SABRINA

SAVAGE
Gradual Release of Responsibilities of the Teacher Responsibilities of the
Responsibility Student
Grade: 7th
Standards: N/A
Objectives: N/A

Materials: The Gruffalo book,
paper, colored pencils/markers

Essential Questions: “ What is
a food chain and how does it
work?”

Vocabulary: Mountain, Season,
Author, Feast, Appetite


Adaptations for EL: Having the
students create their own
characters based on prior
knowledge helps them gain
confidence in their literacy
skills. ELLs are making new
connections with
comprehension, vocabulary,
and content when applying
knowledge from the story and
discussion to their creations.

Adaptations for Students with
Special Needs: More direct
instruction with vocabulary

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and repetition could be used to
help build skills.

DAP: N/A

Phase I: 1. assess prior knowledge: Instruction begins at the table. engage with the concepts
Exploration and Explanation The teacher begins by asking about the food chain and how through manipulatives,
it works. After a base understanding of the food chain is discussion, video,
understood students are then asked what rhyming words experiments, texts, role plays,
are and a few examples are given. Before showing the field trips, computers: The
story the teacher introduces the book by the title “Today students are able to engage
we are going to read the Gruffalo” “What do you think a with the vocabulary words
Gruffalo looks like?” through the text of the story.
As well as use key
o 2. interactively engage students in an comprehension strategies,
exploration of concepts, strategies, such as visualization.
vocabulary, etc.: Once the story is
introduced, we will go over key vocabulary
terms that will come up during the reading
for a deeper understanding, and give
examples of these words as a group. The
teacher then begins reading the story to the
class. During the story content
comprehension is challenged with questions
such as “What words on this page rhyme?
How do we know?” “Do you think this
animal is scared of the mouse or is it
something else? Why?” “Which animals
were towards the top of the food chain?”
“Where do you think the Gruffalo would
be?” “Where is the mouse?” “What would

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be below a mouse on the food chain?”

3. interactively model, demonstrate, discuss new

concepts, strategies, key vocabulary”: The teacher
introduces the Phase II activity. They might say something
like “Now that we have read this story, we are going to
create our own animal (made up), and write/draw what it
looks like, what it eats, and where it would fall on a food
chain.” The teacher models a made up animal he/she made,
dicusses what it eats, what it looks like, and where it falls
on the food chain.
Transition to Phase II: 1. review new concepts : The teacher will review the new 1. engage in review: The
Review vocabulary words the students have learned. For example: students will engage in review
Phase II Expectations “We learned the words Mountain and Season. What is a of the vocabulary words. For
Season?” What Season or Seasons were displayed in the example “The Gruffalo has a
story Gruffalo?” Students will respond accordingly. The big Appetite. “ “The mouse
teacher can prompt them as needed. has a little appetite, he only
2. explain directions for Phase II exercise—no new eats one little bit for a meal.”
concepts are introduced in the transition: The teacher will “Appetite means a desire for
explain that students will need a blank paper and lined food.”
paper as well as coloring utensils. “With your blank piece 2. volunteer to demonstrate
of paper you will be creating, drawing, and coloring your Phase II expectations:
made up animal.” “With the lined paper you will titled it Students will make up their
with your made up creatures name, and described what own animal, they will
your creature looks like in your drawing, what your animal demonstrate expectations by
eats, where it would live, and where you think it would fall coming up with
on the food chain top, middle, or bottom)” “We will then characteristics of their animal,
share our work” what their animal eats, and
how it falls on the food chain.
In addition, they will ask for
clarification for any parts of
the instruction that is

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confusing. For example, they
might ask “What levels are in
the food chain?”
(top,middle,bottom)
QUALITATIVE SHIFT IN RESPONSIBILITY--THE TEACHER WILL NO LONGER BE TEACHING THE WHOLE CLASS AS ONE UNIT.
EVERY STUDENT NOW TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR CARRYING OUT THE CONCEPT, STRATEGY, SKILL, ETC.
Phase II: 1. provide an exercise that requires students to practice 1. engage with Phase II
Guided Practice using the new learning from Phase I: The Phase II exercise exercise as independently as
One-on-One Differentiation requires students to assess prior knowledge, make possible: Student will work
Formative Assessment connection to text/content, as well as challenging them to independently and creativity
Plans for early finishers think independently to create their own animal, what it to create their own animal,
Closure eats, where it lives, etc. - which prompts individual what it eats, and where that
creativity. When students have completed their write up makes it fall on the food
and drawing, they will each present it. Allowing for chain.
2. request further
students to gain a deeper connection and understanding
scaffolding—as needed:
of the food chain.
Students may need to ask for
2. release responsibility to each student or group to carry further clarification, such as
out the new concepts, strategies, skills, etc. : Students will “How are the levels of the
be given time to create their drawings and write up on their food chain determined”
new animal.
3. Scaffold in individual and group zpds--as needed: Some
students may need more scaffolding in order to create their
animal. For example, a graphic organizer may help for
orgination and visualization of what specifically is being
asked (different section, “What it eats” “Where it lives”
“where it falls on the food chain”)
4. If feedback indicates class-wide confusion, back up to
Phase I and work with the whole class to further clarify
concepts
5. at the close of Phase II, interactively review key points:
After the story is over, the food chain and vocabulary
should be discussed and reviewed so that the students are

