Let's Have a Number Talk

If you're looking to find new ways to incorporate mathematical discourse with your students, then a number talk is right for you! Venture into a concept that gets your kiddos engaged and increases their number sense. This concept ranges for students from K-8. Over the next few months, we will discuss what a number talk is, how to create a safe space for students, implementing a number talk and beyond. Click this Video link to watch!

I hope that today you found time to remind yourself that you are doing an amazing job!

Mr. Jon

1st Grade Teacher

Del Norte Elementary

Making Student Data Visible (UPDATE - Color Coding)

 

Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.

HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #15

Video

Today's Huddle Time focuses on 

    -  Displaying student data in the classroom to show growth

Standard Exceeded (>85%)

Standard Met (>70%)

Standard Nearly Met (>55%)

Standard Not Met

Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.

Teaching and still loving it,      

Kevin Stott                               

                 De Anza Middle School   

Making Data Visible In The Classroom For Students

  

Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.

HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #14

Video

Today's Huddle Time focuses on 

    -  Displaying student data in the classroom to show growth

Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.

Teaching and still loving it,      

Kevin Stott                               

              De Anza Middle School           

UDL Notebook: Reflective Journaling

My previous blog post discussed a strategy I have developed called Casual Conversation. I have found this to be an effective tool for teaching my students conversational skills and giving them a chance to practice the skills on a regular basis with a wide variety of partners. This strategy has numerous benefits, but the ostensible aim is to prepare kids for more structured, academic conversations down the road, particularly during UDL-friendly activities such as group projects and conferences with the teacher. In this post, I will discuss another strategy, Reflective Journaling, which helps me both bridge the gap between Casual Conversation and academic discussions and connect SEL skills and the Affective Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Don’t worry, I’ll explain) to other parts of my curriculum. 

As I have discussed in my previous UDL-related blog posts, I believe that Engagement is the important first step in successful UDL implementation. For me, engagement is not about trying to entertain my students or motivate them with extrinsic rewards. On the contrary, I want the positive experiences of being in a safe, comfortable environment; having their interests and preferences taken into consideration; and being given ample opportunities to collaborate and communicate with their fellow classmates to be their own rewards. In order for my students to take full advantage of these experiences, they need to have strong SEL skills and be self-directed learners who value growing as learners and thinkers. To this end, I have developed daily journaling activities that allow my students to reflect deeply on their current skills in these areas and discuss how to improve them with classmates.

SEL Journaling

As you are likely aware, there are five SEL competencies that we humans need in order to thrive as learners, friends, employees, and family members. These are: self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Together, the five competencies make up half of the content of my daily journaling activities. The method I employ is to focus on a single competency for an entire week before moving onto the next one. On day one of a week, I introduce (or reintroduce) the competency and the first journal prompt. After being given about 10 minutes to reflect and journal on the prompt, students participate in a simple Kagan structure in order to share their thoughts with at least one other student. Finally, we share out with the whole class, except in instances where I feel the topic might be a bit sensitive. 

The daily journal prompts for a given SEL competency are inspired by the following resource from CASEL.

I make a Google Slides presentation that can be displayed on the board; this includes CASEL’s definition of the competency and the bullet-pointed examples that accompany it. I have also embedded a YouTube link to a mix of calming music to be played while the kids reflect and write. I also write myself a note in the “speaker notes” section about which Kagan structure would work well with the prompt. See the example below.

I tend to turn the aforementioned bullet-points into prompt questions whenever possible. When it comes to SEL questions, I don’t worry about whether they pertain to school directly; SEL skills are useful 24 hours a day.

I also make a student version of the weekly Slides presentation with room for the kids to type their responses into text boxes. One great thing about this activity is that the writing the kids are doing is low-stakes. I tell them to just write whatever comes to mind without worrying about spelling or grammar. This helps set the stage for more formal writing assignments that also address SEL, such as personal narratives. Here is an example of a student Slide presentation.

The Affective Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy

The other major set of competencies I address with Reflective Journaling is The Affective Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy. This is the lesser-known sibling of the famous Cognitive Domain. The Affective Domain was created by Bloom and his colleagues to measure how much value a student places on a subject or activity. This is a rather pathetic explanation, but there really isn’t space here to go into more detail. Suffice it to say that each level of the Affective Domain provides a nice platform for a week’s worth of journaling prompts about a student’s personal engagement with their learning.

