Suggests the use of the "tribal" metaphor to foster team building and collaborative learning in college classes. Offers examples of how linking students in the classroom in tribes builds identification and interdependence through such activities as creating a group myth and participating in membership rituals. The tribal metaphor has also led to…

The appropriateness of the metaphor of the teacher as expert is examined through a theoretical and historical critique that examines expertise as a general social phenomenon. The metaphor is questioned because it tends to turn students and the public into passive receivers of expert service. (SLD)

This introduction to a series of articles on the scaffolding metaphor in learning disabilities research introduces each article and raises two main concerns: the lack of careful delineation of how scaffolding becomes operational in research studies and constraints in the use of scaffolding arising from communication problems. (DB)

This critical analysis of the scaffolding metaphor for the field of learning disabilities first reviews the origins and early applications of the metaphor and criticisms of the metaphor raised by others. It proposes an enriched version of the metaphor which emphasizes the communicational dynamics and conceptual reorganization involved in…

Describes efforts by students in a social foundations course to integrate their own personal metaphor of teaching with the metaphor employed by the institution in its conceptual framework. The assignment was based on research that noted the role of the metaphor in the construction of identity for professional teachers. Examples of student…

Discussions with exemplary Colorado general and special education coteachers led to development of three metaphors for the coteaching process: (1) yin and yang (the uniqueness and unity of the two teachers); (2) the dance (the rhythm, fluidity, and automaticity of effective collaboration); and (3) the particle and the stream (the thriving of…

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for the learning disabilities field concludes that the scaffolding metaphor is fundamentally flawed. The author proposes an alternative model, Strategic Content Learning, which is seen as more successfully promoting correspondence between instructional activities and the…

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for the learning disabilities field identifies issues in the metaphor's use and concludes that effective special education has been inhibited by isolation of interventions from theory and by the way teacher education is structured. Use of the scaffolding metaphor to refocus…

Argues for more blurring of the roles of teachers, students, and researchers. Examines models and metaphors in process instruction (specifically the Jazz Metaphor), and shows how new "blurred" roles for teachers and acceptance of a range of methods can be applied in working with future teachers. (KEH)

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for learning disabilities first suggests the flying buttress, which becomes integrated into a new structure, as a better metaphor. It suggests that scaffolded instruction depends on sophisticated shared assumptions about the conversational process. Evidence that some children…

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for the learning disabilities field urges that all available literature, rather than a particular metaphor, should be used to evaluate the efficacy of instructional procedures in interpreting findings of instructional research. (Author/DB)

This response by the original author to six commentaries on his paper concerning the scaffolding metaphor for learning disabilities highlights common themes (such as the basic dynamics of meaningful learning) and revisits arguments for and against the utility of the metaphor. Suggestions for broadening the metaphor to address related issues such…

This commentary on C. Addison's Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for the learning disabilities field suggests: (1) repositioning the metaphor in its theoretical frame; (2) considering the ways in which contexts and activities, as well as individuals, scaffold learning; and (3) examining the relationship between scaffolding and effective…

In the current climate of empowerment models, critical research, and deconstructed theory, this discussion raises some questions regarding the concept of "empowerment" and its use as a rubric for course and program design in teacher education. From the review of literature several usages of the term empowerment emerge. Each one is…

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on scaffolding for the learning disabilities field suggests that many current applications prevent rather than encourage transfer of responsibility to students for learning and task accomplishment and that current practices in many schools may result in "reverse-scaffolding". (DB)