A Gradual Release of Responsibility: Getting Students to Self-evaluate Their Use of Comprehension Strategies

[Editorial note: we love that Bill was inspired to extend the strategy instruction in the Making Meaning®  program. We wanted to note that he teaches these lessons in a small group setting and Making Meaning, as written, is typically taught using whole class instruction.]

As the year progresses it is my goal that students begin to take more ownership of each strategy that I’ve taught them. In order for students to be able to internalize these strategies they must be reflective readers who can stop and think about how the use of a strategy may affect their understanding of the text.  

When students are introduced to a new strategy I work with that strategy for approximately 3–4 weeks. For several days I model how the strategy works and how it helps me understand a given text. Then I begin to ask the children to partake in the process more often, sometimes as soon as the first day of instruction, depending on my groups’ prior knowledge of the strategy.

Before I ask children to write about the use of a strategy I want them to have plenty of opportunities to stop, think, and talk to a partner about how they may be using the strategy. In our classroom we simply refer to this as TPS (Think, Pair, Share). After students have watched me model my thinking and have engaged their friends in conversation about the use of the strategy, it is time for us to dive a bit deeper into the strategy when we meet in small reading groups. During this time students are asked to further explain how the strategy helps them understand the text.

For example, we recently finished a unit on connections and this is one of the conversations I had with one of my students:

T: “What connection did you make to the text?”

S: “Well, the bear was pretty grumpy because he had a blister on his foot and I had a sprained ankle once.”

T: “So you’ve had a sprained ankle, which you connected to the bear having a blister…can you explain how that helped you understand the text?”

S: “Well the bear was grumpy and didn’t want to see anyone, he didn’t want to see the fox or the rabbit. And when I’m hurt I usually don’t want to see anyone either, I feel like…embarrassed and I don’t want to see anyone.”

In this case I could have presumed that the student was making a shallow connection. However, with just a little further prompting, it was clear that she was connecting to a bigger theme in the book—that when you’re feeling terrible, sometimes you’d just rather be left alone (don’t worry—the book ends on a happy note!).

At this point students have really worked hard with this strategy. To review, so far they have done the following:

• Watched me model how I use connections to help me understand a text
• Discussed their use of the strategy with classmates
• Written about their connections both during IDR and during small groups

As we come to the final few weeks of this unit I introduce the students to a self-evaluating rubric that that shows a gradation of understanding.

In this case the rubric is specific to the learning goals that my team and I determined would be important for our 2nd graders when they are making connections. The rubric is horizontal and reads left to right, with some space above each number.

1. I am not sure if I have made a connection.

2. I have made a connection.

3. I have made a connection and know what type of connection I’ve made (text to self, text to text, or text to world).

4. I have made a connection, I know what type of connection I’ve made (text to self, text to text, or text to world) and I can explain how the connection helped me understand the text.

Introducing a Self-evaluating Rubric

Eventually students will write their connections on sticky tabs and then place the sticky tabs above the 1, 2, 3, or 4 according to where they feel they are in their understanding of connections. The use of this rubric presupposes that you have created an environment in your classroom where students know it is okay to be wrong and that they feel comfortable to take the necessary risks involved in the process of learning (much of DSC’s curriculum is dedicated to building a positive classroom community).

I would suggest that you model making a connection and self-evaluating where the connections goes; so the children can hear your thinking aloud. For example, holding up my sticky tab I may say, “I made a text to self connection to the book because I love to visit my family too, just like they do in the book. This helps me understand the story because I know how excited they must have felt when they finally arrived at their relatives house.” I would then place the sticky tab above the 4 and explain, “I’m placing my connection here because I know I’ve made a connection, I know it is a text to self connection and I was able to explain how it helped me understand the text.”

Here are a few other ways to use the rubric:

• Share other connections you’ve made and allow the students to explain where they should be placed on the rubric.
• Have one group of students write their connections on sticky tabs as clearly as possible (with no names) then allow another group of students to evaluate where each connection should be placed on the rubric—you need to do this with a shared story.
• Students can work in pairs and discuss where their connections should be placed.
• Make individual copies of the rubric so students can use it during IDR to self-evaluate their connections.
• If students are uncomfortable admitting they are at a 2 or 3 level—just remove the numbers all together! The rubric is there to acknowledge that learning is a process and for students to be reflective, not to feel judged.

As I used this rubric more often I realized it provided a common language for my classroom. It was also a great tool for building student independence, because the ultimate goal is that students internalize these strategies and continue to use them as they grow to be proficient readers.

When William isn’t working late at school, he enjoys playing tennis, snapping photos, reading (of course), and spending time with his friends and family.