Metaphors can be an important tool in teaching. They allow a teacher to understand herself and how she approaches teaching as well as initiate change to her teaching methods. Personally, I view teaching as a swimming pool. I derived this metaphor from my personal experience as a competitive swimmer, swim instructor, lifeguard, and swim coach. A swimming pool can be both dangerous and fun at the same time. I relate this idea to what a classroom can be. A teacher should provide a learning environment that is safe and fun for the students in order for them to learn. If the teacher lets the class get out of hand, disruptive, and “dangerous” there could be serious consequences. These consequences can range from a simple lack of learning to a student being left behind or injured both emotionally and physically.
One way this can be prevented is though a set of basic school rules. Every swimming pool has a set of rules that swimmers are expected to follow that are not explained every time you enter the pool but understood by swimmers. They are posted on the walls and swimmers are expected to know them and follow them. All these rules are of course not always followed by every swimmer, but there is usually a lifeguard there to help remind them or if necessary punish the swimmers. This lifeguard acts as the authority figure or principal of the pool. The lifeguard may not always be standing right there, but there is always a chance they are watching, just like a principal. There are some rules, like no diving, that swimmers always follow because they understand that they will get hurt just like there are some school rules students usually do not break because they know the consequences are too great. Other rules, like no splashing, swimmers try to break when they think no one is watching. This is similar to how a student might break rules like no talking or hitting when the teacher has their backs turned to the class. Even though these rules are not always followed, it is important for a teacher to have a set of rules and stick to them throughout the school year, even if that means being the mean teacher that throws swimmers out of the pool.
Another aspect of teaching is understanding personal and professional limitations. Swimming pools can help a person float, even make waves that can help a swimmer gain forward momentum, but it cannot force a person to swim fast or learn good stroke technique. As a teacher one must understand that there is only so much you can do for a student. A teacher can provide all the tools, examples, and explanations a students needs to learn, or a swimmer needs to float, but it is up to the student to observe and implement these lesson into their studies, or simply learn how to swim. A teacher might feel compelled to spend more time working with certain students and go over more basic skills to help the student understand what is going on within the classroom, but if that student is unwilling to learn they will never make it across the pool no matter how hard the teacher is pushing. By trying to push or even pull a swimmer through the water, they will never learn how to swim and end up drowning when the teacher is not there to support them. Many students go through years where they have what they think are good teachers that almost baby them through their studies, but once they leave that classroom and go to the next they find themselves drowning in their school work and lack of understanding.
Other factors that play into both teaching and the swimming pool include outside components like parents and peer pressure. Parents are an important part of every person's life. At the pool there are parents that try and hold their child's hand every step of the way, parents that pressure their child to be the absolute best swimmer, and parents that simply drop their child off outside. As a teacher it is important to understand the different roles parents take in their child's life and how this may impact the child, but more importantly the child's learning environment and pressure to succeed in school.
Pressure for students and swimmer may also come from their peers. Often swimmers are pressured into going off the high dive or being pushed into the pool by their friends. This mischievous behavior can also be seem in the classroom. An understanding of what a swimmer is capable of in terms of skill and if they are ready to jump off the high dive and swim in the deep end or if it will be too dangerous for them is an important part of pool management. This can be applied to classroom management. In order to maintain order in the classroom, a teacher should be able to know the limits of each student, stop behavior when it is out of control or unsafe, and know who may be in the background pressuring bad behavior. These are factors that impact both the classroom and the swimming pool.
A teacher must be strong, understanding, and know that all they can do is help a student float, teach them new skills, and hope they make it across the pool on their own, but not expect them to be amazingly talented swimmers once they get there. Once a teacher understands their limitations and has a way to implement school rules to maintain classroom behavior, they are able to teach more efficiently compared to the teacher that tries to do everything and be too nice and nothing ever gets done. A swimming pool and teaching can be dangerous, educational, and fun. Once a teacher learns how to properly swim between these aspects, they can become an efficient teacher that hopefully students can learn from.