Journal Question # 7

This entry answers # 7 of the Reading Methods Journal Questions

How does the teacher gradually release responsibility? How did today's lesson promote student independence?

Most of Mrs. Overstreet’s lessons reflected the gradual release of responsibility model of teaching. Whether it was math, reading, or science, Mrs. Overstreet would open up with a minilesson, talk about the concepts that she was trying to teach, connect the concepts to the students’ background knowledge, model the application of the concept (Step 1), invite her students into the process (Step 2), and guide them as they acquired the concept for themselves (Step 3) until they were proficient in applying the concepts (Step 4).

An example lesson of Mrs. Overstreet’s that incorporated the gradual release of responsibility was a writing lesson about how writers choose specific words to display various emotions in their writing. Mrs. Overstreet read a passage of a text to the children about an author’s experience of being bullied in grade school. Together, Mrs. Overstreet and her class discussed the different words that the author used to show the emotion of sadness (Step 1). They then discussed times when they had felt the same way that the author did. Mrs. Overstreet then composed two sentences on the overhead projector about an emotional experience that she had (Step 2). She showed the kids the process that she used in coming up with the two sentences. These steps were (1) thinking of the event, (2) remembering the emotions that she felt during the event, (3) brainstorming about words that would fit the emotions that she felt, and (4) writing about the experience using the emotional words. She then asked her children to verbally offer up some example sentences that reflected their emotions (Step 3). After discussing the sentences, Mrs. Overstreet had her kids write their own sentences in their journals, making herself available to help them when needed (Step 4).

This lesson would have fully reflected the gradual release of responsibility model if Mrs. Overstreet had written her students’ sentences up on the overhead projector like she had done with hers. The children could then see and discuss their own sentences. The students were able to be independent and take ownership of their writing as they wrote in their journals. It would be even more beneficial and allow the students even more pride and ownership of their writing if Mrs. Overstreet would display the children’s writings within the classroom.