Bridging Gaps: Analyzing Our Students' Metaphors for Composing

Abstract

Composing by our method is not like plodding down one row and up the next with a mule, and it is certainly not like a tractor tearing along making beautiful, entirely regular patterns. Our method works like a Scottish sheep dog bringing in the sheep: she races back and forth, driving the flock in one direction signaled by the shepherd, but acting in response to the developing occasions, nudging here, circling there; rushing back to round up a stray, dashing back to cut off an advance in the wrong direction. When you compose, you are the shepherd and the sheep dog and it's up to you to decide whether you want the sheep in fold, flank, or field and how to get them there.