B2+FIAE+Chapter+2



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__Abstract__
Even if you didn’t read this chapter, all you would have to do is look at the introductory sentence of each of the following reflections to know what it is about: mastery. It discusses what mastery is, why it is important, and how to gather evidence of it and really make sure that your students are mastering the knowledge and skills essential to your content area. Although the chapter made a note that mastery can in fact be defined in many different ways depending on the teacher, it gave a general definition that I feel Emily summarized very well: “It is the issue of what students should know and how they should know it.” The key word here is //know//. This chapter stresses this concept – that students should know and understand content rather than merely memorizing it. Memorization is common when it comes to preparing for a standardized test. If students master something rather than memorizing it, they will do far better on standardized tests //and// in further education because they will remember it. As my eighth-grade social studies teacher once said, “Memorization is like a great, big fart. You fill yourself up with all of this information the night before, and then on test day you just let it all out. And I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to suck a fart back in.” Crude analogies aside, this is definitely the underlying idea in this chapter – mastery is //not// memorization. It is understanding, and it involves demonstration of knowledge as well as applications to the real world.

__Synthesis__
As a whole, our class had a bit of trouble defining mastery in regards to our own content areas. It’s all well and good to say “mastery is true understanding” – but what we wanted to know is “How can we actually assess that in our classrooms?” In almost every case, the examples the chapter provided helped us out a lot. The Six Facets of Understanding were mentioned frequently, particularly the “Application” portion of it. I think we all agreed that real-life application was our hardest struggle as teachers, but also the thing that would help out our students the most. Emily stated, “As a teacher, I would feel like I did my job when a student can take something from my lessons and relate and apply it outside of class.” Many of us echoed this opinion, but others still worried about how exactly to relate our content to the students’ own lives. As Brittany put it, “Most teachers’ fears are related to the ‘why question’ and being able to answer it.” In some contents it seemed a lot easier for us to answer that question of “Why is this important in ‘real life’?” than in others. We all declared that we want to use real-world connections and assess our students’ mastery through real-world application, but many of us found it difficult to say exactly //how// we planned to do that. The list of possible projects in the chapter helped out a lot of people here, and I think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll all be referring back to that if we get stuck later on. Another common way that we believed we could work on mastery in our future classrooms was to get the students involved early on. I particularly liked Andrew’s quote on this subject: “It would be good to ask the students what they want to get out of a particular unit.” A few other people in the class made reference to this, saying that if we can get students excited and involved in what they are //going// to be learning, then they will be even more excited and engaged when we ask them to demonstrate that they //have// learned it, in the end. On a final note, hatred of standardized testing was pretty much universal across all of these reflections. The bottom of the link I just provided has videos related to the pros and cons of standardized testing. Apparently they changed the "featured videos" right after I looked at it, so here is a link to a video I found on it the first time. It really makes the ideas of mastery, multiple intelligences, and differentiation – and the variety of assessments behind them - seem like the better options.

-By Nicole Clark

Andrew C.
This chapter does a good job giving a detailed description of mastery. I see mastery as not being skilled in one subject or having something memorized. I see it more as having the skills and techniques and ability to find learning styles that __#|work__ for you to figure out a majority of the problems that you face. I will be sure to understand mastery even greater in my classroom, so that I will be more efficient in helping every student reach their full potential. The author had a good way of how to check to see if a student has actually learned what they write down when answering questions (especially in math). He said that it is good to have your students write a paragraph or so explain what they answered and why. They can also do some reflecting in this passage so that they understand what they learned and can see what helped them learn. They mentioned in chapter two that it is crucial to know what is important to master. As a teacher I hope that we all know what is important to master or figure it out through the use of backward design. It is also important to make sure the students know what they have to master. This may be as easy as giving them a rubric of some sort or list of overall goals, but you may want to have them be apart of the process. It would be good to ask the students what they want to get out of a particular unit. It would also be good to talk with them and fully explain what you will be doing throughout the unit and why. It is just as important that the student knows what they have to master as the teacher does.

