Mastery learning: what is it? Well, the concept is quite easy: Students learn to master a variety of skill sets before going onto other areas of learning. Mastery learning tests are administered to each student to ensure they have reached a certain level of mastery. If the test is not passed, a repeat test is given until the respective student passes.
Introduced by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom around 1968 as a theory that would reduce achievement gaps between students, mastery learning has become a very popular school of thought. In a mastery-learning classroom, teachers track a sequence of concepts and skills in certain individuals. After the initial instruction is given and the instructor feels his or her students have reached a point where they are ready for testing, an assessment is handed out which usually gives students an idea of what is to be presented to them in the future. Students are also able to give feedback which helps teachers identify where their students are struggling and can pinpoint ineffective strategies.
Mastery learning is a well-documented tool used widely in education systems around the world, including the realm of special needs learning. However, maintaining complete cooperation while implementing mastery learning into a program working with special needs children can prove difficult without the utilization of proper methods. To understand this, one must first address the reasons for why a student may resist learning, ranging from parental divorce, anger, self-esteem issues, attention deficit, peer pressure or depression. With a recent study by the Huffington Post showing that 45% of college students feel as if they don’t learn much while attending school, it’s clear that some revitalizat...
... middle of paper ...
... student's learning activities take place. And, bringing us back to cognition much depends on how these social factors are perceived. The interests, values, goals, and motives that students bring to the learning environment are at least as important as the abilities and strategies that they bring to the task of learning.
Mastery learning theorists and practitioners clearly (and forcefully) assert that a mastery approach is useful for any subject and for higher order thinking skills. Any project that uses mastery learning only in the service of a few subjects or in simple recall areas is doing it a disservice. What Benjamin Bloom has said is that many teachers and programs in this country tend to focus only on the first and second levels of cognitive thinking. Thus, in some instances, mastery learning in special needs activities could be open to this same criticism.
Lavoie’s workshop provokes an emotional response. After viewing life through the eyes of a child with special needs, I cannot help but have a more significant understanding of what people, especially children with disabilities, must deal with every day, everywhere. During the many years that I have worked with children with various disabilities, I have encountered each of the topics discussed in Lavoie’s workshop and agree with the points he makes regarding children with disabilities. Particularly impacting the way I interact with my students are the topics concerning: anxiety, reading comprehension, and fairness.
can also be vital in understanding why students may act the way they do. Student development
Slowly, but surely, special education is on the rise to success. The face of special education lies with educators. Through their supervision and instruction, people with disabilities can tackle on the world. But before these educationalists can form outstanding learners, they first need a solid background on IDEA and inclusion. They have to acknowledge that without IDEA and themselves, special education would not have molded into what it is
The students in our classrooms, both special education and general education classrooms, require individualized education to reach their full potential. Each child’s potential is different just as each child’s road to reach it is different. Our job as teachers is to be there for the student’s to help them reach their potential through their own unique way.
Reiff, H. B.; Ginsberg, R.; and Gerber, P. J. "New Perspectives on Teaching from Successful Adults with Learning Disabilities." Remedial and Special Education 16, no. 1 (January 1995): 29-37. (EJ 497 555)
Two years ago, I embarked on a journey that would teach me more than I had ever imagined. As a recent college graduate, I was thrilled to finally begin my teaching career in a field I have always held close to my heart. My first two years as a special education teacher presented countless challenges, however, it also brought me great fulfillment and deepened my passion for teaching students with special needs. The experiences I have had both before and after this pivotal point in my life have undoubtedly influenced my desire to further my career in the field of special education.
