I think this is a very interesting question and hope there will be some more discussion, especially how the Gradual Release of Responsibility method works with the Zone of Proximal Development for gifted/talented/academically advanced children, as well.
This link has two nice visuals on the process and illustrates the importance of teacher involvement and monitoring. http://home.earthlink.net/~jhholly/gradualrelease.htm Gayle On Jul 7, 2007, at 4:20 PM, ljackson wrote: > I don't know that I ever had to deal with a parent or a child who > challenged > gradual release of control or differentiation. I was very up front > with > families about it being my job to meet the varying needs of the > kids, fair > isn't equal, yadda-yadda-yadda. And it seemed to work. > > In terms of reading, I met more frequently with children of higher > needs. I > do know other teachers who met with problems related to this--why > isn't my > son in a guided reading group every day? But I never did--though I > had to > explain it to my principal. Once she realized that a workshop > setting was > just what allowed me to challenge and monitor kids working with more > independence, and shore up those who needed me more, that was a non- > issue. > > I worked with younger, Joy, but I used partnered reading to address > strategy > instruction and it was very appropriate to say (because it was > true), " The > books we will be working with today are going to challenge you as a > reader. > You may find them difficult to read and so I am assigning partners > today. > Sometimes you get to pick a partner, but there are times when it is > my job > to decide. This is a day for me to decide. Not only is reading > the words > going challenge you, but the thinking is going to stretch you. I > don't know > about you, but when a job is challenging, I like to work with a > partner. I > decided on the partners because I know that some people will need > help with > the words and some people might need help with the thinking. It is > up to > you to decide how to share these jobs, but make sure both partners are > ...(strategy)." This sort of notion that two heads were better > than one > was just status quo for me in my teaching, maybe the kids just read > it that > way. I can't tell you how many times the able reader was supported in > his/her thinking by the less 'able' reader. In terms of the actual > reading, > I saw lots of things happening--buddy reading, one reader-one > listener, > choral reading, one child readiing entire page, and the second child > rereading and I never told them how to go about this. Being very > excited > about the strategy instruction was largely the key, I think. They > didn't > see the primary task of reading as saying the words, so it didn't > seem to be > an issue. > > Of course there plenty of opportunities for independent reading, > guided > reading/book club/strategy groups and individual conferences. I > tried to > make it clear that in becoming stronger and stronger readers, we > had two > responsibilities--one was to read and think about challenging ideas > and the > other was to do lots of just right reading. > > Lori > > > On 7/7/07 11:51 AM, "Joy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I'd like to talk about gradual release of responsibility. How do >> you do it? >> How do you accomodate various levels of readiness without >> offending the >> sensibilities of your students (i.e. Why doesn't "Billly" have to >> do this?) >> How do you communicate with parents about this when your criterea >> changes? Any >> other ideas? >> >> >> Joy/NC/4 >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> How children learn is as important as what they learn: process >> and content >> go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> --------------------------------- >> Get the free Yahoo! toolbar and rest assured with the added >> security of >> spyware protection. >> _______________________________________________ >> Mosaic mailing list >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ >> mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. >> >> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. >> > > -- > Lori Jackson > District Literacy Coach & Mentor > Todd County School District > Box 87 > Mission SD 57555 > > http:www.tcsdk12.org > ph. 605.856.2211 > > > Literacies for All Summer Institute > "Literate Lives: A Human Right" > July 12-15, 2007 > Louisville, Kentucky > > http://www.ncte.org/profdev/conv/wlu > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
