Journal #8 Learning Mastery--Students Teaching students

Learning Mastery--Students Teaching Students By Luke Noble, Jonathon Fiely, and Scott Le Duc Learning & Leading with Technology September 2001 Pg. 18-21
This article discussed an innovative program called Learning Mastery which a high school in Olympia, Washington developed. The primary goal of Learning Mastery is to help students to prepare for lifelong learning, not just the workplace. It supports the key idea that if students feel passionate about what they are doing, they will continue to be self-motivated to improve themselves throughout their lives, and explore the experiences presented to them in more detail.

Learning Mastery’s is self sustaining in the classroom itself. First, they are taught the basic skills of a field or process. Second, they research and find their own resources to enhance projects on which they are working. Third, as their knowledge of their subject increases, they start to help teach newer students who are pursuing similar areas of study. This program not only allows students to help teach, but it also gives them an opportunity to develop leadership skills in the classroom. As a result, the teacher has more time to work closely with individual students.

Among the resources that students were able to develop as a result of their participation in Learning Mastery were student-made manuals for software programs and interactive Web pages that teach something useful to the class. It is important to point out that the teacher always remains a resource to his students. He gives guidance when needed, though he encourages students to try to figure out their problems themselves or to seek guidance from fellow students before asking for his assistance.

As students start to teach and help each other, they learn to be self-reliant, in addition to the valuable communication skills they develop, such as public speaking, technical writing, and interviewing. Learning Mastery lets the teacher be open to new ideas and does not limit the teacher to a specific lesson plan. The students develop contracts that guide their work and hold them accountable for what they do. The program is flexible, allowing for these contracts to be changed to fit new situations as they occur.

1. How can I help my students to develop learning skills and demonstrate those skills in the classroom?

You can use the application of mastery learning based on Benjamin Bloom's Learning for Mastery model, with refinements made by Block. It is predominantly a group-based, teacher-paced instructional approach. Students learn by cooperating with their classmates and some mastery learning strategies require students to work independently, rather than with classmates. Please see the following websites for more information: http://www.funderstanding.com/mastery_learning.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastery_learning http://www.humboldt.edu/~tha1/mastery.html http://learningmastery.org/ http://www.topschools.com/Retention.htm
2. How can help to encourage my students to make life time goals?
There are a variety of methods to help students to set goals but what is more important is developing a plan to periodically assess those goals and evaluate progress towards reaching those goals. Here are a few website that offer some proven suggestions to help our students to set and realize their goals.
http://www.topschools.com/Retention.htm http://specialed.about.com/od/worksheets/ss/goalsetting_3.htm http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr200.htm