Increasing the "I do" in your lesson

So often we have heard "teacher led instruction is bad" or "don't be the sage on the stage" that we end up trying to avoid teacher lecture because we don't want to "get a bad walk-through".  But in fact, we should be spending about 30% of our time in the "I do" phase of the Gradual Release of Responsibility lesson.

The "I do" phase of the GRR lesson plan is extremely important in building a students ability to be successful.  In this phase, the teacher models his or her thinking and understanding of the content for students.  The "I do" phase allows students to see the purpose of the lesson and focus in on the standards they are learning.  During this time, teachers can build and, possibly activate, background knowledge.

The "I do" phase will look different in every classroom.  Also the amount you do, will vary slightly depending on student ability and background knowledge needed.  Some great examples are:

• Reading out loud a couple of paragraphs of the assigned reading.  The teacher then discusses how they would annotate it, what they found interesting, and how they connected to background knowledge they have from previous to the reading.  
• In a math class, a teacher may teach a rule, then go through an example while verbalizing their thought process.  
• In science class, a teacher models how to properly use a triple beam balance and graduated cylinder in order to correctly calculate the density of an irregularly shaped object.  

Rachel Hermann did a great post on the SDW - Connect Blog in October on this same topic.  Check it out!

In talking with Amanda Wagner, the instructional coach at South, she stated "I think the biggest reason people don't model more is because they think kids know what we expect . I always try to get people to step out of their subject area and think about how they had to learn the particular skill when they first started learning or even teaching such a skill."

Remember, the full process of the Gradual Release of Responsibility may take longer than a day, it may also take less than a day.  The important thing is to know what your students know and what they need to know to be able to take more responsibility for their learning.