Metaphors We Teach By
How Metaphors Shape What We Do in Classrooms
Edited by Dr. Ken Badley and Harro Walter Van Brummelen
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Metaphors We Teach By helps teachers reflect on how the metaphors they use to think about education shape what happens in their classrooms and in their schools. Teaching and learning will differ in classrooms whose teachers think of students as plants to be nurtured from those who consider them as clay to be molded. Students will be assessed differently if teachers think of assessment as a blessing and as justice instead of as measurement. This volume examines dozens of such metaphors related to teaching and teachers, learning and learners, curriculum, assessment, gender, and matters of spirituality and faith. The book challenges teachers to embrace metaphors that fit their worldview and will improve teaching and learning in their classrooms.
Ken Badley is Professor of Education and teaches in the doctoral program in education at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. He is the author of several social studies and religious studies textbooks.
Harro Van Brummelen is Executive Director of Christian Studies International and Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the School of Education at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia
"As a maven of metaphors myself, I am delighted with Metaphors We Teach By, which examines how metaphor informs and enhances the teaching life. Moving beyond the traditional 'sage on the stage and the guide by the side' formulation, the contributors to this volume concoct a rich stew of personal accounts, scholarly expertise, and metaphors ranging from oysters to gardens, superheroes to invisible thread."
--Susan VanZanten, Seattle Pacific University
"Metaphors powerfully communicate how we view our roles, our work, and its ultimate purposes. This valuable book carefully examines the process through which we select these symbols in order to understand their influence and set the course of practice for the next generation of learners."
--Jillian N. Lederhouse, Wheaton College
"Metaphors make our thoughts more lucid, connected, and multifaceted, structure our perceptions and understandings about life, and help us see things in new light. Thinking metaphorically about education and learning also enhances creativity. Badley and Van Brummelen have provided a rich resource, which will no doubt improve both teaching and learning for educators and students alike."
--James Drexler, Covenant College
"Kudos to Badley and Van Brummelen for this practical collection of meditations on metaphor in the classroom . . . If metaphors operate at a fundamental level of cognition, then the challenge is to intentionally choose which metaphors I employ as an educator, since they will both direct my behavior and lead to new perspectives."
--Deborah C. Bowen, Redeemer University College
"Metaphors have long been recognized as playing a key role in the ways we approach teaching and learning. The authors contributing to this book offer a thought-provoking, faith-sensitive, and a refreshingly personal guide to this important area of reflection."
--David I. Smith, Calvin College
"Too often as teachers we worry about the words we are using and forget to pay attention to what we are actually saying to our pupils through our practice. In this innovative book Ken Badley and Harro Van Brummelen have brought together essays which help us to distinguish these. By focusing on the metaphors that shape our work, they have provided a resource that will have a significant impact on our classrooms.
--Trevor Cooling, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
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