This past teaching week, we discussed the gradual release of responsibility model (GRRM) in our practicum session. I had learned about this model before in my undergraduate education, but was excited to more purposefully and thoughtfully utilize it in the field this week.
A specific activity where I felt like I had great potential to hone my rollout was the Each One Teach One. Since this activity is complicated to explain verbally, it’s important to utilize a more purposeful rollout of instruction so that students feel confident with what is expected of them prior to actually beginning the activity, especially since it sounds intimidating at first. The first step of the GRRM is “I do, you watch”. For the E1T1 rollout, I accomplished this step by first verbally explaining the process and then used a visual to walk them through the process. I used two separate visual models for this step: the first was to mark places on the map with a marker to indicate what would happen as each student left our starting point. I also demonstrated this using some props (markers/pencils) and my lanyard (representing the trail) to show students a more movement-oriented model of the E1T1. Since there is so much movement involved in the activity over quite a distance, it was important for me to find a smaller scale way to represent the instructions. After this step, I asked a few clarifying questions to see how the group’s understanding was so far. This moved us along to step 2, “I do, you help.” I asked everyone to say the answer at the same time and was happy to see that roughly 80% of my students understood what was expected of them. I asked questions like “Where do you stop on the trail?” (answer: when they get to me), “How long do you stay there?” (answer: until you’ve taught/been sent ahead by the chaperone), “How many people will you teach before you leave?” (answer: 10 students plus 2 chaperones). Since my students seemed to have a decent grasp at this point, we moved on into the next step: “you do, I help.” This time we moved in to the next step, “you do, I help”. We acted out a mock E1T1 on an accelerated timeline (10 seconds between students) and only a few feet apart on the beginning of a trail using markers instead of plant cards as placeholders for teaching. Students could ask me questions or I could prompt them for the next step as they acted out the E1T1. Their success in this step tell me that it is time to move on to “you do, I watch” and we begin the actual E1T1.
By being this thorough in my rollout, I have students who are ultra-prepared for this activity. They rarely have more questions when they get to me to receive their card, and I have only had 1 student leave before he was supposed to. By just planning an extra 10-15 minutes for my rollout, I’m able to save time by having an extra successful activity that has no hiccups. I try to incorporate the GRRM in every rollout I can, to ensure that I set my students up for success.
Outcomes:
Knowledgeable Practitioner: By utilizing a new teaching technique in my practicum, I enhanced my instructional skills and made the instructional experience more effective.
Julia Tandy Harnick 