An area of focus is what a teacher chooses to work on in his or her instructional practice in relationship to the strengths and needs of students within the school year. In a new Principal Center Radio podcast, CEL Project Director Joanna Michelson and host Justin Baeder, director of The Principal Center, discuss some of the common problems in finding a good area of focus and how to solve them, including:
- Aligning individual teachers' area of focus with school- or districtwide instructional goals
- Setting instructional goals broad enough to promote ongoing professional growth and specific enough to impact student learning
- Carving out time early in the school year for planning and goal setting
For teachers, coaches and principals interested in building an instructional goal-setting process, the Center for Educational Leadership will host the Area of Focus Institute on September 23rd, 2015 in Renton, Wash. Participants will work through a goal-setting process from start to finish and leave with a draft area of focus for the coming school year.
Topics: Teaching Effectiveness, Area of Focus
