Question: I just made the switch from Windows to Mac, and one thing that's been bothering me is that on a Mac, I can't see multiple Word documents that I have open. On Windows, they all appear in the taskbar (after checking the option to not collapse instances of the same program) and I can quickly switch between them, which is useful for a variety of reasons. On a mac, I can't do that. The best way I've discovered so far is to go into mission control, but then I still have to make two gestures instead of one, and it's hard to see which window is which. What's the best way to do this?

Answer: 
You can use `⌘` + `~` to toggle between multiple windows of the same app.

This is an OS X-wide keyboard shortcut, so it works in Word for Mac 2011, too.
In system preferences you can turn on the gesture for Application Exposè which is essentially Mission Control but only for either the current application or the one your cursor was hovering over in the dock at the time.

This should make it easier to see what it what, but overall it's simply not realistic to force Windows methods of UI interaction onto a Mac desktop. For every person switcher wanting to see a Dock icon per document window are a probably more non-switchers who want to use the Mac method of seeing an icon for the app, and one for each minimised windows - unless even this is switched off and the document minimise to the app icon.

It's one of the fundamental difference between the Doc and the Task Bar. The Dock is an application launcher/switcher, and a minimised window holder. The Task Bar is essentially an area for any and all running Windows.