“Covering” Material

It’s common for teachers to talk about needing to “cover” a certain amount of material in a short time frame in class. 

I can’t help but think that “covering” is a perfect descriptor for what is actually taking place in that scenario.  Teachers who plow through material with more regard for time-based deadlines than genuine learning are in fact covering — as in shrouding, or hiding — the material from their students. 

Covering material is exactly the opposite of what we need to be doing.  We need to help students discover and uncover new understandings of the material we are trying to teach them. 

Yes, we’re all trying to maximize every minute of instructional time that we get.  But successful teaching is defined by how much is learned by the students, not how much stuff is mentioned by the teacher.

Can you imagine what our schools would be like if we educators started focusing on how much material we’ve uncovered lately?