Literacy metaphors in the classroom

“Possess a broad-based foundation for further education”

One contextual metaphor that I would associate with education is “education as a building or structure”. For a building or a structure, the foundation is the most important. Without proper foundation, the building will not be stable and may collapse. Similarly, in education, we have to build a strong foundation for our students. At every stage of their education, the ground work must be laid properly. Once the foundation is stable, the task of educating our students will be easier.

In this concept, teachers are the construction workers, laying the foundation for the students and ensuring that the foundations have been laid properly. At each stage of their progress, teachers also have to scaffold their learning, just like the scaffoldings that are set up when constructing a build so that each storey can be built. There is no shortcut in education. A teacher may give students tips and shortcuts to solve a problem, but in the long run, when students have to apply the concept to other areas, they may find themselves at a lost. Therefore, education is a tedious job but seeing the final product, brings a smile to our faces.

Once the building has been constructed, it is left to stand there, beautiful, tall and a landmark for all to see. At the end of our students’ education, we all want our students to stand tall and proud and excel in the working world and in their lives. All the meticulous planning and foundation-laying though tedious has been worth the effort.

“Be able to build friendships with others”

Another contextual metaphor is “education as networking”. Education also does not just look at the academic aspect but also interpersonal relations, such as friendships and social responsibilities. I would see it as, once students have friends in their class, they will feel happier coming to school. When students feel positive about themselves, they will feel more confident and then this will also be reflected in their school work. They also learn to build up interpersonal skills which need to possess when they are out in the working world as they would definitely have to have these skills in order to survive.

It is not unheard of to hear students going on exchange programs or having pen-pals for their writing class. This can be seen as networking and they are now starting at a very young age. Teachers from different schools or overseas schools collaborative with each other and pair their students up so that they have a pen-pal and have an authentic reason to write to each other. With digital technology, this has become possible and faster. Students learn how to write and interact.

Digital technology definitely has brought us to a new era of education. From the example above, students are able to learn networking skills. E-mail, Facebook, Friendster and other social networking websites have emerged and have helped countless people to get into contact with their long lost friends or even to make new friends. Teachers can make such of such platforms to create class groups and have discussion topics, instead of grand conversations in the class, which may not involve all the students. With such platforms, students are able to access it at any time and even those students who are shy to talk in class, have an alternative to share their thoughts.