Monday, March 7, 2016

I wondered...

Hi readers,

In a particularly brilliant moment of lecture in one of my science classes today, I asked my students what they were reading in English class. I wanted to make the point that analogous structures in biology are similar to analogies.  (I know!  My students were all super impressed and interested.)

Sidenote: 
For those of you who have not been exposed to high school vocabulary in the last 20 years:
Analogous Structures: organs that look different but serve the same function in different organisms.  For example a fly and a bat both have wings but a fly's wings are made of chitin and a bat's wings are made of skin and bones.
Analogies: a comparison between one thing and another, typically during an explanation.  For example, you can make an analogy between the human heart and a pump.

I learned two things:
1) I'm not super clear on the difference between an analogy and a metaphor.  (It seems a little complicated, and hey-I'm a science teacher)
2) My students are reading Romeo and Juliet.

In a flash of inspiration, I looked up Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.  The kids just smiled politely and waited for me to get back to the point, but the gentle, lyrical sway of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..." stayed with me through the afternoon (though I am still not clear if that would be a metaphor or a simile).

When I'd muddled through enough thoughts on the Bard, my mind eventually turned to my favorite poem of all time.  I used to read it every night with my father, right after an equally delightful (but slightly less "timeless") poem about chocolate milk.

Words below.  Happy Monday!




No comments:

Post a Comment