FIAE Chapter Two

The subject of this chapter was the idea of mastery, and the place that it has in the classroom and in student’s learning. This chapter made sure to outline what mastery was and difference between mastery and having a skill that you’re good at and can get a good grade on. Just because a student is able to do a math problem or spell all the words right on a spelling test doesn’t mean he has mastered either of those skills and should be considered a master. This chapter also makes sure to talk about ways that teachers can find evidence of mastery of a skill, which means, testing the skill in many different ways to test the mastery of the skill from the student.

One thing I loved about this chapter was how it connected what they were talking about on the subject of mastery and connecting it to what we already learned about while reading the Understanding by Design book. This book uses the six facets of understanding introduced in Understanding by Design to talk about how students have a true understanding of a subject when they succeed in explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy and self-knowledge.

As a teacher, you’re going to have to determine what skills your students are going to need to master and have in order to successfully move onto the next grade. You can help your students master the skills they need to master. This chapter gives teachers ideas on how to help their students master those skills and gives many definitions of what mastering a skill means.