Week Five

Mastery and Backward Design

Have you ever had a moment where you ask your students a question in referencing a previous lesson in order to start a new lesson and the classroom is silent? You give them prompts but the vocabulary you are looking for from them does not seem to exist. You eventually give them the answer to move on. You then ask yourself was I effective at teaching them the material? Did I not do a good job? What activities did I do? What could I had done differently? Should I reteach the lesson or redo some activities that could enhance the material so that it could be permanently imprinted on their minds? This week we read two articles that gave insight onto similar situations like this and offered some solutions that would enhance students’ comprehension of material and “master” their skills. The articles were Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery by James P. Lalley and J. Ronald Gentile, and Backward Design: Targeting Depth of Understanding for All Learners by Amy Childre, Jennifer R. Sands, and Saundra Tanner Pope. This synthesis will analyze the material within each article and address how it applies to teachers within their classroom.

You learn new material by applying it to past experiences and skills. Memory plays a big part in learning but comprehending what you learned to teach others enables you to fully grasp the material. In the article, Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery, introduces the concept of mastery learning. Mastery learning requires that each student achieve a pre-established standard of performance on a specified set of instructional objectives in a criterion referenced manner… (Lalley and Gentile, 2013, p123) Through this concept of learning students’ performance and assessment will be conducted through enriched lessons based upon prior knowledge to build strong objectives and to build on and apply those skills using formative assessments and feedback. This is known to be criterion-referenced. In order to ensure mastery, Lalley and Gentile suggests setting a standard for tests, providing clear objectives drive the unit, using various forms of activities to enhance the lesson, and creating modes within the class for grading such as tutoring a classmate or pair and or group work. Tests offers teachers the opportunity to assess their students on the material that was taught. This could be done by assigning a project in relation to the subject, using class discussions as feedback assessments, and open ended tests to identify the if and why of the subject. Every student learns differently, as a teacher it is your job to understand how your students learn and to provide enrichment lessons that would apply the subject to ‘real life’ for them to fully grasp and comprehend the material.

Scaffolding allows students and teachers to build upon prior knowledge in order to understand new information and skills. Through this approach, in inclusive classrooms, teachers are able to step away from the textbook and expand lessons through activities that would benefit them. “…backward design planning focuses on learning outcomes, and standards, and the assessments for accomplishing those standards. These assessments then guide the development of the learning activities. (Wiggins and Mc Tighe, 2006) (Childre, Sands, and Tanner Pope, 2013, p. 128) In the article, Backward Design, it discusses the backward design approach in which teachers create enhancive activities that would span through numerous academias that would help students with and without learning disabilities comprehend the material and learn. In order for this approach to be successful, teachers should recognize students’ strengths and weaknesses, student experiences, identify standards that associate with the lesson, ask thought provoking questions that encourage discussion, and conduct a wide range of assessments such as observations. Each lesson should be sequenced so that each expands on a new skill learned. Learning activities should encourage students apply information, make interpretive judgments, and/ or synthesize information to generate knowledge and gain understanding of the larger issue (Bulgren et al., 2007; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1994; Childre, Sands, and Tanner Pope, 2013, p. 131). Changing the way we teach, changes the outcome of learning for our students.

We want our students to be successful, but we have to be successful at teaching all of them.

References:

 Childre, A., Sands, J.R., and Saundra Tanner Pope. (2013). Article 27: Backward Design: Targeting Depth of Understanding for All Learners.  In Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 127-135.

Lalley, J. P. and J. Ronald Gentile. (2013). Article 26: Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery. In Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 122-126.

Further Information:

Assessment, Evaluation, and Curriculum Redesign. Retrieved from: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/assessment/

Halverson, E., (2009)The “Backward Design” Process. Retrieved from: https://tle.wisc.edu/solutions/lecturing/%E2%80%9Cbackward-design%E2%80%9D-process

Using Curriculum and Assessment to Strengthen Classroom Practice. Retrieved from: http://www.pakeys.org/docs/PKC%20Curriculum%20Doc.pdf

Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition. Retrieved from: http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources/backwards.html