Helping Students be Successful by using the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model

I recently had the opportunity to teach an inquiry lesson to third graders, during which we explored how the moon appears to change during the month. (The lesson is fully described here: Inquiry into Moon Phases). The essential question that we were seeking to answer during the lesson was:

One of the goals of the lesson was that students would be able to accurately describe how the moon looks like it changes during the month and provide evidence/details about what is really happening. In order to get them to meet this goal, I used the Gradual Release of Responsibility model, as described by Doug Fisher in the article Effective Use of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model.

Focus Lesson/Modeling (I DO IT)
After walking around a model of the moon in the dark (with a flashlight pointed at it) and observing how the moon looks like it changes, we returned to the classroom and began to draw our observations out on a Moon Calendar (we used pictures to help us remember). After week one, we paused so I could model how to make a scientific statement.

On the board, I wrote the sentence stem, "I observe ..." and modeled how I would describe how the moon looked like it changed during week #1.

I said, "I observe that the moon looks like it is changing because the shadow on the moon is getting bigger."

I asked students to notice which scientific words they heard and added those to a bank of science words on the board, by the sentence stem. I added moon, changing and shadow.

Guided Instruction (WE DO IT)

We continued to draw our observations out on the Moon Calendar. After week two, we paused to make a scientific statement together.

I asked for volunteers to describe how the moon looked like it changed during week #2. I guided the volunteers to use the sentence stem, "I observe ..." and as many scientific words as possible. When students said scientific words that weren't yet in our word bank, we added them (eventually that list grew to 9 words).

As I guided different volunteers to describe how the moon looked like it changed during week two, my responsibility as the teacher was to:

• encourage them
• celebrate their effort and successes
• give feedback on how they could improve by
• adding more scientific words
• including additional new ideas
• addressing misconceptions

Collaborative Learning (YOU DO IT TOGETHER)

We continued to draw our observations out on the Moon Calendar. After week three, we paused to so that pairs of students could make a scientific statement together.

I asked the students to think about how the moon looked like it changed during week #3. I reminded them to use the sentence stem, "I observe ..." and as many scientific words as possible. After students had a chance to think, I invited them to pair up and share their scientific sentence with a partner.

After 1-2 minutes, I signaled all the students back together and randomly chose 3 different pairs. As one partner said their scientific sentence, the other partner was in charge of counting how many scientific words they used. 

As the different pairs described how the moon looked like it changed during week three, my responsibility as the teacher was to:

• encourage them
• celebrate their effort and successes
• give feedback on how they could improve by
• adding more scientific words
• including additional new ideas
• addressing misconceptions

Independent Learning (YOU DO IT ALONE)

We continued to draw our observations out on the Moon Calendar. After week four, we paused to so that individual students could make a scientific statement.

I asked the students to think about how the moon looked like it changed during week #4. I reminded them to use the sentence stem, "I observe ..." and as many scientific words as possible. After students had a chance to think, I randomly chose 3 different students to share their scientific sentences with the class. As each student shared, the rest of the class counted how many scientific words they used.

As the different students described how the moon looked like it changed during week four, my responsibility as the teacher was to:

• encourage them
• celebrate their effort and successes
• give feedback on how they could improve by
• adding more scientific words
• including additional new ideas
• addressing misconceptions

Post-Assessment

After gradually releasing responsibility to the students to describe how the moon looked like it changed during the month, I asked them to respond to our essential question (just as I had at the onset of the lesson for a pre-assessment):

The difference between students' response to this question at the beginning of the lesson versus the ending was astonishing. Below is a sample of students' responses. It is clearly evident how much they grew during this lesson in their ability to accurately describe their scientific observations.

Student #1 PRE:

Student #1 POST:

Student #2 PRE:


Student #2 POST:


Student #3 PRE: 


Student #3 POST: 

By slowing and gradually releasing responsibility to students, they were ultimately able to independently describe how the moon changes during the month. How do you successfully use the gradual release of responsibility model in your own classroom?

Zoom In

A fifth grade teacher recently used the visible thinking routine Zoom In (from Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison) with her students to help them describe, infer and interpret multiplication arrays.

Read about the experience in the teacher's own words:

Beforehand, I created a simple picture array of identical plants, 3 rows by 6 columns, 18 total plants.

To start off, I told the students that we would start digging into our first math unit and we would be using the visible thinking routine Zoom In to help us do that. I explained that we’d start by looking at a small part of a picture and we’d reveal a little bit more each time. Their job was to observe and jot down what they noticed on their whiteboards.

First, I showed them just one plant.

The students focused on observations of what was in the picture - describing the plant.

