Many of us are familiar with the GRR (Gradual Release of Responsibility) model by Fisher and Frey and we use it in our classroom instruction. I have also seen GRR being used across various subjects (such as lessons teaching literacy skills) with different groups of secondary school students. Often, teachers would design learning activities which has four distinct stages according to the GRR:
- Focused Instruction (“I do”)
- Guided Instruction (“We do it together”)
- Collaborative Learning (“You do it together”)
- Independent Learning (“You do it alone”)
Pearson,
McVee & Sharnahan (2019) provided a descriptive study of the historical
genesis of GRR to guide teachers’ thinking in its use for instruction in the
book “The Gradual Release of Responsibility in Literacy Research and Practice”.
As the first chapter in the 270-page book which also covers various contexts of
use of GRR, it might be a tall order to finish the book to have a good
understanding. In this blog, I will be
giving you a gist about how you might consider your role as a facilitator of
students’ learning as you refine your practice of GRR in the teaching of
geography.
First, we need to understand that the nature of learning shifts from teacher-driven to student-driven in phases in the GRR. Sometimes, teachers get the notion that once the responsibility for learning goes to the student, the teacher no longer plays a significant role. The roles of the teacher and students merely transform to match the changed learning context. This can be exemplified in the diagram below.
How
does this process look like in the geography classroom?
In a
series of secondary three lessons on disaster risk management (topic 4.3) for
example, the teacher needs to teach the concept of “disaster risk management”,
i.e., the idea that disaster “risks” could be managed by understanding the nature
and exposure to hazards, as well as humankind’s ability to reduce vulnerable
conditions they face.
In
“I do”, the teacher should not use more time than necessary to lead students’
thinking in a way to introduce and organize their thoughts around idea clusters
(see below). For example, we could teach what do we mean by “nature of hazards”,
“exposure to hazards” and vulnerable conditions.
|
Nature of hazards |
Exposure to hazards |
Vulnerable conditions |
|
Physical factors -
Duration and time -
Properties of hazards o Magnitude
of EQ, chemistry of magma o Substratum
(rock, soil, water) o Distance
from epicentre o Weather
conditions |
Human
factors -
Population density (human settlements) -
Quality of building design and construction -
Monitoring and warning systems -
Land Use Planning |
Lack of resources Lack of capability Lack of
stakeholder engagement |
In
direct teaching, the teacher is NOT teaching didactically. Instead, he focuses
on presenting knowledge in an easy-to-understand fashion, provides opportunities
to stimulate students interest, asks students questions for them to exercise
reasoning. This requires a skillful approach to IBL which we are familiar with.
In
the next stage of “we do it together”, the teacher facilitates a discussion
studying the Tohoku Earthquake of 2011. By getting students to read the case
example of this earthquake together as a class, the teacher guides students to
identify the nature of the Tohoku earthquake, the Japanese’ perennial exposure to
earthquake and volcanic hazards by virtue of their location and low-lying
coastal settlements. Their decision to site nuclear plants at the coast for
example, presents both an opportunity and a risk which the Japanese government had
to bear. As a seasoned guide, the teacher properly scopes and designs questions
to tease out content concepts from students and a co-constructs the succinct summary
to sum up the key learning points.
Following
this, the teacher presents another scenario of the most recent Turkey-Syria earthquake
to the student groups as they answer this question, “How could Turkey better
prepare itself to avoid another devastating episode of earthquake like the one
in 2023?” In this stage, students would be organizing their thoughts and
arguments as they solve a problem together. Information can be presented in data
snippets for students to study, for example, location, size and time of earthquake,
population density, age of buildings, lack of resources, capability, poor building
control and design etc. At this juncture, the students’ roles come to the forefront
as they leverage each other to tackle the issue. Teacher can serve as a
resource person, prompting and questioning students to arrive at their
conclusions.
In
the final and independent stage, the students will apply what they have collaboratively
learnt in an authentic and self-directed context. For example, they could
independently respond to this question, “Evaluate the choices in managing earthquake
disaster risks so that people can continue to sustainably and safely live in earthquake prone areas.” To allow greater student choice, the teacher may include photo essay
submissions instead of essay submissions.
Conclusion
The GRR is strongly grounded in various theories that suggest a social-constructivist approach. As such, it is important to include the "you do it together" stage. As much as your student learns from you as the "sage on the stage", their collaboration with their peers is critical for learning to occur. It therefore complements IBL and DI in a few ways as I have shown above: anchoring learning with key questions, offering choices and help resources as students work collaboratively and independently.
It is also important to note that the GRR need not always start with focused instruction (I do). We may begin a lesson with independent work (you do alone) before engaging them in collaborative peer inquiry prior (we do together) to providing teacher modelling. The crux is for students to encouter the four phases of learning in GRR so that they can learn deeply.
References:
Fisher
& Frey (2021), Better Learning Through Structured Teaching, ASCD, VA
Gradual Release of Responsibility |
Introduction (thinkport.org) (Last accessed 9 March 2023)
The
Teacher Plays an Active Role in all parts of GRR (middleweb.com)(Last
accessed 9 March 2023)
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