Chapter Four, Going Deeper in Smaller Areas

One thing from chapter four that is really standing out to me is the idea of “Going deeper in smaller places” (53). We’ve all heard or even said to some higher educator, “When are we ever even going to use this?” I feel like if content teacher had the chance to select the main points of their curriculum and teach those things in detail, students would be more engaged and remember more about the topic. As Daniels and Zemelman suggest it would be difficult to do this, especially for history teachers, but I am a big believer that it would be beneficial to students.

Along with this approach schools could vamp up electives to cover more specific topics as well, so that if students found he core subject interesting, they might choose an elective to learn more. For example, if only a few major battles of World War II are covered in the core U.S History class, an elective based on the entire war might be available. English teachers already have to do part of this narrowing process by selecting one or two books that are supposed to represent the entirety of the theme of alienation or stand as a poster child for Brit Lit.

Going deeper in smaller areas requires a lot of thought and careful selection of what material and books are used in classrooms. From the tone of the chapter, there is a desperate need of revising what books and textbooks are used, so if anything, this drastic change would be a great change on many levels. Overall, the idea of a more in-depth investigation into more important topics is one that seems cohesive and logical to a high school setting.