Between each round, students shared out their observations and I recorded them on the SMART board. By having students share their thinking, it allowed their classmates to hear what others were thinking and noticing. This helped in making their own observations as they added on to what other students had shared. It also allowed me to ask students to tell more and explain what their thinking meant or how they came up with their predictions.

The next zoom moved across the row to show one more plant, doubling the plants but not yet revealing a full row or column. I asked them to again observe: "What did they see? What new things did they notice? How did their thinking change based on the new parts of the picture they were seeing?"

There were still many plant-based observations and a few mathematical words started to pop out (doubling, multiplying).

Again, I recorded their thinking on the board, as students shared their thinking.

Round 3 revealed two full columns. I reminded students at the beginning of this round that we were looking at the picture as mathematicians and asked them to think about their observations with a math mindset.

Again they wrote down observations, noting how their thinking had changed and how they might think about the picture mathematically. During this round, students independently began predicting what they thought might come next in the picture without any prompting from me.

A synthesis of the class's thinking:

Round 4 revealed a full row, in addition to the 2 full columns they had seen in the previous round. 

During this round of observations, students had discovered the pattern of rows and columns, and most observations focused on predictions of how many plants were going to be in the full picture. Some students were observing using row-and-column strategies, while others were using multiples of 3 or 6.

Everyone's thinking together:

In the last round, the full array was displayed.

By this point, all students could name it as an array and write the corresponding number sentence.

Everyone's thinking after the last Zoom In round:

To wrap up, I asked students to draw another array for 18. All students were able to create another array, which showed me they all understood the concept of a rectangular array and equal rows and columns.

After reading about how this 5th grade teacher used the visible thinking routine Zoom In to help her students describe, infer, and interpret in math, how could you use a visible thinking routine to help your students think deeply about mathematical concepts?

Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate

Students throughout elementary school need to learn and understand how to sort and classify. In order to learn about spelling patterns, students sort words during word study (as suggested in texts like Words Their Way). In Physical Science, students as young as kindergarten are asked to sort objects in terms of color, size, shape, and texture. In English Language Arts, students must sort texts into literature and nonfiction and then further classify the texts into specific genres.

Classifying and communicating their methods of classification is something that students continually need to practice and refine. The Visible Thinking Routine “Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate: Concept Maps” serves as a great tool for “uncovering and organizing prior knowledge to identify connections,” (p. 51 of Making Thinking Visible, by Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison, 2011). Using this Thinking Routine, students are able to organize and see their thinking as they classify.

In first grade, students study how observing the environment leads to discoveries. They inquire into making observations, classifying, and drawing conclusions. In order to learn these abstract concepts, first graders work with rocks and other earth materials. Working with rocks fulfills Minnesota State Standards in Earth and Space Science (1.3.1.3.1, 1.3.1.3.2, 1.3.1.3.3) but it also allows first graders to work with concrete examples so that they can develop conceptual understandings of observation, classification, and drawing conclusions.

To give her students an opportunity to construct a understanding of these abstract concepts, one first grade teacher decided to use the Visible Thinking Routine “Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate” with her students. First, students generated descriptive words they would use to describe their rocks. Students had previously completed a learning engagement on observations and descriptions where they learned the value of a complete description, so had some background knowledge on this process.

 

 

Then, students came together to sort all their groups’ work onto a large concept map. The teacher recorded words on the SMARTboard, placing checkmarks beside words that students had already contributed. As students shared their words with the group, they told the teacher how they wanted their words sorted on the class’s concept map.

After the words were sorted into categories that the students had created (color-coded by blue, orange, purple, and pink), she prompted the students to label the categories. Students were able to label three of the four categories they had created: color, size, and texture. One word - shiny - didn’t fit with any other group and the students were unsure what to label that group. The teacher helped the students understand that the descriptor shiny describes a rock’s luster, and she added it to the concept map. Crystals also ended up fitting under the category luster.

Once students had created their own categories for describing rocks and some example descriptors for each category, they were to describe their own individual rocks, elaborating on the categories they helped create (students used a recording sheet found on p. 166 of More Picture Perfect Science Lessons, which builds off the children's book If I Found a Rock by Peggy Christian).

     

    

By working through the Thinking Routine "Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate" students were able to construct their own understanding of writing descriptions and classifying. Although working through this Visible Thinking Routine undoubtedly took more time, students not only learned factual knowledge and conceptual understandings, but they were able to hone their thinking skills. With so much to learn about our world, teachers have little hope of teaching it all. However, when educators give students the opportunity to learn how to think, they needn't worry about not having time to teach everything. If teachers give students the gift of being able to think, students will eventually be able to independently acquire knowledge, comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, think about different points of view (dialectical thought), and think about their thinking (metacognition).

After reading about how first graders used the Visible Thinking Routine "Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate" to construct conceptual understanding, how could you use or have you used "Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate" in your instructional practice?