Running Head: Visual Metaphor Learning, Teaching, and Knowing

Metaphor Visual Metaphor: Learning, Teaching, and Knowing Quilting: Stitching, Fabric, and a Quilt Heather Bloxham Issues in Learning and Teaching 401 S01 December 5, 2012

A quilt, as defined in the Oxford English dictionary, is a bed covering consisting of two joined pieces of fabric enclosing a layer of soft material (such as wool, cotton, or down) which acts as padding or insulation. A quilt is also described as a collection of diverse elements that together constitute a whole. As I have a deep-seated interest in quilting, learning, and teaching, it is for me a very meaningful metaphor. Knowing, teaching and learning are all embodied in the layers and processes of creating a quilt. Styles and varieties of quilts are as unique and varied as styles of learning, teaching and knowing. All quilts tell a story and serve a purpose, whether it be as a historical record, a piece of art, or a tool to provide warmth and comfort. All teaching should also serve a practical purpose while guiding students through a story, be it uncovering their own story or the stories of the world around them. I believe that, like a quilt, teaching should facilitate understanding of how these diverse, possibly disparate stories, come together to make a whole. Learning is gathering the materials you need to achieve your goals. What do you need to build a quilt? You need pieces of fabric. This fabric can be scraps, or carefully measured pieces. Some ideas and questions are carefully crafted, while others are blurted out and sometimes discarded. These disregarded ideas can still be salvaged however. They can be picked up off the floor and prove to be the ideal piece needed to make the project complete, or the concept make sense. The pieces that are collected in order to be stitched together can make up any number of designs. These designs represent what the students want to learn, the subject they are being taught or the path of learning they are on. Quilt designs can be traditional (image1), modern (image 2) or combinations of the two (image 3). Like learning, the possibilities are truly endless. Of the many styles of quilting, I believe that learning is most aptly embodied in the crazy quilt (image 4). This quilt is comprised of pieces of fabric scraps. Crazy quilts came about with

economy in mind; scraps would be collected, saved and stitched into a beautiful, purposeful item. The scraps and remnants can be utilitarian or hold great sentimental value. A worn out dress, an old T-shirt or a piece of your grandmothers tablecloth can all be used in a crazy quilt. Learning is paralleled with these pieces of fabric. The fabric pieces are like the articles within a students virtual backpack1. Students come to school not as empty slates, but with their own pieces of fabric already cut out, ready to be stitched together. The teacher can help them cut the fabric into pieces as well adding new pieces to their collection. The teacher finds the students uniqueness and enhances what they already possess. The pieces of a crazy quilt are not necessarily delicately crafted, but they are carefully collected and mindfully stitched. Like the pieces a student brings to school, they carry deep meaning, and teachers need to look beyond their sometimes worn appearance so that true learning and engagement can take place. Teaching is the process towards understanding, grasping or getting it. Quilting and stitching2 are the processes of bringing the layers of fabric together to create a new, greater entity. A quilt traditionally consists of a series of blocks that are stitched together to achieve the desired dimensions. This process of stitching a quilt together is similar to how one breaks a task down into sections in order to master it, or chunking3. In my experience, after many needle pricks and missed stitches, my final block is far superior in quality to the first block I made. The process of stitching can be a solitary task. To sew and reflect as you transform a piece of cloth can be a very therapeutic activity. Teaching can also be a solitary task through self-study and inner reflection. However, in a classroom setting, teaching done alone lacks diversity. A more
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The belief that children carry their culture, life experiences into schools with them also referred to as their funds of knowledge. 2 Quilting is the process of stitching a quilt together (the top, middle, and bottom layers of the quilt). To avoid confusion I will use stitching interchangeably with quilting. 3 Chunking is the term used by Dr. Davis that uses to describe how one masters a task, by breaking down each section and practicing until each has been mastered - At which point they come together for the big picture.

effective way to teach and stitch is through collaboration, making both processes participatory and more productive. The collaborative approach to making a quilt is an activity referred to as a quilting bee (image 5). This gathering of women4 is a very social event. Skills and knowledge are passed from quilter to quilter and are not always related to sewing. Women tell personal stories and discuss social and current events. And while the ultimate goal was to complete a quilt, there was always much more being accomplished during a quilting bee, as it should be with teaching. There is an objective when teaching but there is also the inevitability of additional learning taking place. New ideas take a lesson in new directions when a teachable moment is seized. Both stitching and teaching are diverse activities that can be engaging on many levels. Collaborative learning, like quilting, improves techniques and skills while engaging with different perspectives and deeper meaning. The final aspect of this metaphor is knowing. This is the finished quilt. The pieces have been collected, cut out, and stitched together. The quilt is complete. The knowing has been embodied. The quilt can wrap you up and keep you warm; you have made connections and broadened your old systems of thinking. A finished quilt is a cherished heirloom. It can be passed down from generation to generation like knowledge, thus starting the learning and teaching process again. At first glance the metaphor of the quilt may appear to be limited. Because a quilt is organic it will eventually breakdown and wear-out. However, a worn-out quilt can be patched, like our systems of knowing can be revised and built upon. Even after repairs and patching, eventually a quilt may need to be replaced, much like how over time our knowing systems also become out-of-date and less effective. We must not only revise our knowing systems but we
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Traditionally quilting was seen as womens work. However, here, I use women to represent all humans.

must also diligently broaden and modernize them. Perhaps the size and shape of a quilt is limiting as a metaphor for learning, teaching and knowing. There is a point where the work is done. However, the size is not a limitation; in fact the quilt has more valuable purpose long after the last stitch has been made. It may only be enough to cover a bed, but its beauty, warmth and comfort have the ability to feel endless. The possibilities for knowing may at times feel limited, but as we adopt new perspectives in a collaborative learning and teaching environment, knowing can be unlimited. Teaching, learning and knowing are all clearly present in the process of making a quilt, as they are in the comfort and varied meaning of the product. Making a quilt brings a variety of fabric together to make meaning from and give purpose to what once were just pieces of cloth. Much like the process of embodying knowing; learning and teaching also uncover meaning and give purpose to the world around us. I chose this metaphor because it is something that I can relate to, something that I know a little bit about. I have not mastered it but I also have not I mastered knowing, learning or teaching. I am still pricking my fingers and missing stitches. Knowing, teaching and learning are no longer just the process of deepening our systems of learning they, like a quilt, are also a collection of diverse elements that together make a whole. A whole which is much warmer than the sum of its parts.

Images

Image 1 traditional quilt, in the style of a postage stamp star quilt.

Image 2 An example of a contemporary quilt, using recycled concert T-shirts.

Image 3 An example of a mix of contemporary and traditional quilting styles.

Image 4 An example of a Crazy Quilt

Image 5 A quilting bee.

References Traditional Quilt, December 1, 2012. http://www.curatedobject.us/the_curated_object_/exhibitions_rochester/ Contemporaty quilt, December 2, 2012, http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/headbanging-recycled-heavymetal-t-shirt-quilts-by-ben-venom-photos.html Blend of contemporary and modern styles, December 4, 2012, http://www.jenniekohlaustin.com/index.php/my-portfolio-traditional-quilts/ Crazy quilt, December 2, 2012. http://www.textilemuseum.ca/socialfabric/Aromatic-Heavy/Series-1/Crazy-quilt.aspx Quilting Bee, December 2, 2012. http://friendfolks.blogspot.ca/2011/09/quilting-beefoodfriends-and-fun.html