The Launching Pad

Volume 5, No. 1                            Spring, 2011                            Exclusively online at www.EducationHall.com

 

Book Review: Focus

Focus: Elevating the essentials to radically improve student learning, by Mike Schmoker

He’s done it again. Mike Schmoker, author of one of our favorite education titles ever (Results Now, ASCD 2006), has once again clarified and simplified the steps to making dramatic improvements in our educational practice. This time, in ASCD’s 2011 Focus: Elevating the essentials to radically improve student learning, the renowned educator/author/reformist tackles curriculum and instruction as he implores us to make those quick, easy changes to enact big, big improvements.

Just as we keep a copy of Results Now on the bedside table (and another copy on the work desk), Focus deserves a spot (or two) atop our most frequently visited reading locations. What sets Mr. Schmoker’s writing apart from many of his contemporaries is the utter plainness of his arguments. He urges us, with a marked lack of filler, to take steps now…and then he shows us, with a dramatic absence of wordiness, how to take those steps. It almost seems absurd that we haven’t already made the moves suggested in Focus, since they’re so obvious, plain, and, in Mr. Schmoker’s own words, “unoriginal.”

For instance, the two main topics on Mr. Schmoker’s to-do list include paring down our standards and focusing our attention on a few replicable teaching strategies. He refers to these in pedestrian terms: WHAT we teach and HOW we teach.

WHAT we teach. In identifying the most important element of schooling, Mr. Schmoker refers to research compiled by uber-analyst Bob Marzano on “a guaranteed and viable curriculum” and suggests that every class, in every subject area, in every grade level, emphasizes the key elements of what he terms “authentic literacy:” reading, discussing, and writing.

While modeling the process of focusing on the key, simple steps (reminiscent of Michael Fullan’s “simplexity” and Jim Collins’ “hedgehog concept”), Mr. Schmoker suggests that the essential standards really follow just one criterion: they provide “clear, minimal guidelines for how much reading and writing students should do in every subject area” (pg. 39). He dispels the notion that the current national-standards movement will have a positive impact on general schooling, instead proffering that a focus on authentic literacy, intermingled with a precious few essential content standards, would have a much deeper, longer-lasting, and immediate impact on student learning. He sells us with evidence, then he shows us with clear definitions.

HOW we teach. Next comes the section of this text that we practitioners start feeling the butterflies about: how do we make it happen in our classrooms? Again, Mr. Schmoker clarifies the simple actions and meets his own charge by stating, “If good teaching can have this much impact, then we had better be perfectly clear about what it is. Moreover, we cannot afford to overcomplicate the elements of effective teaching” (pg. 52).

Bouncing from traditional lesson structures borne from Madeline Hunter (that’s correct, THE Madeline Hunter) and the research of Dylan Wiliam on formative assessment, Mr. Schmoker parades a series of obvious, researched, proven, and yes, unoriginal steps that will enhance student learning by as much as 400 percent. To wit:

·         Anticipatory set. Sound familiar? That’s because Madeline Hunter stumbled upon a very good idea: students need to be excited about their learning, and educators can make that happen.

·         Clear learning objectives. Mr. Schmoker begs us to please give up the “doing” targets and instead focus on the “learning” targets. It’s not about completing a worksheet; rather, it’s about the learning that students need to engage in, and what vehicle will get them there.

·         Interactive lecture. An upgrade from traditional lecture, this includes note-taking, paired talk, and other quick checks for understanding in brief increments.

·         Guided practice. With a five-minute limit on presentations of new content, students have multiple opportunities to implement their learning almost immediately, complete with feedback and guidance from the teacher.

·         Checking for understanding. Recently, this term has become interchangeable with “formative assessment.” The key is this: the teacher must know which students are mastering the information, and with what degree of confidence, before moving ahead. It’s that simple.

·         Inclusion of authentic literacy. Eschewing the boring basal readers and opting instead for real texts, teachers can increase students’ literacy skills and content knowledge concurrently, using these three simple steps: reading/annotating texts, discussing texts, and writing about the texts.

·         Vocabulary. Explicit instruction of vocabulary that might impede learning is a must for students to gain as much as they can from any reading selection.

·         Modeling. In order for our students to master the steps we expect them to engage in during any given lesson, we must model them – explicitly, repeatedly, and directly. “Be confident,” Mr. Schmoker extols us, “you are the best reader in the room” (pg. 79).

·         Independent practice. After completing the steps listed above, teachers can be reasonably sure that their students are ready to wrestle with these beasts on their own, and we need to provide time for that.

·         Whole-class discussion. Whether it’s an open discussion or a debate, student-talk is an essential element of effective instructional design. Mr. Schmoker advocates that the discussion remain tied to the communicated learning goal of the lesson, and that teachers can help navigate towards that end.

·         Writing. The components of authentic literacy include reading, discussing, and writing. Mr. Schmoker addresses that third piece here, as well as weaving in strategies for educators wary that more writing equates to more carting home and grading papers after hours. It needn’t.

To help all educators, teachers, and administrators get a clear picture of these pieces in action, Mr. Schmoker proceeds to outline what they look like in various key content areas: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Mathematics. Such simple guidelines, presented so succinctly, have become a hallmark of Mr. Schmoker’s writing.

If this book isn’t in your arsenal for summer reading, we suggest it gets a nod immediately. Remove the fads, eliminate the trends, and ignore the new initiatives: this year, bring back the focus. In the author’s own words, we’ll finish: “Is it too much to suggest that we declare a temporary moratorium on all new initiatives until this game-changing lesson structure is fully understood and consistently implemented by professional educators in any given school – perhaps in all schools?” (pg.62)

You can find Focus: Elevating the essentials to radically improve student learning, and dozens of other school leadership and instructional titles, at the secure online bookstore at: http://www.EducationHall.com/resources.htm.