Chapter 2 FIAE: Mastery

In this chapter it discussed the difference between students knowing the material that is being taught to them, and mastering the material. It talked about the six facets discussed in UbD/DI. However, it went even further to say that there are two ways to obtain good examples of mastery. The first being multiple assignments, and the second of tracking the progress of important works over time. In order for the students to be able to know the material that they are doing in class, they need to be repetitively doing the work. This can happen with homework assignments every night, and it can also be done with projects. Personally, as a student I always found that by doing a project I learned the material the best. In the classroom, as a social studies teacher, I would be more likely to expect my students to learn the material via projects, rather than essays and tests. While essays and tests are a good source for the students to learn the material, it’s not a successful way for them to master the material, like it would if you were to have them create a project that requires many components to lead to understanding.