Aside from the obvious differences between SEL and the Affective Domain, the formatting of the journaling activities is the same. Here is an example of an AD prompt:

Given that there are five levels of both SEL and Bloom’s Affective Domain, a week’s worth of journal entries on each level can fill an entire trimester. By that time, it is appropriate to begin revisiting the skills you worked on in the beginning of the year or tackle an entirely different domain of Engagement.

I have found that Reflective Journaling is a great way to help educate my students about these important aspects of Engagement, and the Kagan structures that follow their journaling definitely help to solidify that learning.

Writing Every Day,

Eric Lovein

Time to Reflect

Ahhhh...Spring. Spring is the perfect time to pause and self-reflect. I am currently pondering how well I've implemented the Gradual Release Framework since putting it into practice was THE overarching goal I set for myself back in August. I tracked my learning journey via my blog and captured students' data, my personal "glows" and "grows, " my reflections, and my next steps within my action research project. 

One of my most impactful learning experiences was participating in a Spotlight visit this past November. I visited Michelle Montes, Shannon Tunno, Laura Salazar, and Kevin Stott. As part of their lesson planning, each Spotlight teacher indicated what stage of gradual release visitors, like myself, would most likely see. The Spotlight visit enabled me to observe how my colleagues at different schools and at various grade levels employ gradual release. I highly recommend Spotlight visits as they are a valuable learning experience for both the Spotlight teacher and the visitors.

For the remainder of this post,  I will look at my progress with the Gradual Release Framework from the lens of my action research project. I chose math as my content area focus and have designated iReady results as the data point to measure my success with the framework. 

 

Observations:

• On August’s benchmark diagnostic, I had three students in the yellow band and twenty-two students in the red band. Twelve were at the first-grade level and ten were at the kindergarten level. 

• By the second diagnostic, one student was in the green band, six were in the yellow band, and nineteen were in the red band, with sixteen at the first-grade level and three at the kindergarten level.

• By March, two students were in the green band, thirteen were in the yellow band, and eleven were in the red bands, with seven at the first-grade level and four at the kindergarten level).

Conclusion:

• Since the data shows growth between the initial “Summer” assessment in August and the “Fall” assessment, as well as growth between the “Fall” and the “Winter” Assessments, I can conclude that my ability to implement the framework improved as well. 

Teaching is rocket science and the Gradual Release Framework is only one component in the complex interplay between instruction and learning. Three decades in, I am still learning so much and am a self-professed lifelong learner. I am not an expert yet at implementing the Gradual Release Framework, but I am gradually developing my expertise. Next year I will continue my learning journey and I hope you will join me.

             Still Learning,

             Lola E. Jollie

CAASPP Prep Video #2 - Performance Task Preparation

 

Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.

HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #13

Video

Today's Huddle Time focuses on 

    -  Preparing students for the CAASPP Performance Task

Online Practice and Training Test - LINK

Performance Task Paper Version Cover Page - LINK

Performance Task Lesson - LINK

Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.

Teaching and still loving it,      

Kevin Stott                               

              De Anza Middle School           

CAASPP Prep Video #1 - Do Nows and Focused Skill Lesson

 

Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.

HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #12

Video

Today's Huddle Time focuses on 

    -  CAASPP Prep using Do Nows and Focused Skill Lessons

Focused Skill Lesson Sample 1 - LINK

Focused Skill Lesson Sample 2 - LINK

Focused Skill Lesson Sample 3 - LINK

Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.

Teaching and still loving it,      

Kevin Stott                               

              De Anza Middle School            

Gradually Learning to Let Go, Part 4

"Top o' the mornin' (or afternoon or evening) to ya!" Thank you for accompanying me on my blog journey as I chronicle my pursuit to master the gradual release framework. 

Before I continue with Part 4, here's a reminder of how I concluded February's blog:

Our administrators are going to observe my third-grade teammates and me trying out our new-found knowledge of gradual release. My lesson is going to focus on how to determine a character's point of view. You'll have to wait until next month's blog to see how my lesson went. See you then!

Can you believe it's already "next month"? I'm fairly confident that you have been eagerly awaiting this post to find out how my lesson went, so I won't keep you in suspense. Below you will find two lists. The first shows what went well overall on my and my students' part. The second column addresses instructional, managerial, or organizational needs that I need to focus on and what my next steps are. (The wise saying below is the lense from which I have approached this new learning.)