Emily H.
This chapter’s main focus is on the issue of mastery when it comes to differentiated classrooms. It is the issue of what students should know and how they show that they know it. Mastery is not just knowing the information but showing that a student can apply and manipulate it in real life situations. A student really masters a subject when they are able to apply the subject to situations outside of the norm. Mastery is something that I personally have a hard time with. I know the information, but sometimes have a hard time applying it to situations outside the fit in the subject. To have an effective differentiated classroom, I would need to work on finding ways to master the subject and teach my students to do the same. As a teacher I want to be able to give a clear expectation of what I am looking for in an activity. Mastery is a difficult thing for students to understand. They tend to think that math only applies in a math classroom. To really master math the students must understand the real world implications. When they are shopping and the item they are getting is 30% off, it takes math to figure out how much that item will cost. Once the students understand that math applies to things outside the classroom, then the students are one __#|step__ closer to mastering the subject. As a teacher, I would feel like I did my job when a student can take something from my lessons and relate and apply it outside of class. = =

Phillip C.
I found that I didn’t have an answer to the main question posed in this chapter, which was how would I define mastery in my subject area. My initial reaction would be to look at the grade book but of course, grades can be defined as a snapshot of mastery rather than a photo album of the students understanding borrowing the analogy from UbD. The examples provided for what is and isn’t mastery helped me to understand better. It brought up the six facets of understanding, and when that process can be seen in student work, they have likely mastered the material. This observation has to happen over a period of time or be seen in multiple assignments before it can be considered sufficient evidence of mastery. This makes sense in more ways than one. Not only will the teacher get a more accurate look at what the student understands, but giving multiple assignments on a subject allows all students practice with it which can be valuable on their path to mastery. There was one line in the chapter that I liked a lot. “Obtuse objectives lead to deadly differentiation.” Not only did the alliteration of the sentence appeal to me, the message was a great summary of what we have been reading in the class. If the goals for a unit aren’t clearly defined, then differentiated instruction cannot be utilized successfully. Something I found helpful, and would like to use in my classroom, was students writing about how they came to conclusions. It was explained that in writing it is clearer what a person knows rather than them telling you orally. I think this could be good in a journaling activity or in conjunction with a multiple choice quiz, asking students why they chose a certain answer.

Cameron B.
This chapter discusses how teachers need to find ways if their students are truly mastering their work. This is not done by a simple test or homework assignment but instead a variety of different activities or assignments. This could be homework assignments, presentations, or a project that are all structured so a student has to prove they know the information. As a teacher if a student is not mastering the materials than the teacher is almost setting them up for failure. There is content that if a student does not master, they will not do well on future lessons since those concepts will be incorporated into them. This is good to know as a teacher, this tells me that I will need to make sure that I am allowing my students to master the content I am presenting and if they don’t I need to make ways that will allow them too. If a teacher’s students are not doing well, the students cannot simply be blamed. The teachers need to take responsibility in the fact that it may be their teaching methods that is the problem. Mastery in science can be shown in many ways. There are research papers, equations, presentations, all which can help a student show they have successfully mastered the content. If the student shows they didn’t master the content as a teacher I need to look back at how I taught the lesson and evaluate myself. It’s possible that it was my own fault and I didn’t get into enough detail or explain it in a way that allowed the students to properly grasp it all.

= =

Tyler R.
From this chapter I learned that there are many different opinions on whether students understand a subject being taught by the teacher or if they do not understand the subject. The chapter gave many examples of how people could think of different definitions of understanding. However, the chapter states that having one common or universal definition for understanding is best. I liked this because I think it’s so confusing to see all of these different lists of mandatory standards that if you are in one school they’re worded one way, but if you’re in another school they’re worded a different way or even in some cases not listed at all. I believe standards should be universal across all schools so that all teachers can see signs of if their students are truly learning and understanding or not. As a future teacher, I will work with my fellow colleagues in designing or joining a previously constructed list of standards, no matter what they are for, so long as they fit my content area. Finally, the chapter gave me a definition from our UbD book that really summed up understanding. The first two parts were that the students can explain it and help others with it, which I always found to be true for me as a student if I understood something I was able to explain it to myself and explain it to others. The other parts included applying it, exploring it, and many more ways to demonstrate understanding. I really liked this because I believe that as a future teacher, I will be able to be on the look out for my students displaying these qualities so I can know if they are comprehending my teachings. On the other side of the spectrum, if students are not demonstrating any of these qualities, I can work with them until they understand and then revise my lesson and see what went wrong and correct the problems.

