Mastery Teaching: Increasing Instructional Effectiveness in Elementary and Secondary Schools, Colleges, and Universities

by Madeline Hunter

Increase students′ learning and retention with the expert teachings of this gifted educator. A useful resource for the beginning teacher or the experienced veteran, this classic has sold more than 100,000 copies and is still going strong.

Genres: Teaching

124 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 1994

Reviews

[Michael Loveless · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mastery Teaching was published in 1982, but it holds up quite well. Once upon a time Madeline Hunter's ideas were "this-year's-new-thing" in education. In education, ideas like hers appear, create great excitement, and then disappear when the next thing comes along. Unfortunately some of the best ideas can be ignored as "old hat." Mastery Teaching is filled with a lot of sound techniques that would benefit any teacher. Hunter breaks the teaching task into various parts like making decision of what to teach, motivating students, providing information effectively, modeling, designing practice, helping students to remember, and facilitating transfer of learning. Each chapter is concise and clear. Although we know a lot more today of how the brain works, Hunter's ideas were based on years of observation and practice, and hold up well. In this book, the classroom is teacher centered. There isn't much information about group learning, students constructing knowledge, or engaging students in active learning. However, even in the most student-centered classroom today, there are times when the teacher takes center stage. Mastery Teaching is still a helpful resource for knowing how to make the most of those moments.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read for beginning teachers. I'm doing a presentation on the book for grad students in administration, but may present it to the teachers in my school.

[Kellie Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff in there, though references to watching a supplemental vhs tape are outdated.