Teaching to Mastery

My Sister, Gay’s, Fifth Installment: Stepping Out On the Water February 23, 2012

Beth

Someone Comes Along February 17, 2012

Every now and then, someone comes along who changes everything. I was in my late twenties when a woman I’d come to know through my aerobics class then a small Sunday school class came up to me and said with a gentle firmness, “God is calling me to support you in ministry.” It was the [...]

Beth

My Sister Gay’s Fourth Installment: “Like Sunlight Burning at Midnight” February 13, 2012

First Installment: Meet My Sister Second Installment: The Functioning Years Third Installment: The Maelstrom From Gay’s heart to yours… Gregg Taylor, my pastor and sweet, sweet friend, said in a sermon one night at Mercy Street that “the person who has a WHY to live can bear with almost any HOW.” He was quoting Victor [...]

Beth

Teaching to Mastery

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Kristine

At least theoretically, a student should not be able to fail a special education class. Student failure would be a professional embarrassment to me, because I should be teaching diagnostically. Student learning is my guide, and instruction is an ongoing problem solving process.
I do not allow my students to earn a B or C either. For example, after teaching a math skill, I will conduct a short curriculum based assessment to see if the student has mastered the skill. If they demonstrate mastery, we will move on. If the student gets a B (8 out of 10 problems correct) or a C (7 out of 10 problems correct), I will reteach the skill until they excel.
So, in my resource room, although we collect lots of data to guide our instruction, we only allow our students to earn A’s. (See This is Where the Failure Stops)