Teaching Metaphor

When first asked about this assignment, I have to admit I was pretty confused! I had no idea what it meant to form a metaphor for teaching and learning. But after looking at a few of the examples, I got the idea. I hate to sound tacky, but I really didn't just choose a tree because it was the first example given! I looked at all of it and I thought about all of the things that grow. That is essential in learning; the process of growing. Children grow into adults, and they are learning throughout the entire metamorphosis from baby to grown up. 

I chose to look at teaching and education on the whole broad spectrum instead of only focusing on elementary years, even though that is what I want to concentrate one. When I think of a metaphor for education, I'd like to include myself into it because I am still learning at age 20. If we think about it, we spend a whole lot of our lives in school and learning so it is super important! We don't want our trees to simply halt in growth mid-height! We want to keep learning and being nourished and thriving and growing until we can reach our maximum potential of learning growth. 

The roots of our tree lie in our educational foundations, as the picture depicts. This is an extremely important part of our tree. It holds the whole thing together. This deciphers exactly how essential our first years of education are. In the first few years, I'd say, preschool or kindergarten to third or fourth grade, we learn so much more than solely academics. This is where we learn most of our social skills, which I feel are probably just as important as academics. The roots become strong with social skills, the first and most "fundational" skills such as reading and writing, along with the first lessons on thinking and analyzing and pondering questions. Having the children inquire into situations and questions is a great way to get them to open up their minds academically, socially, and logically.

 The child should be free to develop and explore and celebrate their creativity and potential freely; as the roots of a tree grow freely through the ground. They should not have to fear adult figures, or authority (AKA the teacher). Without this fear, there is nothing prohibiting them from growing strong roots in development and education. 

The stump of the tree which grows to the top and has lots of branches sprout out from it is the next most important part. This is the part on the tree that reads "students actively involved". This is the classroom. All of the hands on activities provided in elementary schools is the backbone to everything the child will learn. They need to be fully involved in school, interacting with other children along with the adult figures of the school. 

Off of this main branch or stump, four different mini branches are off shoots that are the other five fundamental concepts of education. Communication, Thinking, Opportunities, Community, and Motivation. If you think about it, these are some of the most important parts of life, not just education. Any part of education, whether it is the early elementary years, into high school, and further into college, require all of these components. We need to constantly communicate with others in order to get advice and opinions and feedback on our work. We need to think and analyze all kinds of situations and questions, both in life and at school. We need the opportunities to learn. This is where teachers come in with such an important role. We give children the opportunity to learn in a positive environment. The community plays a huge role in our education. Public schooling results in our classmates, and other parents involved in PTA meetings. The community helps to fund all of the things that schools are able to do. Without community, schools could not exist. Children would all have to go to private schools, and many families could not afford it, therefore resulting in children neglecting education. Finally, motivation is key. We need to be motivated in order to learn!!