By breaking large concepts into small, manageable bites, you’re giving your students an opportunity to scale any learning activity. The same is true for mastering learning concepts. It’s been said that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Like the bicyclist, students will gain the confidence they need to take off on their own. Think of it as taking the training wheels off a bike. Teachers can gradually reduce the level of scaffolded support as students master learning. Then ask students to predict what they will be learning about based on the words they learned. If students recognize the vocabulary in the lesson, they are more likely to understand what you’re teaching. Assign “elbow partners” or ask students to work in pairs. Encourage them to collaborate with others. Take advantage of kids’ social strengths. By creating smaller chunks of directions, you’re providing scaffolds that students need. Learners may have difficulty remembering all the steps they have to follow. If you give directions to open a book, pantomime doing it. Simple gestures reinforce meaning, especially for ELL and young learners. Incorporate graphs, timelines, charts, maps, and pictures to provide students with representations they can see. Visuals and graphic organizers make intangible concepts concrete. A sentence starter helps to prime the pump by giving the student the first few words needed for a writing assignment. Reluctant writers have difficulty getting started. Having a real-life example can help students recognize what you’re talking about. By modeling the task, you help your students understand the steps involved in doing it. Their involvement in the process keeps them motivated to pursue gathering information and checking their accuracy. By connecting contextual details and prior knowledge, students engage with information and make educated guesses about it. Have them contribute information about their experiences to make lessons relevant. Try these 10 ideas for scaffolding instruction in your classroom: Best of all, you can begin implementing them immediately. Scaffolding is a technique used in bioinformatics. Sensory, interactive, and visual scaffolds can help your students learn. In essence, what students do with others today, they can do alone tomorrow. You empower them through the zone of proximal development.ĭeveloped by psychologist Lev Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) explains how students who are near mastering concepts can be successful with extra help. When you scaffold instruction, you are placing footholds so your students can master their learning one step at a time. Scaffolded instruction doesn’t mean giving students answers. The scaffold ensures they are successful. Teacher-assigned learning tasks can seem just as insurmountable as a tall wall to kids. A rope or a ladder would be useful, but a scaffold would ensure your success. You might be one of the few people who can climb up the wall effortlessly, but in reality, you may need a little help.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |