Scaffolding lesson

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is a variation on the technique of teaching by modeling and demonstrating a new skill.  It involves a highly interactive relationship between the teacher and student while the new learning occurs.  Jerome Bruner's work with mothers and children are the first reference to scaffolding.  As a mother reads aloud to a toddler, she may simplify the book to meet the attention span and interests of her child, calling the child's attention to material that is appropriate and eliminating material that is beyond the child's present capacity.  She is also likely to allow the child to interact with her as they read and discuss the words and pictures on each page.  This flexible and simplified interaction between child and parent allows the child to connect new ideas to existing schemata at his or her own level.

Teachers can apply scaffolding in the classroom by reducing complex tasks to manageable steps, helping children to concentrate on one task at a time, being explicit about what is expected and interpreting the task for the student, and coaching the child using words and actions that are familiar and supportive.  When coaching the ;child during a difficult task, it is important to provide sufficient scaffolding through the use of hints and clues so that the child is able to succeed.  As students become more and more skillful, the scaffolding can be reduced and finally eliminated entirely.  

Scaffolding is appropriate when the tasks are complex or the students have difficulty with the language.  This technique can be learned only by reflecting on the needs of students, gathering the latest information on such techniques from reading and talking to experienced teachers who have used them successfully, and gradually adding such strategies to your own repertoire.

Scaffolding Lesson

 I.    Objective

SWBAT:  Students will be able to define and apply the process of scaffolding.

 II.   Rationale:  Arkansas Teacher Licensure Standards

Principle 1:  The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she will be licensed to teach and can link the discipline(s) to each other.

1.1.1     The student  knows how to apply major concepts, assumptions, debates, processes of inquiry, and ways of knowing that are central to the discipline(s) he/she teaches.

1.1.2     The student has a multicultural perspective of his/her discipline(s).

The student  understands how students' conceptual frameworks and their misconceptions of an area of knowledge can influence their learning.

Principle 2:  The teacher plans and teaches curriculum appropriate to the students, to the content, and to the learning objective.

2.1.5     The student knows how to ask questions to stimulate discussion as well as creative and critical thinking.

The student knows how to use various instructional technologies to address individual and group needs.

Principle 3:  The teacher plans and presents instruction based upon human growth and development, learning theory, and the needs of students.

3.1.2     The student can evaluate and knows how to apply appropriate techniques and strategies based on different learning theories.

The student knows how to evaluate and use a variety of materials to support different instructional strategies.

 III.   Materials Needed to Accomplish Objective

Definition of Scaffolding Hand Out

Scaffolding Topics

 IV. Set Induction

Ask a student to teach the class how to do a task which everyone is familiar with such as:

a long division problem with five numbers divided by three numbers, or

how to program a VCR.

Ask class about the procedure that occurred during  the teaching event and why it was important for the task to be broken into parts.

 V.  Procedures for the Lesson

Students will receive scaffolding hand-out.

Students will be divided into groups.  

Students will select a leader, recorder and speaker.

Groups will be assigned a topic to demonstrate scaffolding to the rest of the class.

 VI.  Closure

Students will be asked to define scaffolding.

Students will be asked to list times when scaffolding is important.

Students will be asked to list ways to apply scaffolding in the classroom.

 VII.  Evaluation of the Learner

The learner will be evaluated informally through their participation in the group activity and formally through quiz number one.

 VIII.  Self-evaluation of the Lesson Effectiveness

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

What I would change: