ABSTRACT
Context: TE Elementary; TE Secondary NCSS Standards: IV (Individual Development and Identity) INTASC Standards: 9 (Refl ection and Professional Development) Topics: metaphors, teaching philosophy, teacher refl ection, purposes/goals, language/ meaning
Th e linguist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson (1980) have long argued that metaphors, or “understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of another,” are not just literary but conceptual constructs that drive the way we understand and approach reality (p. 5). Metaphors help make sense of our world and provide “scripts” for action. Lakoff and Johnson believe that “metaphors may create realities for us, especially social realities…. [S]uch actions will, in turn, reinforce the power of the metaphor to make experience coherent” (p. 146). Th us, Lakoff and Johnson conclude that “metaphors can be self-fulfi lling prophecies” (p. 146).
