How Much Support Is Enough?

IDEAS

How Much Support Is Enough?

3 tools help us know when to step in and when to back off

By Leslie Patterson and Carol Wickstrom

February 2017

Vol. 38 No. 1

How much support do my learners really need? How much independence can they handle? When do I step in? When do I back off? Those are the questions that effective literacy teachers ask. Those are also the questions that make for responsive professional development on pre-K-12 campuses. Responsive professional development is about watching learners closely, interpreting observations to make nuanced decisions, and taking action to support learners at particular moments. What might they be ready to do next? What instructional moves will best provide “just enough” support? In other words, what is our next wise action? Responsive teaching is, in fact, an ongoing cycle of inquiry, reflection, and action that might be called “Adaptive Action” (Eoyang & Holladay, 2013) — see the figure on p.

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Leslie Patterson (leslie.patterson@unt.edu) is co-director of North Star of Texas Writing Project. Carol Wickstrom (carol.wickstrom@unt.edu) is a professor at the University of North Texas and director of North Star of Texas Writing Project. Both are associates with the Human Systems Dynamics Institute.

For more information about Adaptive Action, see www.hsdinstitute.org/resources/adaptive-action.html.

References

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Davis, B. & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.

Eoyang, G.H. (2002). Conditions for self-organizing in human systems (Doctoral dissertation, Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2002).

Eoyang, G.H. & Holladay, R. (2013). Adaptive Action: Leveraging uncertainty in your organization. Palo Alton, CA: Stanford University Press.

Kittle, P. (2008). Write beside them: Risk, voice, and clarity in high school writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Patterson, L., Holladay, R., & Eoyang, G. (2013). Radical rules for schools: Adaptive Action for complex change. Circle Pines, MN: Human Systems Dynamics Institute.

Patterson, L., Wickstrom, C. & Araujo, J. (2010, June). Culturally mediated writing instruction for adolescent English language learners (Final Report). Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project.

Patterson, L., Wickstrom, C., Roberts, J., Araujo, J., & Hoki, C. (2010). Deciding when to step in and when to back off. The Tapestry Journal, 2(1), 1-18.

Pearson, P.D. & Gallagher, M.C. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8(3), 317-344.

Ricca, B. (2012). Beyond teaching methods: A complexity approach. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 9(2), 31-51.