The goal of schooling is to learn how to study for mastery independently.
When lessons are published for CLAA students, there is a quality of study expected of them that demands a certain method of study. In this article, I’d like to outline this method.
1. First Reading (Survey)
The lesson will include or assign readings that are to be studied for mastery. The first reading, however, is an easy reading of all of the assigned material, through which the students survey what is to be studied. The goal of this reading is to get an idea what needs to be studied. Students should not think of reading as a quiet, relaxed activity. Reading is work and should be done actively: read out loud, moving through the text with energy. For this first reading, read through the entire assigned lesson, beginning to end.
When finished, you should be able to answer these questions:
- What is this lesson about?
- What topics am I going to learn about in this lesson?
2. Second Reading (Study)
The second reading is careful and complete, seeking to comprehend all content in the lesson. There is no easy way to complete this reading. It requires great concentration and patience, reading and re-reading until ideas are comprehended. Read aloud and imagine you are talking to the author as you read. If there is anything you don’t understand, take some to research it or post your questions on the course study forums for help. Work until you understand every sentence in the reading.
During this second reading, you should take notes:
3. Notes
While making the second reading, the student should take notes to outline and summarize all content of the lesson, as if he was preparing to teach the lesson to others. The student should imagine that the author began with an outline of ideas he wished to write about and that the student is re-making that original outline. Some lesson content is usually “filler”, and good notes give a student a summary of the important information–definitions, rules, etc.–that needs to be mastered. Any exercises included in the lesson should be considered part of the student’s lesson notes. Throughout this process, he will be seeking help. Your notes should also be considered a private study journal, where you can write down questions you have, identify ideas you don’t understand, make person applications, etc.
Need help? See: How to Take Notes by Mr. Michael.
4. Memory Work
You can only claim to know that which you carry with you in your own soul. Therefore, anything judged to be important should be memorized. All memory work should be recited until it can be given on request with no help or delay. Memory work includes key definitions, principles and rules, without which progress will not be able to be made in future studies. Course examinations will use time limits to assess this mastery of lessons–demanding not only a certain quality of knowledge, but also a readiness of it. Anyone can look up information (that’s great), but real life wisdom requires that we possess knowledge that we can retrieve immediately when needed. This is real learning.
Some will object and say that memorization is not real learning, but you can’t understand any ideas you don’t even have in mind. Understanding follows memorization.
5. Seek Help (if needed)
At this point of your study, you should have a sense of whether or not you clearly understand the content of the lesson. If there are any points of the lesson that you don’t feel that you understand, it is your responsibility to seek help from a teacher. To seek help does not mean to ask someone else to work for you or tell you the answers. When you seek help, you should have most of the work completed and have specific questions that you need help with. Chatting with a tutor and saying, “I don’t understand this lesson.” is not seeking help. You should be seeking help with your studies, not to avoid studying. Good tutors will not let you ask lazy questions but will make you study first on your own.
A good question will be specifc and prove that you are already working to study the lesson for mastery. A good student in Grammar, for example, will not say, “I don’t understand this lesson.”, but “I’m studying pronouns and can’t understand the difference between the possessive and reflexive pronouns. They seem to mean the same things and the examples don’t make this any clearer.” In Mathematics, a good student will not say, “I don’t know how to solve this problem.”, but “While I was working on problem #7, I did not understand what to do at this step here. That doesn’t seem to be explained in our lessons.” A tutor should be able to answer your question briefly, in a few sentences. Tutors will not re-write the entire lesson for you or tell you the answers. That is not studying.
If you are studying for mastery, tutors will be delighted to help you.
6. Assessment
The nature of each subject and content of each lesson determines what the most effective means of assessment will be. Most lessons are assessed through written assignments in the form of comprehension questions or reading summaries, or online exams.
- Online Quizzes/Tests provide immediate scoring for objective assessments of lessons that contact simple information (facts) that can be assessed in this manner. Quizzes are always untimed and may be taken with the help of notes, but should be repeated until perfect scores can be earned without the help of notes. Tests, where found, are strictly timed and demand immediate knowledge.
- Comprehension Assessments provide specific questions that guide the student through important points in the lesson, and sometimes challenge students to think beyond what is found in the lesson. Assignment questions should always be answered after careful study and should be written with complete sentences, good grammar, support for any statements made, etc.. When completed the student should submit his answers for grading. If any feedback is unclear, the student should ask for help.
- General Assessments provide general questions that require the student to prove that the student is learning to study for mastery. Reflection questions are often included in reading summaries, requiring students to think of the significance of the lessons on his studies and personal life.
All of these assessments should be seen as parts of the process of studying for mastery. Grades received are not final scores, but marks of the student’s present progress. Students should always read through assessment feedback carefully, review lessons and re-submit assessments until perfect scores are reached. This is how one studies for mastery.
7. Review
In the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, all assessments can be reviewed and re-submitted until perfect scores are earned. This final step is the most important step of studying for mastery and modern schools don’t allow it. This is a privilege made available by tutors who are willing to review student work as many times as it takes–and you shouldn’t take this privilege for granted. Settling for “good enough” or “passing” scores is a modern excuse for incomplete studies. There is no excuse for any student to have less than perfect scores in any course in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy.
This is how a lesson is to be studied for mastery in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy.
Mr. William C. Michael, O.P.
Headmaster
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
