{"id":5507,"date":"2023-11-29T01:40:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T01:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningcommons.twu.ca\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2024-04-28T12:14:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T20:14:39","slug":"kieran-wear-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/2023\/11\/29\/kieran-wear-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Kieran Wear"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Metaphorical Zoom?<\/h1>\n

Kieran Wear<\/h3>\n

December 11, 2020<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

When I <\/span>first\u00a0<\/span>saw that weird scene with the wall of TV screens in\u00a0<\/span>The Matrix Revolutions,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>I had no premonition that such would\u00a0<\/span>ever\u00a0<\/span>be the fate of my social interactions<\/span>. I certainly never prepared to be\u00a0pedagogically-engaged\u00a0in such a context.<\/span>\u00a0Spring 2020, then,\u00a0<\/span>proved<\/span>\u00a0unduly challenging for me.\u00a0<\/span>I remember\u00a0<\/span>sitt<\/span>ing outside, in the ice-box air<\/span>\u2014and slightly better cellular signal\u2014of a Montana March. I was desperately trying to focus on the student paper that I was working with.<\/span>\u00a0Between being distracted by a recording of my own face<\/span>\u00a0talking back to me, my cold hands,<\/span>\u00a0and the slight lag in communication, I\u00a0<\/span>only half-succeeded. Indeed, I\u00a0<\/span>suspect that<\/span>\u00a0the<\/span>\u00a0student\u00a0<\/span>left\u00a0<\/span>with very\u00a0<\/span>few\u00a0<\/span>takeaways.<\/span>\u00a0I soon fell into the rhythm of online instruction, but it was never quite comfortable.<\/span>\u00a0As the\u00a0<\/span>end of summer\u00a0<\/span>approached<\/span>\u00a0I was thus dreading this semester and its continued pedagogical challenges.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What I found this semester, however, was that once I got over the initial awkwardness of online tutoring, I\u2014luddite that I might be\u2014could hold effective tutoring sessions.<\/span>\u00a0The requisite step? I needed to know, not only the rules of composition, but how to convey them without using my hands and a whiteboard\u2014my previous tools of choice. In short, I needed to learn that pedagogy is only effective when it is flexible. A large part of this \u201cflex\u201d arose<\/span>\u00a0in learning how to articulate lessons using only my words\u2014spoken slowly over occasionally spotty connections, without relying on the visual aids that previously made me feel comfortable. The most important piece of tutoring technique that I garnered<\/span>\u2014if not always with my own comfort\u2014<\/span>over the semester was metaphorical feedback.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In their \u201c<\/span>Online Metaphorical Feedback and Students\u2019 Textual Revisions:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>An Embodied Cognitive Experience<\/span>,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Beth\u00a0<\/span>Hewett<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>Terese\u00a0<\/span>Thonus<\/span>\u00a0conduct a study to determine just how efficacious metaphors are as teaching tools in online formats<\/span>, and to determine what metaphorical teaching strategies are best<\/span>. Ultimately, they find confirmation for the notion that metaphors are effective teaching tools (<\/span>16<\/span>)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Hewett and Thonus describe metaphorical language in the tutor<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>relationship as\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>represent<\/span>[<\/span>ing<\/span>]<\/span>\u00a0the physical world, particularly the abstractions of human nature that language seeks to symbolize<\/span>\u201d (2).<\/span>\u00a0Metaphors serve to symbolize just the kinds of things that language does in general. If we mimic this methodology in tutoring settings, it seems to strengthen learning success. Indeed, Hewett and Thonus write that\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>metaphorical thinking<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is so pervasive and ubiquitous that people cannot communicate or act apart from it<\/span>\u201d (2).<\/span>\u00a0That is, metaphor constitutes a primary<\/span>, even indissoluble<\/span>\u00a0part of human experience. As tutors, we do not need to fight this part of human\u00a0learning, but\u00a0would do well to follow its lead.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before consciously considering metaphor in my tutoring, I would attempt to clearly explain the lesson at hand in a sort of syllogistic language. That is, I tried to pare my words down until I was presenting the given student a \u201cnugget\u201d of writerly truth. The problem with this kind of approach is that it limits that flowing, beautiful thing that is human writing into a series of rote propositions<\/span>. Often, I found\u2014clear<\/span>\u00a0as it seemed<\/span>\u2014my guidance was not effective. Without consciously realizing it, I used whiteboard pictures and hand gestures to carry the meaning that my language<\/span>\u00a0did<\/span>\u00a0not. Once I began tutoring on Zoom, however, these props were taken away (as I had not discovered the drawing tools<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>again<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>luddite that I am.) I had to consciously find a way to \u201cpaint a picture.<\/span>\u201d Metaphor was the most effective way for me to do this.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Metaphors have the distinct role, in tutoring as in poetry, of bringing a lesson to life. It is one thing to write that the sky is grey<\/span>, and quite another to write that it \u201cis like a patient etherised\u00a0<\/span>upon a table\u201d (Eliot 3). The latter of which\u2014though a simile\u2014makes the reader want to\u00a0<\/span>jump<\/span>\u00a0up and look at the\u00a0<\/span>sky or<\/span>\u00a0fall down\u00a0in rapture (if they study English literature, at least.) The point here is clear: metaphor works on the mind and the heart, making it good for poetry, and no less so for online t<\/span>utoring<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hewett<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and Thonus<\/span>\u00a0conclude\u00a0<\/span>their piece\u00a0<\/span>by writing that \u201c<\/span>Particularly<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>online, metaphorical feedback can create an embodied experience of person and word so often missing in this teaching<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and learning context<\/span>\u201d (16).<\/span> Thus, the upshot is that tutoring must engage bodily experience as much as it can, whenever it can. Although at face value embodiment can be seriously impeded by computer-mediated interactions, we are all\u2014one both ends of the screen\u2014always already embodied. The onus is on the tutor, I have learned, to find ways to engage that embodiment, no matter the medium.<\/span><\/p>\n

Works Cited\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eliot, T.S.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>19<\/span>15<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0The Waste Land and Other Poems.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Harcourt Brace & Company<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>1934, pp.<\/span>\u00a01-9<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hewett, Beth L., and Thonus<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Terese<\/span>. \u201cOnline Metaphorical Feedback and Students\u2019 Textual Revisions: An Embodied Cognitive Experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Computers and Composition<\/span><\/i>,<\/span>\u00a0vol. 54, Dec. 2019<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0doi:10.1016\/j.compcom.2019.102512.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Metaphorical Zoom? Kieran Wear December 11, 2020 When I first\u00a0saw that weird scene with the wall of TV screens in\u00a0The Matrix Revolutions,\u00a0I had no premonition that such would\u00a0ever\u00a0be the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":5962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[77,204],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflection","tag-fall-2020","tag-kieran_wear"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pad6JM-1qP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7096,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions\/7096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}