Will It Work In Kindergarten?

This is my first time experiencing working in a kindergarten class. I'll admit that kindergarten was not my first choice of placement. Never has been. However, I was excited to see a younger grade, how their classroom works, because I am not naive enough to believe that I will always have my ideal choice of grade to teach. So, I am currently working in kindergarten and I am continually asking myself and my teachers the same question, every week, in every class: "will that work in kindergarten?"

In our social studies class, we are constantly adjusting our assignments for kindergarten, because our peers are all in the higher grades. In our seminar, we are trying to tweak certain things for our lessons and lesson study to make them appropriate for kindergarten. And I am continuing to wonder the same thing for my readings:

Will my kindergarten class benefit from the GRR model?

I have been reading Fisher and Frey's Better Learning and specifically the chapter on independent learning tasks, and wondering how I would see this in the classroom I am in. The students are not usually trusted with independent or silent reading for different reasons. They are not mature enough to stay on task and some of them cannot read, so reading on their own for too long is not beneficial to them. Also, they only do independent writing to a certain extent, because some of the students are still learning to sound out their letters, let alone write full words. So I wonder how the GRR model fits into kindergarten.

I can see it's place, but with many adjustments. Or, as Tomlinson and Imbeau suggest in Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, a differentiated classroom. So, is it possible to differentiate within the GRR model? How can we differentiate within the independent work portion of the GRR model? Do only some students participate in this section? Do we use it anyway even if they aren't ready?

I personally do not see any release of responsibility in the classroom, except for certain students, who are achieving at high levels and are mature. So, is this the way you differentiate and use the GRR model?

I think that within a classroom, you must find what works for your classroom. If the GRR model is not something you choose to use, or find that fits your students, I don't believe you should use it. Even further, maybe there are certain subjects where the GRR model is appropriate, and some where it is not. I can think of specific students when I am making this statement, and completely understand why our teacher would not use the GRR model for handwriting and reading, but maybe for science or social studies.

Overall, I understand the benefits of these different models and the examples they give make complete sense, and are something I look forward to using when I work in the higher grades. For now, in kindergarten, I feel like some of them are a little idealistic, or extremely situational.