Running head: FOCUS FOR LEARNING

Focus For Learning

Summary and Analysis of Focus, by Mike Schmoker
Eric Grant
North Carolina State University

Introduction

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Seldom have I read a book more directly and aptly titled than Focus. Mike Schmoker
argues that the success of classrooms and students would be vastly improved were schools to
minimize the number of initiatives and diversions that distract from the primary purpose: student
learning. More, he outlines exactly what to teach and how to teach it.
Schmoker immediately identifies the fundamental issues plaguing public education: We
need to reclaim the hundreds of hours each year that are now spent on nonacademic tasks
(Schmoker, 2011, p. 28). Fads, programs and innovations, skits, posters, powerpoints
presentations, and multiple intelligences are all culprits in pulling schools and students from
what is essential, according to the author whose book extends the theme of his previously
published, provocative article The Crayola Curriculum.
What is essential for schools are Three simple things: reasonably coherent curriculum
(what we teach); sound lessons (how we teach); and far more purposeful reading and writing in
every discipline, or authentic literacy (integral to both what and how we teach) (p. 2). His book
is organized along these three themes.
In terms of what we teach, it is critical for teams of teachers to reduce their standards to
critical curriculum. Schmoker contends that the breadth of most curriculum standards diminishes
depth - coverage rather than genuine teaching and learning. He outlines criteria through which
teachers can eliminate about half of their assigned standards, evaluating them for endurance .
Leverage . [and] Readiness for the Next Level (p. 47).
Beyond narrowing the breadth of assigned standards, Schmokers insistence on reduction
is also intended to create space in the curriculum for "authentic literacy [which] simply means
purposefuland usually argumentativereading, writing, and talking (p. 11). Schmoker
expounds relentlessly on this topic, insisting that this is fundamental to student success. Students

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must engage in meaningful reading, writing, speaking, and thinking(p. 28) in each curriculum
area to prepare them for the rigors of college and career.
Reduced curriculum and a focus on literacy are part one of a two-part plan Schmoker
advocates to change schools. The second part is in understanding the qualities of a strong lesson:
a clear learning objective with some effort to provide background knowledge or create interest
in the topic, teaching and modeling, guided practice, checks for understanding/formative
assessment, and independent practice/ assessment (which can be one in the same) (pgs. 52 - 53).
While he details each of these aspects, Schmokers primary emphasis here rests with Checking
for understanding. He refers to this as especially critical and suggests that until this practice is
common all other initiatives should be put on hold.
After delineating the shifts in focus schools need to undertake in order to move learning
forward, Schmoker addresses what this looks like in each of the four core curriculum areas:
ELA, social studies, math, and science. For each of these areas, Schmoker outlines how literacy
would strengthen student learning, both in terms of skill and content.
Reflections
Buncombe County recently adopted an Instructional Framework. Schmokers focus on
clear, standards - based learning objectives and the use of formative assessments mirrors critical
procedural elements of our instructional framework. Additionally, his insistence that students
talk, write, share, and compare their thoughts (p. 72) fits squarely with many of the
engagement tenets of our framework: Students read, write, speak/listen, and think each day.
Reading Focus provided further confirmation that we are on the right track with our framework.
In terms of informing our reconstruction of balanced literacy for our district, which is the
primary focus of my creative synthesis project, other than confirming our path, this book did not

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provide great insight in that regard, especially since it was written before the Common Core
State Standards had been released.
However, in my role as the secondary social studies specialist, this book provided exactly
what I sought in setting pedagogical direction for social studies. Specifically, Schmoker outlines
a teaching model that could set the brain on fire (p. 126). His insistence that, if taught right,
social studies could be a favorite subject of many students is supported by a fairly simple model
that incorporates three components: Task, Text, and Talk.
For a recent Critical Reading and Writing in Social Studies Workshop that we provided
for our social studies teacher-leaders, we adapted this model, calling it the Four T Model. In this,
teachers provide a task, which includes a compelling question; primary and secondary texts that
address this questions; time and structure for students to talk such that they can contrast and
corroborate the texts, as well as compare textual analysis with their peers; and task response that
incorporates a constructed demonstration of their new understanding. This in many ways
matches the work of the Learning Design Collaborative and the C3 Curriculum Framework.
Finally, the reduction of competing interests for instructional time is an absolute
necessity. His contention is that If students read, wrote, and talked as I suggest they do in this
chapterand if they closely read, argued, and wrote about the issues they encountered in
textbooks, primary source documents, newspapers, magazines, and online articles every year
the cumulative benefits would be unparalleled (p. 161) Of course, this can only be tested if
district, school and classroom leaders prioritize focused, literacy based lessons for all students.

Reference:
Schmoker, M. J. (2011). Focus: Elevating the essentials to radically improve student learning.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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