As I methodically proceeded through my lesson, I was careful to make mental notes. Which students were struggling and why? Were they struggling because my directions were unclear? Were my students merely communicating or were they truly collaborating, with each student being held accountable for their share of the workload? Was my pacing too fast or too slow? Did my lesson unfold naturally and logically so that all students could build meaning? As a self-proclaimed imperfect perfectionist, I am my own worst critic. All things considered though, I can confidently say that I am steadily increasing my knowledge and becoming more skilled at implementing the gradual release framework in my classroom.

     

      GLOWS                                                                                       

• Students found the text, Clever Jack Takes the Cake, engaging. (Since it's not often they are exposed to fairy tales in third grade, this was a novel experience.)                                              
• Students were eager to support one another.                                    

• I ensured that all students were accountable for their work by collecting students' handouts.                                                                                                                

      GROWS

• Predictably, struggling readers had a difficult time locating textual evidence. Next time, I will preview the text with them.

• I need to work on students staying on topic when they are engaging in a Kagan structure. Next time I will review those expectations beforehand. Sometimes we need to review the basics (e.g. expectations), especially as we near spring break.

My ultimate goal is to internalize the steps mapped out in Better Learning Through Stuctured Teaching

so that I can focus the majority of my cognitive capacity on my instructional delivery and on ensuring students' learning. 

Happy Easter Everyone!

Lola E. Jollie

Gradually Learning to Let Go, Part 3

The image above accurately represents my efforts to utilize the Gradual Release instructional framework in my classroom. As such, I will address each term below the surface and how it relates to my learning journey.

Persistence: I have no problem learning a new teaching strategy when I am in a staff meeting or in a professional development session surrounded by my colleagues (a.k.a. my teacher friends). The difficulty comes when I take that new learning back to my classroom and try it out with my own students. Raise your hand if you agree...LOL!

Failure: "First Attempt in Learning" is an acronym for FAIL that I introduced to my students. It truly resonates with me. As I s-l-o-w-l-y and methodically implement the Gradual Release framework, I have found that things don't always run as smoothly as I hoped. Sometimes I release students before they are ready and sometimes I hold on too tightly when I should let go. 

Sacrifice: I think of sacrifice in terms of time. I am devoting time to regularly rereading and reviewing my "instructional manual": the book, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching. (Incidentally, our OMSD experts in Curriculum & Instruction have prepared several self-paced Nearpods. If, like me, you enjoy independent learning, you can find two classes on the Gradual Release Framework by going to the Curriculum & Instruction tab on Symbaloo and then scrolling down to "Self-Paced Nearpods.")

Disappointment: There have been several times when disappointment set in. I have often felt disappointed in myself when I expected too much too soon of my students or when I didn't "release" them to work independently when they were probably ready to.

Good Habits: I have developed the habit of being persistent. Positive self-talk is helpful. One saying I try to have at the forefront of my mind is "Write your successes in cement and your failures in sand."

Hard Work: Learning is hard work. I need to remember to be as patient with myself as a learner as I am with my students when they are introduced to new concepts and skills.

Dedication: I am 100% dedicated to the success of my students. If learning a new skill, concept, or framework enables me to be a better teacher, then count me in.

At a recent staff meeting, Roni Weink and Laura Smart trained my colleagues and me on how to apply the Gradual Release Framework to a Wonders lesson. On Thursday, it's our turn. Our administrators are going to observe my third-grade teammates and me trying out our new-found knowledge of gradual release. My lesson is going to focus on how to determine a character's point of view. You'll have to wait until next month's blog to see how my lesson went. See you then!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Lola E. Jollie

HOT Questions (Higher Order Thinking) - "The New Classroom Instruction That Works"

 

Welcome to 'Huddle Time' - the purpose of this time is to provide a short video that offers student centered ideas to consider for your classroom.

HUDDLE TIME VIDEO #11

Video

Today's Huddle Time focuses on 

    -  A new book I am reading "The New Classroom Instruction That Works" by Bryan Goodwin and Kristin Rouleau, 2023.

The book examines six phases of learning and 14 teaching strategies that support them.  The 105 research studies referenced in the book encompass all grade levels and subject areas - which means there is something for everyone in this book.

The book has reinforced several strategies I currently employ in my classroom.  At the same time I am challenged to close learning gaps and support the success for each of my students through the use of researched based teaching practices identified in the book.

