Exploring Language and Metaphors in Education
Delve into the importance of language in shaping perceptions and explore the powerful impact of metaphors in understanding complex concepts. Consider how language choices by educators like Dr. One and Dr. Two can influence patient care and student learning. Discover how metaphors like "Fireworks in the Brain" reveal the intricate workings of the mind. Learn how cultivating attentiveness can lead to deeper satisfaction and meaningful learning experiences.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Introduction To English II Dr. Bordelon
Language is the Focus Question to mull over as we begin Would you prefer to be treated by Dr. One who says I admitted a brain tumor from the ER or There s a new Crohn s on the ward. Or Dr. Two who says I admitted a person with a brain tumor from the ER or There s a new patient who has Crohn s on the ward. The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Ludwig Wittgenstein Explain your choice and don t necessarily focus on grammar.
Metaphor A metaphor is not an ornament. It is an organ of perception. Through metaphors, we see the world as one thing or another (Postman 174). muscle (needing exercise)? A vessel (needing filling)? A lump of clay (needing shaping)? A garden (needing cultivation)? Or, as so many say today, is it like a computer that processes data? Postman, Neil. The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. New York: Vintage, 1996. Print. Is light a wave or a particle? Are molecules like billiard balls or force shields? Is the human mind [. . .] like a dark cavern (needing illumination)? A cared for? Troops to be disciplined? Sons and daughters to be nurtured? Personnel to be And a little closer to home . . . . And what of students? Are they patients to be Connect this idea to Dr. One and Dr. Two trained? Resources to be developed? (Postman 174)
Metaphor: Fireworks in the Brain Years ago, the cognitive scientist David Swinney helped uncover the fact that when we read a simple word like bug, we activate not only the more common meaning (a crawling, sixlegged creature), but also the bug s less frequent associations spies, Volkswagens, and glitches in software. Swinney discovered that the brain doesn t find just one simple meaning for a word; instead it stimulates a veritable trove of knowledge about that word and the many words related to it. The richness of this semantic dimension of reading depends on the riches we have already stored (Wolf 9). Emile doesn t (not so smart rat) And now, an animated metaphor, courtesy of Pixar: Wolf s beehive as fireworks Remy gets it (smart rat)
How to be a Smart Rat This is why attentiveness is worth cultivating: not just because it is good for you or because (as Gallagher also says) it can help you organize your world, but because such raptness is deeply satisfying (Jacobs 86). As Winifred Gallagher has written, attention David Foster Wallace Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. Complete the homework enables you to have the kind of Dionysian experience beautifully described by the old- fashioned term rapt completely absorbed, engrossed, fascinated, perhaps even carried away that underlies life s deepest pleasures, from the scholar s study to the carpenter s craft to the lover s obsession (qtd. in Jacobs 86). Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. New York: OUP, 2011. Print. Review the Lesson Plans online It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed Annotate as you read Immerse yourself it s fun
Did he just say satisfying? Can you really get satisfaction out of a college writing course? Let s get started: Billy Collins Introduction to Poetry
