Allison Behne
July 26, 2013
Last year my daughter took up archery. Movies such as Brave and The Hunger Games inspired her interest in the sport. She was even more excited after signing up for lessons with Skeeter Wilber, husband and coach of Doreen Wilber, a 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist.
As Samantha trained, she fell in love with the sport. With instruction and practice, she advanced to being able to hit the bullseye from 30 to 40 feet. She has impressed me with her concentration, focus, and patience. She tells me, "You just have to keep your eye on the target and remember your purpose for shooting. I am shooting to get in the yellow and my main goal is the bullseye inside the yellow. When I hit the surrounding colors, I have to adjust my sight, know my dominant eye, and learn from my mistakes."
Her comment reminds me of a new resource on The Daily CAFE website: Brief Focus Lessons. Last year we introduced an article about brief focus lessons and even included a template to help teachers reduce lesson time and focus on the explicit teaching of concepts. After listening to our readers, we will be adding examples of brief focus lessons to go with the CAFE Menu strategies. These briefs will be in the Interactive CAFE Menu under each strategy. Keep in mind, these lessons are not intended to be a script to follow. Teachers should feel free to make adjustments to meet the needs of their students. They are intended to help us keep an "eye on the target" by focusing on the strategy being taught. We look forward to sharing more of these with you in upcoming weeks!
Brief Focus Lesson?The Art Lesson by Tomie DePaola by Janice Such