As I start my journey, I am challenged with the strategy of 'High Level Questions'.  The strategy is embedded in the phase of learning where students are trying to make sense of their learning.  In an effort to be more strategic in my questions, I am asking students to consider 3 questions during the lesson - a comprehension question, a strategy question, and a connection question.  The purpose of the three questions is for students to think about their learning.

This week's questions - Math 8 - Resource Link

This week's questions - Integrated Math I - Resource Link

I will give an update next month on my progress with this strategy and where I am headed with other strategies from this book.

Remember to believe in yourself, believe that you matter, and believe that you make a difference in students' lives every time that you interact with them.

Teaching and still loving it,      

Kevin Stott                               

              De Anza Middle School

UDL Notebook: It’s Casual

My previous blog post discussed the importance of classroom environment when it comes to engaging and supporting students in UDL. I provided a multitude of examples of how I have tried to enhance the vibes in my classroom this year so that it could help, “minimize threats and distractions, foster collaboration and community, and facilitate personal coping skills and strategies,” for my students. In this post, I will discuss one of my favorite new strategies for making use of this space and helping students learn the crucial communication skills they need to be successful UDL participants. I call this strategy “Casual Conversation,” which is a very literal, unimaginative name for it.

Readers of my two previous UDL blog posts are likely tired of me citing entire paragraphs from the Engagement portion of the UDL Progression Rubric in order to support my assertions, so I am going to try to refrain from doing that wherever possible. I will leave it to you to decide if you would like to review it before proceeding, but I can tell you that there are many instances throughout the rubric in which students are expected to confidently and respectfully express themselves to both their peers and their teacher. As I discussed in my previous post, I feel that a first step to properly behaving and communicating in a classroom environment is to practice doing these things in less formal settings. If a student is incapable of holding a polite, casual conversation with a friend or classmate, what hope do they have of participating in something as formal, structured, and academic as a Socratic Seminar or Literature Circle?

As parents, my wife and I are able to ensure that our children are given ample opportunities to participate in conversations with a wide variety of interlocutors around the dinner table, on car rides, at family get-togethers, and during play dates. Frequently, we either participate in these conversations directly or surreptitiously eavesdrop on them (Don’t pretend you’ve never done this, my fellow parents!). Either way, we use these opportunities to provide our kids with feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of their respective conversation skills. Intentionally or otherwise, we also model what polite conversations look like on a regular basis (I mean, I hope we do…usually). All of these considerations led me to an obvious question: How could I curate similar experiences for my students in class? Here are some things that occurred to me as I began to formulate an answer to this:

• I would want my students to practice their conversation skills with a wide variety of peers (By the way, this is actually an advantage that all teachers have over parents: the potential partner combinations are seemingly endless!). I could have each student spend a solid week partnering with every other student in the class. This would mean that, eventually, every student would have spent quality time getting to know every one of their classmates. This would certainly foster a more positive, friendly, and safe classroom environment in which kids would be comfortable working with just about anyone in their class. 

Display of weekly partners from a Google Slide presentation

• I would want there to be a focus on learning to sustain friendly conversations with peers with whom students would not usually choose to converse regularly. A big emphasis should be put on having a positive attitude when discovering who they are being partnered with and finding ways to be empathetic and kind towards even their least favorite fellow students. I would also like them to learn to find at least one connection to each of their classmates.  

• I would like to teach conversation skills explicitly but in a low-stakes environment. A quick mini-lesson (perhaps in the form of a video) on a specific skill before the casual conversations begin should do the trick. I could cycle through the same 10-15 skills every 2 or 3 weeks, and the students should be allowed to decide whether they would like to deliberately focus on the daily skill (perhaps it’s already a strength of theirs and they’d prefer to focus on something else). 

• Skills can include things like: taking turns speaking, active listening, reading facial expressions, keeping personal space, staying on topic, asking questions, and making comments.

I have found some wonderful YouTube videos on conversation skills, including this one on Active Listening.

• Partners should be allowed to sit together wherever they want; this is an opportunity for them to use the cushions, blankets, and other alternative seating discussed in my previous blog post.

• Some chill music should play quietly in the background (like in a café!).

• A daily Google Slide with the skill lesson and other suggestions can be displayed on the Smartboard while the kids chat. A reminder can be posted on the slide to start their Casual Conversations with a friendly greeting and a quick SEL-style check-in to see how their partners are feeling. A list of suggested icebreakers can also be posted, but kids should understand that the icebreakers are only there to support them if they are struggling to generate their own topics of conversation. Additionally, prompts for the kids to show appreciation to their partners and end the conversation with a friendly salutation can be included. 

