Nadia Williams

EDUC 8100
Summer 2014
Reflection on Metaphor of Teaching
In comparing my classroom to that of a corporation with me as the CEO and my
students as the employees, I showed how my students and I work in tandem toward
common goals. Below is my reflection on my metaphor after all that I have learned this
semester.
What aspects of your metaphor would you expand or deepen? Specify exactly the
words, thoughts, ideas you would add. Rewrite or revise the metaphor accordingly.
I am very pleased with my metaphor overall as I found that it continued to be a very apt
description of my current relationship with my students. With what I have learned this semester,
I would take the portion where I describe the mission statement and go into more detail as to
what that mission statement would be. Thus I would state my classroom/companys mission
statement as forging ahead on our quest toward lifelong learning so that we are always
prepared to use our creative-thinking skills to conquer any challenge we meet. By providing
such a broad, yet focused mission statement aimed toward lifelong learning, problem-solving,
and creative thinking, my students and I will understand that no matter what, we are working to
learn so that we will be prepared to face any challenge that may arise.
What would you delete or change?
Other than what I have mentioned above, I doubt that I would really change this metaphor. The
only deletions I might make would be to make it more concise to share with my students and
their parents, but other than that, I am pleased with its current makeup.
How similar to your teaching is your expressed metaphor of teaching? Specifically,
are there areas where your practice does not align with your beliefs? If so, why is
there a mismatch between your beliefs and your practice?

My teaching is and has been very well expressed through my metaphor. I regularly run
my classroom like a corporation where my students have some leadership opportunities
and I work with them to develop their academic autonomy. That said, there is only one
area in which my practice does not quite align with my beliefs and that is with regard to
standardized testing. While I understand the purpose and agree with using data to
measure growth, I feel that too much emphasis is placed upon these tests as as
markers of what students have actually learned. Students are whole beings and tests
unfairly focus on such a small portion of their personal development.