Teaching Metaphor

The art of teaching is comparable to perfecting a recipe of cooked lentils. I attempt this process every couple of weeks, after I have gotten around to buying another carton of chicken broth. Good lentils do not require a rigid recipe to turn out well every time, but they must follow a tried and true liquid-to-lentils ratio combined with careful attention and varied flavor. Without this, lentils can either become too soupy or burn, become too strong or bland. The smell of burnt lentils is something to be avoided at all costs.

After the proper ratio has been established, the cooking of the lentils becomes much more creative. The length of cooking time is based on the amount of liquid you include and the intended texture. The spices one might add are entirely subjective. Flavors such as garlic, salt, and pepper are typical. But past that, the possibilities are as diverse as the spice rack itself. My favorite spice to add is a curry that I purchased in Morocco, whose duplicate I cannot find on the shelves of a grocery store anywhere in America.

I approach teaching much like I approach cooking lentils. I build upon a set ratio, tested and experimented with by authorities with strong cooking—or in our case, artistic and educational—experience. This ratio can be adjusted to suit the result I wish to create. I then add unique flavors according to personal taste, experience, and the needs of the lentils. The lentils respond to the spices I add and the attention I give, and adjustments are made from there. In the end, the success of the lentils is based on the environment I create within my cooking pot and how well the lentils respond to those conditions. As teachers, we construct successful environments by taking suggestions from professionals in the field (i.e. standards, goals, DBAE content), and then adding our personal tastes and experiences in a way that best meets the needs of our students. The plans we make from there must have a degree of flexibility and improvisation as student needs change. In the end, based on the “flavors” we add, our classroom will be very different from the classroom next door, and even from our own classroom ten years down the road because of our changing students and our changing selves.

photo courtesy of simplyscratch.com