively new; all are free, most are cross platform, and I’ve found all of them useful in and out of the classroom.

A: Audacity

Dual platform sound recorder and editor. Great for podcasting and can export to .mp3 via the free lame encoder.

B: Blender

Dual platform 3D creation suite. Has a bit of a learning curve but documentation is readily available.

C: Creative Commons Search

Use Google, Yahoo, Flickr and other search engines to find Creative Commons-licensed media that can legally be shared and reused.

D: del.icio.us

Arguably the best social booking tool available. New users may wish to refer to this recent post for more information.

E: ePals

Billed as the world’s largest K-12 connected learning community, ePals connects students and teachers from 200 countries and territories.

F: Freecorder

Ad-supported, Windows-only browser toolbar for recording streaming audio as .mp3. Very handy if you ever need to record a Skype conversation.

G: Google

Besides being a top-notch search engine, there’s Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Reader, G-Mail and a host of other tools and services.

H: Historic Tale Construction Kit

A web-based tool for creating “historic tales” in medieval comic book fashion. Easy to use but the font may cause problems for younger students.

I: iTunes

For all intents and purposes, Apple owns the “i” moniker and with iTunes they’ve bridged the Mac/PC divide.

J: Jing

Dual platform tool that captures image and video from your computer. Finished video can then be shared in emails, blogs, or IM.

K: Kaltura

Online site for collaborative video creation; even offers tips for better film making.

L: Landmark Project

One of the oldest education sites on the Internet, there is literally something here for everyone.

M: Mogopop

Create, publish, and download content for iPods. The free account comes with 50 MB of storage.

N: Ning

Social networking site that recently began offering ad-free networks for educational use in grades 7-12 (ages 13-18). New users may wish to refer to this recent post for more information.

O: OpenOffice

Multiplatform, multilingual office suite that is fully compatible with Office and offers more features than Microsoft’s “Student and Teacher” edition.

P: PDF Creator

Windows-only download that lets you “print” to PDF from any application.

Q: Quintura

Visual search engine that organizes results in “clouds.” Younger students might be better served using Quintura for Kids.

R: Rubistar

Online tool that lets you find, customize, and create rubrics for a variety of assignments.

S: Scratch

Cross platform programming language that lets kids (and adults) create and share interactive games, stories, animations, music and art.

T: ToonDoo

Create, publish, and share your own comic strips; ideal for younger students.

U: Ustream.tv

A live, interactive broadcast platform that lets anyone with a camera and internet connection broadcast to the world.

V: VoiceThread

One of the most popular tools of 2007, VoiceThread combines images and narration into digital storytelling.

W: Wikispaces

Easy to use wiki for collaborative projects. Teachers can request a free “Plus Plan” for educational use that is ad-free.

X: Xtimeline

Explore, create and share timelines online. Good selection of ready-made timelines.

Y: YouTube Catcher

Enter the URL of a YouTube video and it will be downloaded to your desktop as a .flv file.

Z: Zotero

Firefox extension that helps you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Best suited for older students in a 1:1 environment.

Obviously there are many other free tools that I could have selected; this list could easily have stretched from Animoto to Zamar. If you were going to do “Show and Tell” with your colleagues, what would you bring? If you have a great resource or two (or perhaps a full A-Z list of your own), leave a comment and tell us all about it!

GSpace

GSpace is a Firefox extension that lets you use your Gmail account for file storage. After downloading the extension, restart your browser and select Tools –> GSpace. The GSpace console will open and you can add your Gmail account information. Once logged in, you can then use File Transfer to manage files, Player Mode to listen to music files stored on GSpace, Photo Mode to view your images, and Gmail Drive to manage your Gdrive files. The FTP-like interface is very intuitive, but should questions arise a help menu and tutorial are readily available.

Firefox users looking for a free and simple way to store and retrieve files will find GSpace very appealing. The 6+ GB (and growing) of storage space should meet the needs of most users, and the price (free) can’t be beat. For those needing more features and flexibility, however, there are other options.

DigitalBucket

Launched in August of 2007, DigitalBucket is a relative newcomer to the online file storage market. Offering four tiers of service, their “beta” plan is free (for now) and offers 1 GB of space. Like GSpace, DigitalBucket uses a browser-based graphical interface that takes only minutes to master. More than a storage tool, however, DigitalBucket allows you to create and modify Word and Excel documents online (via Zoho) and share your files with other users.

Not having to upload/download frequently modified files can reduce “versioning headache” and being able to grant read-write access to others makes DigitalBucket a great collaborative storage tool. If you are willing to spend a little money, however, you’ll find that a few dollars can go a long way.

Box.net

Box.net was free when I started using it in 2006. While they now charge $25 a year for 2 GB of storage, they have a more robust interface and feature-set than either GSpace or DigitalBucket. Transferring files and folders is easy with Box.net’s drag and drop java uploader, and their Openbox Services (Picnic, Zoho, and Scribd) make online editing and publishing a straight-forward process. The “Box Widget” can be used to share files on a blog or website, and iGoogle users can add a Box.net widet to their homepage for quick access to their files.

Take Your Pick

When deciding which online solution is right for you, it is important to consider features, cost, and peace of mind. GSpace is free, offers plentiful storage, and because it is tied to Firefox and Gmail, will most likely be around for quite some time (you don’t want your storage provider to suddenly go out of business). DigitalBucket is still in beta, and while there is an inherent risk in using any beta product, it offers a great set of tools and the security of Amazon’s Simple Storage Service, the same infrastructure that Amazon.com uses to store its own data. Box.net has been around longer than the others and while it comes with a price, it stands above the crowd in terms of form and function.

To learn more, take a 10 minute test drive of your own and see what works best for you. Regardless of your choice, it won’t take long for you to see the benefits of online storage.