All teachers dream of the classroom filled with fifteen tranquil, enthusiastic students, all with their note books out and pencils prompt for note taking. This is the classroom where everyone works together, at the same pace, and without any interruptions or distractions. This is the ideal classroom setting. The only problem with this picture is that it does not exist. Students are all different. Kids all learn different ways, and at varying paces. Both Physical and Learning Disabilities can hinder a child’s learning speed and hold them back from the rest of the class. It can be very difficult to identify a child with a learning disability because students can often be misunderstood and labeled as unmotivated and lazy. These students are often ignored and not given enough individual attention, and therefore they experience difficulty and frustration all throughout their education. Teaching students with learning disabilities takes a knowledgeable and understanding teacher and often requires adaptation of the curriculum. The education of these students often needs so much “constant attention and fine tuning if they are to succeed,” (Mather, 3) that they hold the rest of the class back. It is these cases that students should seek an adaptive classroom program and individual attention to work on their problematic areas. The bottom line is these students cannot be allowed to fall through the cracks of our educational system. They need positive reinforcement and individual attention so that they are confident in class and productive when they do their work.
Glazzard J, Hughes A, Netherwood A, Neve A, Stoke J. (2010). Teaching Primary Special Educational Needs. British library: Learning Matters. p7.
"Learning and knowing are integrally and inherently situated in the everyday world of human activity" (Wilson, 1993, p.71). Learning is situated in the context in which it is taught. In other words, the context in which something is learned is very important. The activity in which the learner is engaged in at the time of learning is also important (Griffin and Griffin, 1996, p.293). If the goal of a learner is to solve day-to-day life experiences, they must engage in such opportunities.
Those students with special needs have emotional and behavioral complaints which can lead to troublesome behaviors. These students frequently enter the classroom with negative connections that have for quite some time been set up (Conroy et al., 2009). By giving positive reinforcement and encouraging leads the student to be more comfortable in the environment and the interactions between the teachers and with other students improve in a positive manner (Conroy et al.,
In today’s educational environment, all students expect to receive the same level of instruction from schools and all students must meet the same set of standards. Expectations for students with learning disabilities are the same as students without any learning difficulties. It is now unacceptable for schools or teachers to expect less from one segment of students because they have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, discipline problems, or come from poor backgrounds. Standardize testing has resulted in making every student count as much as their peers and the most positive impact has been seen with the lowest ability students. Schools have developed new approaches to reach these previously underserved students while maintaining passing scores for the whole student body. To ensure academic success, teachers employ a multi-strategy approach to develop students of differing abilities and backgrounds. Every student is different in what skills and experiences they bring to the classroom; their personality, background, and interests are as varied as the ways in which teachers can choose to instruct them. Differentiated instruction has been an effective method in which teachers can engage students of various backgrounds and achieve whole-class success. When using differentiated instruction, teachers develop lesson strategies for each student or groups of students that provide different avenues of learning but all avenues arrive at the same learning goal.
Mastering one’s self is essential in reaching one’s full potential. In this paper I will attempt to articulate what it means to achieve personal mastery. I will first provide my own personal portrayal of personal mastery. Following, I will illustrate examples from my life, and what personal mastery means to me.
Education is a vital part of growing up. Everyone goes through the education system to help carve a path towards their future self and what career they want to focus on as they get older. However, what most people become confused on is the difference between “general education” and “special education.” General education is the education provided to students who physically attend school. Now, special education is the education provided by the school plus extra programs and services to help aid and guide the students through the general education. Special Education is defined as, “the means through which children who have disabilities receive an education specifically designed to help them reach their learning potential” (Friend, 4). The emotions
Special Education is becoming more of a concern with each passing day. There are more and more problems with teaching children with special needs as well as there are problems with diagnosing them. In the first half of the 20th century it started to become increasingly popular in the United States. (Ferguson 148). It is a tedious and time consuming task but it can be very rewarding to see the child progress of time and advance their learning skills.
Special education is an incredibly important, but often underappreciated aspect of education. There is a stigma around individuals with disabilities, that leads people to assume those in special education are less capable or smart as their peers in in a strictly traditional classroom setting. That could not be farther from the truth though, and the individuals in special education are just as capable of learning and maturing in to successful adults. As a future teacher, I was not really aware of how little I knew about special education until I enrolled in this course. This course has helped change and shape my views of special education, and helped me gain a better understanding of what exceptional children are and how I can better serve them