FIAE Chapter 2: Mastery

What is mastery? It’s the ability to truly understand the substance of a subject, lesson or concept. The problem with this definition is that each individual’s interpretation of what the word understanding implies will be different. Chapter two discussed how it is the teacher’s responsibility to design appropriate, compound assessments in order show evidence of the student acquiring content understanding rather than memorization. Some ways to assure that appropriate assessments are developed are to include the 6 facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy and self-knowledge. Application is especially important in the connection of knowledge to understanding; students who are able to explain how and why the information they are being given is useful are more likely to retain the skills and information. Nolen and Taylor stated that the two major ways to gain evidence of mastery are to continually track progress on important assignments, and to use multiple assignments, rather than one large assignment for summative assessments. Now the problem arises of narrowing down what part of every subject is important enough to teach to that high level of understanding expected. Although most states have developed standard requirements for what meets curriculum understanding, there is still a challenge of choosing the right material – not to mention, ways in which to present it – to adequately cover all standards. Thankfully, endless resources are available to both new and veteran teachers in the form of colleagues/ mentors, curriculum guides, programs of study, pacing guides and former teachers’ assessments, not to mention the standards of learning themselves. Keep in mind that what is important is continually shifting and that the standards by which you develop your lessons will also continue to change. Educators need to be mindful of such changes and always work with ‘now’ in mind but the end in sight to ensure clarity in the classroom.

How will I know that my students have mastered the information? How will I know that I’m doing my job well? These questions were at the foundation of this chapter and reflected many of our personal worries. It’s important, as teachers, for us to know when a subject is mastered because only then can we move on to further concepts. Like many students around the country, most of us have had the personal experience of memorizing knowledge for a short time period – usually in order to pass a test – and then forgetting it as soon as we pass. I think this is probably why so many of us liked the idea that education has turned its focus on understanding rather than knowledge; it’ll mean that knowledge will become applicable as well assessable. A few people mentioned how much sense the math examples made; memorizing multiplication cards is nowhere near the same as taking the skill of actually multiplying and applying it to an area model, and answering one math equation correctly does not mean you have a mastery of the skills. However, should you be able to explain why you did each individual step of a particular problem and where else you would use such an application, mastery is achieved. It’s all about how you’re applying the knowledge and skills. Another idea that was well-liked was how even mastery needs to cater to multiple intelligences, such as allowing students to be evaluated in different ways. Almost everyone noted the connections of this chapter to the section in UbD/DI about the 6 facets of understanding and how mastery will be achieved by using the backwards design model.