FIAE Chapter 2

            This chapter discusses mastery and how to assess mastery. The chapter defines mastery as being able to synthesize and interpret knowledge, not just being able to recite facts and replicate answers. Mastery is about encouraging students to think deeper about the facts and relate them to their own experience and their own lives. While mastery is important, the text does not encourage teachers to evaluate the mastery of students via traditional tests. It is important to find your own definition of mastery as a teacher so that lessons and assessments can be based around this definition.

            This chapter is helpful for me because it discusses many issues relating to the concept of mastery, such as definitions, evidence, and determining what is important. With many standards to meet as a teacher and not a lot of time to do so, it is important to determine what the most important parts of the standard are. The next chapter, which focuses on assessment, discusses how a teacher can use pre-assessment to see which concepts need the most attention.

            The text gives many suggestions of which resources can be used to determine what is important for students to master. These include talking to colleagues, reading curriculum guides, looking at textbooks, and consulting professional organizations. Knowing that these resources exist is useful for me because I do not have any experience picking out what is most important from standards. However, the text also discusses how veteran teachers need to use these resources just as much as new teachers do.