What is Mastery Learning?

Watch this short video and think about how Mastery Learning is different than what we see in most traditional classrooms?
Edutopia
Getting Rid of the Lecture Bottleneck
By Kareem Farah

How might we shift some of our learning sessions so that students can work and teachers guide?  *The post uses the term "Getting Rid", I would use the word blend lectures into the model. I don't think it's a total either/or scenario. 

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Self-Paced Learning -Cult of Pedagogy- Episode 30

I was on a beach 5 years ago when I first heard this episode.  Moving from the elementary level to the high school I saw so many gaps and many of the strategies that Jennifer and Natalie discuss in this podcast hit home with me. 

Two main things held me back:
  • Student self regulation
  • The resource infrastructure teachers would have to have in place and their comfort level with technology. 

Introducing the Modern Classroom Project! 

The Modern Classroom Project pulls everything together or me.  The first episode of their podcast dives into their mastery based model.  

​REMOTE LEARNING IS HERE TO STAY — CAN WE MAKE IT BETTER?

This interview!  Sal Kahn is all about mastery learning. Listen and soak up his thinking around mastery learning and how it could impact the traditional classroom. 

"When people get together, the teacher should act as more of an adviser. How do you unblock kids, or how do you be the conductor so that you can get kids to help each other? So the school has always been about students’ agency and the students being at the center of their learning, and that the adults are there to always help and unblock.

And that might seem like a small thing, but it’s actually a huge thing. It’s much harder and it takes a lot more sophistication than if you’re just going through the same lectures year after year. That’s always been the core principles of the school. And there’s other principles; everyone a student, everyone a teacher, learning should not be bound by time or space."

The Grid Method

"The Grid Method, at its core, is an instructional framework where the teacher develops a tiered and aligned learning pathway called a “Mastery Grid.” Learners work through the Mastery Grid at their own pace. The pathway is organized utilizing Depth of Knowledge (DOK) and has embedded assessments throughout. Students are able to complete assignments at their own pace as they show mastery.
Student progress is monitored by the teacher so that intervention and differentiated instruction can be provided. Teachers help lead and facilitate a personalized classroom where every student is getting what they need when they need it."

Check out TeachBetters Blog!  They offer a free course for educators to learn to develop a Mastery Grid. 

Demonstrations of Learning

Kettle Moraine, a high school in Wisconsin discusses mastery learning and the personalization of curriculum. 

Putting Points and Percentages in the Past

​This is a wonderful Prezi presentation by Sandy Bean on standards based grading with examples from her Language Arts classroom.