Ali P.
Chapter two explains similar methods that we used in stage one of the backwards instruction. The begging of the chapter defines mastery and its importance. Instead of using just quizzes and tests, we need to use broad techniques that test the students for true mastery. Students are not learning when they are memorizing, they are learning when they are making connections and analyzing information. I liked the examples of mastery verse not mastery. One was the differences between using different types of passes in a basketball games that will win the game and ones that are used just because its all the players know. The chapter also gave multiple techniques of projects that could be used to evaluate a students level of mastery. After reading about differentiated instruction, it made me wonder if we gave students a choice of what type of evaluation to use, if they would do better and achieve mastery of the subject. I think any teacher would rather have their students take in the knowledge we teach them and remember it, instead of just memorize it. This makes me question the use of standardized tests. Even the book admits that they are stupid, many teachers I speak with do too. Why are they still used and such an important part of the education system? In my class I hope that my students will not expect to just take the information and memorize it. I want them to put the information into context and find it’s use.

Nicole C.
This chapter is all about assessing students’ mastery of important content/skills/understandings. Now, every teacher has a slightly different idea of exactly what mastery is. I happen to agree with the definition this chapter gave, which is fantastic. It said: “Students have mastered content when they demonstrate a thorough understanding as evidenced by doing something substantive with the content beyond merely echoing it” (Wormeli 12). I think this is exactly what mastery is all about. You can teach someone how to hit a nail with a hammer. If they watch you do it enough times, they can just copy your actions and it will seem as if they know what they are doing. However, if they use that skill to build a birdhouse – or even further, to teach someone else how to build a birdhouse – then //that// is an example of true mastery. It means that they have taken in the information as well as transformed it to meet their own real-life needs. This definitely impacts me as a future educator, because I need to make sure my tests/projects/essays accurately assess the important things I want my students to master, rather than just prove that they can recite part of a lesson. It’s nice to know that I do have some influence over this – as the chapter says, different teachers put an emphasis on different aspects of a unit. I can gather information about what my colleagues and standardized testing says are the important things to know, and then use that information along with my own knowledge/opinion to draft a solid unit.

Brittany R.
The main focus of this chapter was to describe how to determine whether or not a student has “mastered” the information you have presented to them in the classroom. There are hundreds of ways a teacher can evaluate their students and considering everyone learns differently, there shouldn’t be just a few opportunities for students to show they know what has been introduced to them. I think it is a good idea to constantly be checking in on students to see where students are falling behind or may need a refresher. I thought about quizzes, worksheets, and other “normal” ways of testing the amount of information students were retaining. I had highlighted in the text the quote about how it is preferable that students explain how they arrived to an answer verbally or some other way. I was trying to think of ways that I could have a student present their findings orally other than walking through a problem step by step. I then remembered the Pre-Calculus teacher I had at KVCC and how he used to ask students “why?” when we were explaining our steps to solve a problem. I found it ironic since most teachers’ fears are related to the “why” question and being able to answer it. From there we would explain why we thought the way we did and came to the answer so we weren’t robots just repeating the information he had just given us. I really enjoyed this teaching style and would like to use this teaching style I the classroom to help evaluate my students’ learning. = =

Jackie B.
In the beginning of this chapter we’re asked to consider what mastery is. What is mastery in our own content? I ask myself this and consider all of the possibilities that could be considered ‘mastered’. I don’t think I’m ready to answer this question in relation to an English class. I don’t know. I hope by the time I’m in an English class and teaching I’ll have a better understanding. The book mentions the six facets of understanding and claim that once a student can successfully “demonstrate proficiency” with each of the facets: Explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge, then they have reached mastery level. I hope to help students get to this point in my classroom. I definitely want to see them succeed and going back to chapter one I will differentiate my instruction so that eventually they will get to a point where they have ‘mastered’ the content and be able to complete the six facets.

The chapter also touches on what teachers should deem important enough to teach within a unit. I want to make sure my students can go into a standardized test and know what they need to know to do well. This puts a lot of pressure on me as a teacher trying to determine what is important and what isn’t important enough to teach and then trying to figure out how much emphasis to put on a unit. Should I spend just a day on it? Should I spend a week or two? Is it really that important? I know in the future I’ll be asking myself these questions. The book suggests great ways to help answer these questions. I could ask mentors or fellow teachers, I could look to curriculum guides, and even look at other teacher’s tests and assessments. There are plenty of resources available for me to use.

