Scaffolding for Student Ownership and Independence

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber

In order to meet students where they are and appropriately scaffold a lesson, or differentiate instruction, you have to know the individual and collective zone of proximal development (ZPD) of your learners.

 Some scaffolding strategies

 Some scaffolding strategies

1. Show and Tell

 Some scaffolding strategies2. Tap into Prior Knowledge

Ask students to share their own experiences, hunches, and ideas about the content or concept of study and have them relate and connect it to their own lives.

 Some scaffolding strategies3. Give time to talk

• Students actually have time to think about their answers before it is shout loud by the “usual” ones because it is silent thinking time;

• Having EVERYONE thinking about the answer is much different from asking a question and then calling on an individual student;

• Students get to try out their answers in the private sanctuary of the pair, before having to "go public“, giving the chance to less confidant kids. Students realize that they rethink their answer in order to express it to someone else.

 Some scaffolding strategies4. Pre-teach vocabulary

• Introduce the words to kids in photos, and in context to things they know and are interested in. 

• invite students to create a symbol or drawing for each word and give time for discussion of the words (small and whole groups).

 Some scaffolding strategies5. Use visual aids

• Graphic organizers;• Pictures;• Charts can all serve as scaffolding tools. 

 Some scaffolding strategies6. Pause, ask questions, pause, review Keep kids engaged as active listeners by calling on someone to "give the gist" of what was just discussed / discovered / questioned.

Scaffolding a lesson may, in fact, take longer to teach, but the end product is of far greater quality and the experience much more rewarding for all involved.