Prompts remind students to greet each other, check in, show appreciation, and end the conversation with a friendly salutation. There are also some Ice Breakers borrowed from our district’s SEL Toolkit.

As you can see, a strategy that seemed almost comically simple when I first conceived of  it ended up being far more complex and nuanced than I could have imagined, but it is not an exaggeration to say that it was an obvious success from the moment we first tried it. I was shocked at how quickly my kids embraced Casual Conversation, and their feedback was immediately positive. They now get quite frustrated with me when I do not manage to fit it into our schedule, and this is probably the most meaningful way in which it contributes to the larger goal of improved engagement: It is something my kids look forward to every day, and we all need more of that in our lives!

Writing Every Day,

Eric Lovein

UDL Notebook: Café Vibes

My previous blog post provided a brief overview of UDL and discussed why Engagement is the logical first step in developing a UDL classroom. Using the UDL Progression Rubric, I described the characteristics of a successful UDL student, and I briefly mentioned the fact that I have tried to make my classroom a more enjoyable, relaxing place to learn. In this post, I will elaborate on how I have done that and what I still hope to improve about my students’ learning environment in the near future.

The first thing you should know is that, before this school year, my classroom was an incredibly underwhelming place to visit. I’ve always been a, “It’s not about where we are learning but what we are learning,” kind of guy. If I’m honest with myself, I simply didn’t have a lot of confidence in my decorating skills, nor was I overly-motivated to improve them. After reading through the Progression Rubric’s descriptions and examples of what it means for a student to be truly engaged in the UDL sense, I realized that my classroom needed a major facelift. Using several  of the Engagement standards as a guide, I tried to envision what a classroom that could minimize threats and distractions (7.3), foster collaboration and community (8.3), and facilitate personal coping skills and strategies (9.2) would look like. The below graphic shows the Emerging, Proficient, and Progressing Toward Expert Practice levels of each of the three standards I have deemed most relevant to my classroom environment. Unlike with some rubrics, each of these levels is worth a gander. Even the Emerging level descriptions have some great suggestions for getting started.

After absorbing the information in these standards, I settled on the idea of creating a café vibe. The rabbit-hole thinking that led me to this decision went something like this: 

1. I eventually want my students to become self-knowing, self-sufficient, self-disciplined, self-guided, and self-motivated learners. This seems like a pretty ambitious goal.

2. To the extent that my own children at home possess these capacities, I feel like they developed a lot of them outside of the classroom. Visits to parks, gardens, museums, beaches, restaurants, libraries, forests, and theaters have provided my wife and me with ample opportunities to teach our kids to explore their curiosities and interests, advocate for themselves and take chances, and learn to act responsibly in a variety of social contexts.

3. While I cannot take my 30 students to these sorts of places on a regular basis, perhaps I can, to some extent, replicate the most important aspects of these experiences for them while they are at school. 

4. By “the most important aspects,” I mean the parts where they are: directly taught how to get the most out of each experience while allowing others to do the same, being given ample opportunities to practice these skills, and consistently reflecting on their successes and failures.

5. Building on the theme of social contexts, here are some of my initial ideas:

1. I could have a recurring activity called “In the Restaurant” in which I teach a mini-lesson on restaurant etiquette, table manners, or appropriate topics for discussion while eating. The kids could then eat lunch in my classroom at tables done up to look like restaurant tables. Students could then be instructed to practice any skills that have been taught in said mini-lessons, perhaps with parent volunteers acting as hosts/hostesses and waiters/waitresses.

2. Similarly we could have an SEL-related activity called “In the Café.” Kids could sit in comfortable spaces around the room, sipping beverages (perhaps served up by parent volunteers), and having casual conversations with predesignated partners after a mini-lesson on conversation skills. Note: A version of this idea has evolved into an activity called “Casual Conversations”—much more on this later (mostly in my next blog post). 

6. The thinking behind UDL originated in architecture—the idea being that the built environment should work for everyone. Therefore, it is incumbent upon me to make my classroom as comfortable and functional as possible. This should include flexible seating and spaces to accommodate a wide range of activities, discussions, and projects. I am picturing something like the shared work area of a hipster tech company designed to allow people and ideas to flow freely while some cool music plays quietly in the background. Words like “cozy,” “chill,” “warm,” “welcoming,” “fun,” and “stimulating” all spring to mind.