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exposed to all the new words that they may have not
caught onto to, or weren’t fully understood. There can also
be additional examples given, such as “Where do you think
a bird falls on a food chain, Why, What do they eat?”
6. closure can include sharing of student work, discussion:
Students will share there made up animal to the class. We
will then discuss the connections we made with learning
the food chain.
Transition to Phase III: 1. review concepts: The vocabulary words will be 1. engage in review:
Review and Phase III reviewed again as a group. The student is allowed to 2. volunteer to demonstrate
Expectations choose a vocabulary word to put into a sentence that goes Phase III expectations:
along with their animal drawing/description. The teacher Students should choose the
should guide the students who may be on a lower level to vocabulary word that they feel
the words that are the easiest to draw. comfortable demonstrating
2. explain directions for Phase III exercise—no new their knowledge of. Students
concepts are introduced in the transition: Each student has should try their best to write
two choices. They could draw a picture of their vocabulary or draw. It doesn’t have to be
word or they could write a sentence containing their word. perfect.
The picture or sentence should reflect their
drawing/description of drawing. It could also be a use of
the vocab word in another context.
QUALITATIVE SHIFT IN RESPONSIBILITY—STUDENTS WILL NEXT WORK INDEPENDENTLY EXCEPT WHEN UNFEASIBLE
Phase III: 1. release responsibility to each student to carry out the independently complete
Independent Practice new concepts, strategies, skills, etc. independently (e.g, Phase III exercises
Summative Assessment homework, center/station work, projects) : The teacher
should allow students to work on independent practice at
this point. The teacher has made their own example of a
made up animal. Each student is working independently
this way they can come up with their own ideas either
from the story or elsewhere.
2. scaffold if necessary
3. explain how you will formally assess student work:

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Teachers will formally assess student work by asking
everyone to share at the end. Student explanation on the
food chain as well as their drawings and sentences can Ref
give the teacher an idea of how well a student has learned lect
the new concept. ion
4. document next steps based on assessment data Qu
esti
ons
How did you make links between past learning and what they learned today? Students discussed how they have
learned the food chain in past science classes, as well as have seen the movie “Gruffalo” they were able to build
on prior knowledge because of this, discussing vocabulary terms before the reading was also beneficial for ELL
because they could build connections to content during the story and through the activity.
What specific reading activities did you do? Would you change anything? Why?
We read the story “Gruffalo” aloud, but we paired up in teams of two (one-tutor-one-student), and our part
together, going around the circle. I would change this part of the activity, I think it was very engaging for
everyone, everyone contributed and participated. Some students had even saw the movie, or have learned about
the food chain in past science classes, so during the reading they were able to build on prior knowledge.
Did you adjust your speech during the lesson? Explain when and why.
We slowed down our speech when we paired up (one tutor-one student), and read our part of the story a loud.
We did this so that the student had time to comprehend the word, and was able to gain a deeper understanding
of what was read.
How did you make the directions for the tasks clear? Would you do more next time? Explain.
From the start we did our best to make directions clear, we slowed down instruction, spoke clearly, used a
simple sentence structure for instruction, we provided a description/example of what was being asked of them
or of our new vocabulary terms- we also provided non-linguistic examples such as our own drawings.
Describe all of the techniques that you implemented to make the content clear.

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I slowed down my speech when giving instruction or reading a part of the story, I spoke clearly but didn’t over
enunciate, I used a simple sentence structure when giving specific instruction or describing the meaning of our
vocabulary words, while speaking of our key vocabulary words I further emphasized them through repition. I
used gestures and facial expressions-which I noticed really helps ELLS make better connections to the words
that are being spoken. I repeated or paraphrased when needed. I engaged all the learners into the
lesson/discussion, I developed learner’s confidence through allowing them the opportunity for creativity (creating
their own made up animal), etc. I determined central ideas and themes of the story, and summarized the key
supporting details, Asked questions during the reading to build on content knowledge-asked question prior prior
knowledge, and after (to assess understanding) Asked students to construct a picture representing their
understanding of the content, periodically asked students to restate the description, explanation, or example
given in their own words.
Did the demands of the task match the time? How could you or did you adapt it?
We did really good on managing our time, We knew that reading the story aloud together in teams would take up
a good chunk because we wanted to make sure we were going and a slow pace for clear and concise
understanding of the words being read, we also allotted time to ask questions during the reading to build on
content knowledge/prior knowledge essential for ELLS.
What did you learn about language learning, in general, from this experience?
I noticed that content knowledge and understanding was more meaningful to the students when we determined the central idea,
and summarized key supporting details during the story, such as why the mouse was wanting the Gruffalo to follow him around
everywhere- this allowed us to analyze how and why the characters, events, and ideas develop and interact through the whole
story. The students were starting to make clear predictions on what they think will happen next and why it may be happening
(making connections to the food chain throughout the whole story).