It's raining cats and dogs and the noise is music to my ears. The metaphor is for connecting our listener to a narrative. When we use descriptive phrases, we do so with the intent of helping others visualize what we are talking about. In many cases, the metaphor is used in way that it is not about the specifics, but about the general idea. I don't think that many people actually picture actual household pets falling from the sky but we somehow get it that the storm is so big it is as if cats and dogs were raining down. Rug rat and couch potato are another type of metaphor where the meaning of the two words is more closely associated. In my action research project, the title, Going Mobile connects with my metaphor, "mobile phones are vehicles for communication and learning." Again, no one really thinks that you can actually drive a phone down the street, but the understood similarity of transporting something helps connect us to how these devices are used. We each take our understanding of the words and allow them to help us put ourselves into the story. This is an important literary tool in that communicating is all about connecting you, the reader to my narrative or joke. If there is little or no connection, the words and ideas just fly by.
As our MALT program is in the final stretch, we find ourselves writing, writing, writing like there's no tomorrow. With so many words it is helpful to have a bird's eye view of the complete project and find ways to make our themes and ideas clear as day to our readers. A good metaphor can help this process while a bad or confusing mix of metaphors can make our points as clear as mud, not right as rain. I feel that this year with so much writing and reflecting, it has sharpened my communication skills but like many skills we have, it is something that can always be refined. Also working to express ideas in an academic voice has been a war of words this year. At first I was hesitant about writing to an academic audience, but once I got the hang of it it was smooth like butter. The process of writing is on many levels like reading stories to young children. The words are important of course, but even more integral are the images. When we seek to convey our ideas to an adult audience, we don't generally use pictures of fuzzy bears or smiling elephants, but we do use words that help the reader connect a visual, either real or implied to our ideas and when it is done well … it's like stealing candy from a baby and that is the cat's pajamas
As our MALT program is in the final stretch, we find ourselves writing, writing, writing like there's no tomorrow. With so many words it is helpful to have a bird's eye view of the complete project and find ways to make our themes and ideas clear as day to our readers. A good metaphor can help this process while a bad or confusing mix of metaphors can make our points as clear as mud, not right as rain. I feel that this year with so much writing and reflecting, it has sharpened my communication skills but like many skills we have, it is something that can always be refined. Also working to express ideas in an academic voice has been a war of words this year. At first I was hesitant about writing to an academic audience, but once I got the hang of it it was smooth like butter. The process of writing is on many levels like reading stories to young children. The words are important of course, but even more integral are the images. When we seek to convey our ideas to an adult audience, we don't generally use pictures of fuzzy bears or smiling elephants, but we do use words that help the reader connect a visual, either real or implied to our ideas and when it is done well … it's like stealing candy from a baby and that is the cat's pajamas