**Jackson F.**
Mastery of a content area is something everyone strives for whether it is a subject in school, athletics, or music. In school students are expected to master the material being taught. Teachers must assist the students in becoming proficient within the area. In order to assist students in mastering it is important to know what it takes for a student to master the material being presented. Mastery can be gained through a combination of the six facets of understanding. Through a combination of the six facets a student may be able to prove that he/she has mastered the material and can move on to new material. The book uses spelling as an example to prove that just because a student can memorize the spelling of a set of words does not prove mastery. The student may have good proof-reading abilities and corrects his/her mistakes. Teachers have the job to determine what is important and what is not. It is important for teachers to take an active role in determining what is important to teach in the span of the year. Going through school you do not realize what mastery looks like, for instance we all gain mastery of basic adding and subtracting but then we move on to mastering the next set of skills in math. As I have we age I realize we have a more conscious idea of what we think is important to master. Health is the area I want to master so I have surrounded myself with knowledge that will help me mastery it. In a school, it is important to ask and share with colleagues in order to ensure mastery can happen. Education is always changing and mastering content areas are always changing so it is important to stay up to date with what is important.

Meng H.
This chapter is about mastery. The definitions of mastery, evidence of mastery, and what is worthy of mastering. When explaining mastery, the author imports the “six facets of true understanding” from //Understanding by Design//, by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins. The right way the author believes to gain evidence of mastery is to first have a clear objective of teaching then decide on the assessments and acceptable results. In determining what is essential for students to understand, the author suggests collaborating with colleagues and seeking help from other resources. Only when the teachers get clear objective goals, then could the backward design process start.

Truly in this chapter, I think mastery means understanding. It goes beyond simply knowing, but also the ability of applying, analyzing, evaluating, and self-assessing, etc, which are all the essential stages or procedures of critical thinking that we as educators are supposed to foster in students. Unavoidably for different reasons, students are taught to memorize or trained to pass standardized tests, or sometimes some students are suited for the style of instruction and strive, and others get left behind.

I like reading about “mastery” or “understanding” from different perspectives, but really this chapter is mostly repeated information from some other books we have been reading for this class. I see the importance of students mastering their knowledge and skills, and differentiated instruction with backward design is the effective way to ensure the mastery.

In a math class, mastery for students means not just applying formulas and solving the problems, but also articulating, proofing, analyzing, applying and self-assessing.

Clayton P.
This chapter deals with mastery of a content area. It starts off with two scenarios which both involve test questions. One was a math problem which was answered correctly. Even though the answer was correct, there is no way of knowing while grading the test whether the student actually knew the answer or made his or her best guess. The second question was an English test which asked the student to identify the simile in the text. The student identified only part of the simile. This shows that the student has the general idea of what a simile is, but doesn’t have a complete understanding of it. This is where content mastery comes in.

The best way to master a content area is to understand it, according to the author. He references a text which outlines six areas of understanding: Explanation, Interpretation, Application, Perspective, Empathy and Self-Knowledge. Now the question is this: how do we as teachers find a way to put all of these together to form a consensus on whether or not a student has mastered a content area? The author cites two different methods: “1) multiple assignments, and 2) tracking the progress of a few important works over time.” For teachers, this would presumably mean either homework(or regular classwork)or major projects assigned throughout the year.

This chapter reinforced the idea that students may need DI in order to fully understand and master a content area. It also goes back to the idea of the photo album versus the snapshot, meaning that it’s necessary to track the progress of students at multiple intervals.

Joe S.
“Mastery is more than knowing information.” This chapter talks about the difference between “knowing” and “understanding,” explaining the latter to be much more worthwhile. This chapter could easily be a component to our UBD/DI book. The difference between mastery and non-mastery is “the ability to break content into its component pieces, explain it and alternative perspectives regarding it cogently to others, and use it purposefully in new situations.” This understanding leaves no doubt as to whether the student understands the material, and therefore demonstrates evidence of mastery instead of regurgitated knowledge. The author goes on to discuss how given written examinations allows for better assessment of this goal, as oral presentation can be easier to manipulate using body language and voice inflections. After reading a standard or benchmark and “unpacking” it, a teacher must teach and assess student knowledge of the concept. In order for students to show acceptable evidence of mastery, teachers should heed the first chapter and utilize different forms of assessment, allowing for students to show their understanding in several different ways instead of just one. Accounting for different learning styles may enable students that have difficulty with one medium to succeed in displaying their mastery of the unit. After these have been established, the teacher must determine what constitutes “mastery,” which could be the ability to infer the use of a certain skill through reading a problem, analyzing differences between components of the unit, or displaying different scenarios and how certain elements would affect them in one way or another.