A little can go a long way

Many schools in America have adopted the belief that if their curriculum covers more material, it is better; however in my opinion it is quite the opposite. As beliefly discussed in my class, we tend to put more stock on covering material as opposed to making sure children understand material. I do not see the logi in piling tons of work on children and then expecting them to do well in everything. Children need time to develop an interest and understanding of material before they are able to move on. Far too often in schools, teachers are focused to "cover" material instead of having the students "understand" material. I believe in some cases less is best. Students, especially those that struggle, need time to digest material. Teachers need time to really set up for the lessons and do diverse activities and discussions in order to really bhave students get a good feel for the topic at head. I believe if students are given opportunities to dissect topics in depth, they will in deed get a greater understanding of the information as well as they will cover more than just one content area. For example, a study on family in a primary class can encompass many ideas. For example, they are covering social science because they are learning about different familiy dynamics. Math can be covered as the class graphs family size or what have you. Art can be be included as the student create a family tree would can add to the lesson because it can involve the family trying to construct their family tree. There are many other activities that can meet the guidelines of diverse content areas.

In just covering material, the schools are not helping our children in the least. We have tried so hard to include everything that we, in some cases, are teaching nothing. We are trying to get everyone to get an introduction to a little bit of everything and hopefully something will stick. This idea is not beneficial to anyone involved. Children are being expected to be know things that a.) are not relevant to their everyday lives in the present or the future (in many cases) and b.) are not being taught in appropriate manner to meet their needs. Teachers are expected to cover an entire book, which are sometimes pretty thick, in just nine months. No wonder the interest isn't there in many students. Students can not really get into a subject before they are to move on to the next topic.

In a perfect world, students and teachers will be able to really dissect topics and really gain a greater understanding and value for them. To be frank, when we feel good about something we put more effort in learning about it and we retain information about it better and longer. A little can go a long way in education. If we stop trying top make " good test takers" and "well-rounded individuals", our education system may improve tremendously. The road we are currently on, is not working for the majority of our students. Our students are going from grade to grade with just enough information to make the grade. In order to better serve our children we need to trim down the material needed to be "covered" in an academic year and go from there. Besides, I think that if we can spend more time on fewer subjects, we would not have to prep for tests because the skills will be there anyway. Students will be more accomplished and teacher satisfaction may increase.

I believe in just covering material, we are doing nothing more than teasing our children's intellect and we are not giving them the time and opportunity to truly appreciate the information. In the chapter Understanding understanding at
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/103055/chapters/Understanding_Understanding.aspx, they discuss the fact that is difference between knowing about something and really understanding it. For instance, a child can know a lot of math, but do they truly understand it. Do they understand the different applications and so forth. Also, I think this quote sums up my view on covering topics versus understanding.

Education. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.

—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1881–1906


In the article Qu, Est: Questioning understanding, Empowering student thinking by
Marylou Dantonio and Paul C. Beisenherz at http://www.ed.uno.edu/Faculty/MDantonio/quest.htm, they state that memorizing is not equivalent to understanding material. Which is a valid point. In many instances, children are expected to memorize information as opposed to understand it.

In order to get students involved in their learning as well as get them to understand information, we need to be advocates for understanding and not memorization.