After all, if scaffolding is dependent on a student being guided by a more competent other, how will you find an individual tutor for each student? Remember that we want to find balance in instructional activities by including time for developing and practicing student independence. Scaffolding in a Large ClassroomĪt this point, you may be wondering how on earth you can use scaffolding within a large, modern classroom. But, we should be clear that it is not synonymous with scaffolding. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with this model! It works very well. While gradual release shares common elements with scaffolding (demonstration, highlighting critical features, and guidance toward correct steps) it does not include the necessity of determining the students’ ZPD and it does not provide individual guidance. This great instructional strategy is intended for whole group instruction and is commonly referred to the process of “ I do, We do, You do.” (4)This means that first the instructor demonstrates the skill, then the class practices the skill together with guidance, next the students practice the skill with independence or within smaller groups. In addition to confusing scaffolding with accommodations, many times when educators talk about “scaffolding instruction,” they are actually referring to a system of gradually released responsibility for students. It is important that a student’s educational program balance learning activities guided by a more competent other and times for practicing and demonstrating independence. While scaffolding might be used to assist students who are struggling due to an educational disability, it is not the same, nor does it replace, academic and testing accommodations. Scaffolding, on the other hand, is dependent upon an individual with more advanced skills, which is the opposite of functioning with independence. According to the US Office of Special Education (OSEP), An accommodation is defined as an adjustment or addition to instructional or testing design that “allows a student to complete the same assignment or test as other students, but with a change in the timing, formatting, setting, scheduling, response and/or presentation.” Notice that accommodations focus on providing a student with increased independence. There is a common confusion between academic and testing accommodation and scaffolding. According to Wood, Burner, and Ross, scaffolding is the essential ingredients of guiding a learner through a task they cannot complete with independence(3). Scaffolding was a term used to describe the multiple functions, or roles, a tutor must play in order to aid the learner: recruiting interest, demonstration, reducing options to guide toward correct steps, highlighting critical features, and providing externalized frustration control. Through their research, they developed the term scaffolding to describe the specific type of tutoring required to assist a learner with an activity that fell within their ZPD. In 1976, Wood, Burner and Ross(3) set out to research how young children develop problem solving skills. This tutor can be an adult or a more advanced peer, but Vygotsky’s work suggests that learners require human assistance to guide them through the ZPD. Notice also, that this theory requires the assistance of a “more competent other,” meaning a tutor who was already more competent at the skill than the learner. Due to variability of skills and knowledge, each student in a classroom would have a different, although most likely overlapping, ZPD. Notice how individualized this concept is. The ZPD is the point at which a learner can become competent in a new skill, given that they are assisted by a “more competent other.”(2) Vygotsky posited that learners gain the most from having activities positioned within their ZPD. This theory is used to describe a range in which the skill being developed is neither too easy for the learner (meaning they can complete the task with independence), nor too difficult for the learner (meaning they will be unable to complete the task, even with assistance)(1). Lev Vygotsky created a theory known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD). So what exactly is scaffolding? From ZPD to Tutoring to Scaffolding For example, scaffolding is not the same as an accommodation, nor is it a technique for whole group instruction. How can we help our class understand a difficult concept? Use scaffolding! Each of these examples illustrates a misconception about the term scaffolding. What can we add to student’s instructional program to help them keep up? Scaffolding. As a frequent participant in IEP meetings, professional development sessions, and collaborative planning groups, I hear the term scaffolding a lot.
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