Gifted Metaphors: Exploring the Metaphors of Teachers in Gifted Education and Their Impact on Teaching the Gifted

Abstract

Metaphors are devices that people employ for both poetic purposes and rhetorical elaboration and belong to the realm of extraordinary language. Metaphors are used to connect abstract ideas and information to more concrete experiences, thus making these experiences more familiar and easier to understand. Moreover, metaphors are more than symbolic intellectual processes; they influence the conceptual understanding of our experiences and help define our everyday realities. For education, there is an important and relevant practical connection between the metaphors that teachers employ and their beliefs about teaching and classroom practices. This stems from the notion that metaphors guide one's mental framework. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the metaphors influencing teachers in gifted education, this study specifically asked teachers to describe both their metaphors concerning gifted students as well as those influencing their teaching. In this study, nine different themes were identified. This research demonstrates a clear connection between reported metaphors and how gifted students receive their education from teachers. Participants' answers demonstrate a strong connection between their metaphors and their classroom practices. However, strict adherence to one's root metaphor increases the chance for dogmatism in the classroom and can lead to potentially incoherent classroom differentiation and a potential disconnect between classroom practices and the actual pedagogical needs of the gifted learner.

Teachers’ metaphors and views about gifted students and their education

“…The first question is quite similar to the semi-structured question format used in many previous studies, which also used metaphors to reveal teachers' opinions, thinking and cognitions in various educational fields (Ç apan, 2010;Godor, 2019;Ma and Gao, 2017).…”

Organization of Gifted Students' Education in Comprehensive Schools: Teachers` Position

“…Organizuojant ugdymo procesą labai svarbu atsižvelgti į individualius kiekvieno vaiko poreikius. Pastaruoju metu tiek Lietuvoje, tiek pasaulyje diskutuojama apie įtraukujį ugdymą, mokymosi turinio individualizavimą ir diferencijavimą (Handa, 2019, Godor, 2019. Vis tik dažnai prioritetu tampa įvairių mokymosi sunkumų turinčių vaikų ugdymas.…”

Examination of Teacher Candidates' Perception of Tourists

“…In the data collection phase of the present study, the related literature (Marchant, 1992;Saban, 2009;Olthouse, 2014;Domović et al, 2016;Turan, 2017;Godor, 2019) was examined first and the participants were expected to fill out a semistructured form consisting of statements such as "tourists are like ......, because ......", which was also used in previous studies in the literature, with the aim of collecting the metaphors produced by the teacher candidates regarding their perceptions of the concept of tourist. The participants were asked to write metaphors related to the concept of tourist in the first space, followed by the reason for the metaphor in the second space following "because".…”