Mastery Teaching

Otherwise known as Standards Based Grading....

if you are not familiar with either term, or just want to be inspired watch this video by Dr. Tae the skateboarding physics professor and assessment reform proponent.  The first 8 min are epic.

If you are familiar with this the term skip down about 2 paragraphs.

I was having dinner with my wife the other night and I was sharing the model for the flipped classroom with her and accidentally used the term Mastery Teaching (from Bergmann and Sams book and other stuff from the 1980s) instead of Standards Based Grading.  My wife stopped me and asked me what "Mastery Teaching" was (she is a principle and is very familiar with what I do).  I shared with her how it is another term for SBG that I have come to describe in elevator pitch mode as

"A method of instruction and assessment that allows the teacher, as well as the student to know exactly where they are on the path to mastery".

She loved it! not the specific idea, she is an administrator and knows all about SBG.  What she was interested in was two things 1st: the cultural implications of the term "Mastery Teaching", she felt that it implied the teachers role in moving students toward mastery is at the core of the assessment system.  2nd:  She didn't know what it meant and was curious to ask...as opposed to "Standards Based Grading" which is getting dangerously close to being a "thing" that everyone feels like they know what it is (which can be dangerous).

Mastery Teaching is essential for flipping given that the criteria focus makes the videos and subsequent assessment to follow, manageable by students and parents who may not have any previous experience in our own content areas.

Here is a link to one of my current unit plans...science teacher or familiar with the material?  please offer ideas for improvement.  One of the biggest changes I made this year is a move away from a descriptor model of "Basic", "Proficient", and "Advanced"...as students were beginning to adopt the labels and apply them to their own fixed mindset (thanks Carol Dweck).  That is to say, after a few units students began to believe they would never be able to access "Advanced" content, and therefore tended to check out on those days lessons.