13 Strategies to Ensure Strong Scaffolding

Lloyd, J.W., Kameanui, E.J., and Chard, D. (Eds.) (1997)

1. Provide Procedural Prompts Specific to the Strategy Being Taught

- provide specific ideas for completing the task

- name the skill - develop prompts that support the task ( e.g., Who? Where? When? Why? What? How?

question starters for comprehension tasks)

2. Teach the Strategy Using Small Steps.

-deconstruct each learning expectation to identify the sub-skills imbedded in it

- teach the sub-skills in a logical order to “build” the larger skill

3. Provide Models of the Appropriate Responses.

- models provide an important scaffold; modeling enables students to compare their efforts with that of an expert

- modeling can take place during initial instruction ( Direct/ Explicit Instruction)

- modeling can take place during practice ( Cooperative Learning, Activity Centers, Contract Learning)

- modeling can be given after practice ( Discovery Learning)

4. Think Aloud as Choices are Being Made

- think aloud strategies make expert thinking overt

- part of cognitive apprenticeship model ( Collins, Brown, and Newman, 1990)

- think aloud strategies can be used to: a) clarify difficult statements or concepts b) summarize important information c) help students think ahead

5. Anticipate and Discuss Potential Difficulties

- spend instructional time discussing and explaining potential difficulties before students start practice

- use poor examples to help students analyze why they are poor

6. Regulate the Difficulty of the Material - apply the new learning to small examples

first, then move toward incrementally larger ones ( e.g., analyze a sentence, then a paragraph, then a story)

- decrease the prompts and supports strategically as students become more comfortable with the material ( “gradual release of responsibility”)

7. Provide a Cue Card - cue procedural prompts ( e.g.,

generic questions such as “ What is the most important idea in this paragraph?”)

- use anchor charts

8. Guide Student Practice ( 3 forms)

1st. - during initial practice, provide hints,

reminders of prompts, review of anchor charts, suggestions for something that could be improved

- intersperse new material with lots of practice episodes of the incremental bits

2nd. - Use reciprocal teaching; as learning

becomes more solidified, support “fades” or “responsibility for learning is gradually released”

- Students move from being supported by the teacher to supporting each other

- Students take a more active role in ensuring that they have learned

3rd. - Students meet in small groups of 2 to

6 - They practice asking, revising,

correcting, and providing support and feedback to each other (e.g., groups of 6, then 2, then alone)

- Teacher uses diminishing support ( “gradual release of responsibility”) strategically

9. Provide Feedback and Corrections

- Teacher makes strategic use of all forms of feedback available ( teacher, other students, computer programs)

- Feedback takes many forms ( hints, questions, and suggestions).

- Group feedback opportunities are provided

10. Provide and Teach a Checklist - self- evaluation is used - teach students to ask themselves “

What do I still not understand?” to help them become reflective about their level of understanding.

- checklists are effective at any point in the instructional cycle ( before, during and/or after practice opportunities)

11. Provide Independent Practice with New Examples

- work toward having students develop automatic responses

( automaticity) - provide practice with a variety of

material so that students can see the transfer of the learning

- facilitate transfer of new learning across contexts and content areas.

12. Increase Student Responsibilities

- scaffolds are diminished after successful independent practice

- students responsibilities are correspondingly increased

- complexity and difficulty of the material is gradually increased

13. Assess Student Mastery - assess learning - use a variety of strategies to assess - re-teach when/if necessary