7. I want my kids talking to each other (and me!) constantly in a wide variety of structures and contexts. These should include, but not be limited to: Kagan structures, Literature Circles, Philosophical Chairs, Socratic Seminars, Casual Conversations, group projects, and student/teacher conferences. Some of these structures will require tables (Kagan team activities and group projects), while many others will require open floor space and cushions, pillows, blankets and other flexible seating options. This will be particularly important if I expect my students to, “construct their own groups and create their own group norms, responsibilities, etc. and students often seek out and work with diverse partners.”

I am still a bit self-conscious about my room’s appearance, mostly because I have no confidence in my design sense, but there is no denying that it looks a heck of a lot better than it has at any time in the last dozen years (not a high bar to clear). Here are some of the positive changes I have made on a budget (See the accompanying photos for visual proof):

• I ripped down my decades-old “fadeless” paper and replaced it with spanking new brick and wood designs that evoke a reclaimed space in DTLA.

• I bought fake plants of various shapes and sizes and used them to green up my classroom environment.

• I repurposed my cubby holes to serve as yoga studio-style storage spaces for my kids’ cushions and blankets—used for sitting comfortably on the floor during old-school read alouds, Casual Conversations, and collaborative learning.

• I bought/requisitioned a variety of chairs and stools that kids can use in the aforementioned contexts. 

• I replaced my old, faded, sad-looking informational posters with fresh ones. I have always prioritized information when it comes to wall decor, and I think UDL makes this more important than ever; if I want my kids working independently or on group projects based on personal interests, I still need them to work within the meta-cognitive guidelines I have set forth. For instance, If I am teaching you how to Report Information by Comparing and Contrasting in Social Studies by writing about a self-selected topic, I am still going to expect you to use the resources around my classroom on things like Double Bubble Maps, Sourcing, Contextualization, and Corroboration (See below photos for examples).

Fresh paper, college signs and Kagan mats, fresh informational posters 

Large open space for bringing kids to carpet or allowing them to stretch out while having Casual Conversations or participating in Kagan structures, cubbies with cushions and blankets, plants for touches of green

Here are some further ideas for my classroom upgrade that I hope to incorporate in the near future:

• Continue to add more cozy seating options, including a sofa if possible. Coffee and side tables would also be cool.

• Add a rack or shelving in my sink area where each student can keep a mug for beverages.

The UDL Progression Rubric has certainly convinced me that enhancing my classroom environment is a key to improving student engagement. In my next post, I will discuss one of my early engagement successes: Casual Conversation.

Writing Every Day,

Eric Lovein

Gradually Learning to Let Go, Part 2

My journey into the complexities of the gradual release framework continues. I specifically chose to use the term "complexities" because it is defined as "a factor involved in a complicated process or situation." This perfectly captures the complex process we educators undergo as we plan how and when to let students begin assuming control of their own learning. 

We want to empower and challenge our students with rigorous and meaningful work, yet at the same time, we have to be careful not to frustrate them by releasing too much too soon. It's a fine balance that brings to mind Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, which is defined as "the space between what a learner can do without assistance and what a learner can do with adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers." 

The key is to have a deep knowledge of where our students are academically. There are several ways to ascertain that information, such as anecdotal notes taken during instruction, formative assessment results, and exit tickets, to name just a few. In our district, we are fortunate to have iReady to help us track students' progress (i.e. lessons passed) and needs on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis. These are but a few of the ways we can collect information about our student's academic needs, which can range anywhere from filling in academic gaps to challenging students. The information we gain will enable us to determine at what point students are ready to be more independent. 

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I read Better Learning Through Structured Teaching by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey to build my knowledge of gradual release. My logical next step was to try out my newly acquired knowledge with my own students. I began the process yesterday during my students' writing block. To be honest, it wasn't comfortable. I expected and even embraced those uncomfortable feelings. I was challenged, but not frustrated. (I explained to my students that it's common to experience a range of emotions when learning new material.) There was a palpable tension in the air as I was gradually letting go and encouraging students to work more independently. Note that I said, "more independently." You can't just throw students into the cold, deep water; you need to ensure that students know how to swim. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see students willingly grapple through the writing process. They reached out to one another for support as they struggled to craft sentences and spell words correctly. They read their writing to one another to obtain a second opinion. A handful of students even asked if they could start over because it wasn't their best work. I'm learning a lot. I'm learning how to gradually let go.

Still Loving Every Minute,

Lola E. Jollie