As we move students from input to output and into the presentational mode, we need to be very careful to remove the scaffolding slowly to build students' independence. We want them to have a feeling of success throughout the whole process but also want to see what they're capable of producing on their own and that's where gradual release of responsibilities comes to play. We're going to look at 2 approaches to gradual release of responsibilities with the presentational mode. One is within a singular lesson and the other is within a unit of study. Let's take a look at what this can look like in both settings. Within a lesson that has a presentational goal there are many ways to approach using the gradual release of responsibilities. I Do: This is where the teacher has the most responsibility and the students are just starting to piece language together. To me, this is where the teacher is providing all kinds of supports and scaffolding and students are getting accustomed to using those supports with the end goal of acquiring them. The expectation of output should be very little because you're providing the basis for their sentences/ideas and they're more or less filling in the ideas. Ideas:
We Do: As the lesson progresses, the responsibility is now shifting more to the students and you are taking a more backseat approach. You are still involved in providing scaffolding and supports but are slowly taking those away and seeing what kinds might be able to do with some of your help. Ideas:
You Do (Collaboratively): By this point of the lesson, the teacher is putting most of the responsibility onto the students as they begin to produce work on their own. Because, as we know, learning is social, this is where students will collaboratively be writing or preparing a presentation. Ideas:
You Do (Independently): This is now the point of the lesson where students are producing the work on their own. They should be trying to use as few resources as possible so they can show off the scope of what they can truly do on their own. Your job as the teacher is to encourage and push students to produce as much as possible. Ideas:
As we take a step back and think about our whole unit we can also plan to gradually release responsibilities to our students as the lessons progress. The reality is that most people will not go through all of the gradual release steps in one lesson for a presentational learning target but they will change as the unit progresses. Here are some ideas of how to start with more scaffolding and then move to more independent work production.
I Do: Early in the unit, the teacher will be providing the supports and scaffolds to help students write or present. The students are still producing work but the teacher is helping to jumpstart ideas or to help with organization. Ideas:
We Do: As the unit progresses, the teacher is now taking a slight step back and is in more of a collaborative role with their students. The students are taking on more responsibilities by writing with fewer scaffolds or paired-down supports. Ideas:
You Do (Collaboratively): By this part of the unit, the students are ready to produce longer pieces of work on their own but can be aided by fellow students. Writing collaboratively really helps the writing process so students can learn from each other as they produce messages. Ideas:
You Do (Independently): As the unit comes to a close, you are available in a consulting role but the students are now independently producing work. They should be aware that at this stage of the unit, if they are accessing resources to complete the task they are not ready to do it on their own. This means that feedback should be given to help them with their study habits. Ideas:
Let me know if you have any other ideas! *Please note- for these activities I tended to say "write" instead of speak in the presentational mode. It's not to say that presentational speaking is not done, but it's the way I run my classes with very little presentational speaking tasks/assessments.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|
Photo used under Creative Commons from andy michael2012