#TDEC2018 Week 1 Element Spotlight: FOCUS

This week, we’ll explore the decisive element: Maintain Clear FOCUS For Learning. Yes, we’ll focus on FOCUS!

The general description of the FOCUS element tells us that we should “set a clear, learning-based objective and align all activities towards it.” Sounds easy enough, right? Well, there’s a lot more to this element than there appears to be on the surface.

This is about more than writing a SWBAT (Students Will Be Able To) or “I can…” statement up on the board. That’s a part of it, for sure. But peel this back to the intent of why this habit is so important for student learning in the first place.

It’s to give kids a clear target for what we expect them to learn.

The focus is for our students. Not ourselves.

Obviously, we must have a focus for ourselves for what to do during class. That’s an important first step. But communicating that focus to kids in a straight-forward, comprehensible way and then making sure their thinking is continually directed towards that focus through the learning activities we choose and by how we lead students through those learning activities is an entirely different set of steps that we must take throughout class.

So start this week by looking at FOCUS from their perspective instead of yours. Just how clear was your FOCUS if you were a student sitting in class today?

This post originally appeared on The Decisive Element Challenge blog.