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What
is Scaffolding?
Scaffolding is an instructional technique
whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task,
then gradually shifts responsibility to the students.
What
is its purpose?
Scaffolding essentially means doing
some of the work for the student who isn't quite ready to accomplish
a task independently. Like the supports that construction workers
use on buildings, scaffolding is intended to be temporary. It is
there to aid the completion of a task and it is eventually removed.
How
can I do it?
- Task definition
- Model
performance while thinking out loud
- either direct or indirect instruction
- Specification and sequencing of
activities
- Provide
prompts, cues, hints, links, partial solutions, guides and structures
- Fade
when appropriate
How
can I adapt it?
- Pair
advanced learners with developing ones
- Engage students in cooperative
learning. In this type of environment students help students in
small group settings but still have some teacher assistance. This
can serve as a step in the process of decreasing the scaffolds
provided by the educator and needed by students.
- Use apprenticeship model whereby
an expert models an activity, provides the learner with advice
and examples, guides the student in practice and then tapers off
support until the student can do the task alone
Assessment
& Evaluation Considerations
- Teacher observation - includes
anecdotal notes, class records, and classroom circulation
- Student self-assessment - students
rate their own behavior and the behavior of their peers using
a rubric
- Graphic Organizers - A graphic
organizer is a specific type of scaffolding tool. It is a way
to visually represent an idea—to use a drawing to organize
one's thinking. Graphic organizers include cycles, webs (e.g.,
cluster, network, org chart, family tree, chain of events), maps
(e.g., spider, fishbone, concept), continua (e.g., timelines,
degree scales), matrices (e.g., compare/contrast, storyboard),
Venn diagrams, and charts (e.g., flow, KWL, SQ3R).
Teacher
Resources
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