Instructional scaffolding is an essential part of teaching literacy. But what is scaffolding exactly? What does it look like in a classroom, and how can we improve the ways we use it? Despite its prominence in the repertoire of teaching strategies, scaffolding remains a vague concept for many teachers.
In essence
, scaffolding is the idea of supporting students as they build independence. In
The Construction Zone: Building Scaffolding for Readers and Writers, Terry Thompson identifies four critical processes to deepen your understanding and improve your practice of instructional scaffolding:
- Finding and maintaining a specific
focus - Practicing
flexibility in planning and delivering instruction
- Giving constructive
feedback in response to student efforts
- Monitoring to ensure that students are working at optimal levels of
responsibility Thompson encourages teachers to enhance their use of the traditional gradual release process through five actionable steps: show, share, support, sustain, and survey, and in doing so provides procedures and techniques to help them establish and maintain strong scaffolds throughout the instructional day.
The Construction Zone is written from the teacher's perspective and urges educators to fully embrace their role in the scaffolding process while staying mindful of the effect it has on students.
Taking a student from dependence upon the teacher to independent learning is what teaching is all about, and instructional scaffolding is key to accomplishing this goal. Regardless of where you are in your understanding of instructional scaffolding,
The Construction Zone will raise your level of awareness around your instructional practices and the ways you scaffold students to independence.
Thompson, Terry: -
Terry likes to help people. That's why he became a teacher, a consultant, and a psychotherapist. "I'm a helper. It's what I do, and it's the core of my personality. It makes sense, then, that I would gravitate toward a career that would allow me to help others. I see potential in children and do my best to help them believe in and cultivate that potential."
Never far from a classroom, Terry has served as a classroom teacher, basic skills teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, and literacy coach. He holds a master's degree in psychotherapy and cognitive coaching and travels throughout the United States consulting with classroom teachers and literacy specialists.
Terry loves the connections he makes with children when they are actively engaged in the learning process and motivated to learn more. "I'm energized by the laughter, the quizzical looks, the conversations, and the sense of wonder we share as a community as we move from one topic to another. I take pride in the fact that I am an agent of change in the lives of children every day, and that when it's all said and done, I can honestly say that I made a difference in the life of a child."
When it comes to teaching teachers, Terry believes that instruction in a PD setting should be just as differentiated as in the classroom. "Adult learners deserve the same intentionality and reflection in planning that we use with our students. Teachers are busy. They don't have time for fluff, and I try to keep this in mind when I'm planning presentations. Workshops should be fun, fast-paced, engaging, and interesting. We learn best when we feel safe enough to take risks, so my presentations are casual and respect the fact that we're all in different places in our learning."
Terry is the author of Adventures in Graphica: Using Comics and Graphic Novels to Teach Comprehension (2007) and The Construction Zone: Building Scaffolds for Readers and Writers (2015). In his free time, he is an avid reader and likes to travel, especially with friends and family.
Terry continues to work in classrooms as a literacy interventionist in San Antonio. He's also recently joined the Stenhouse Publishers team as a part-time literacy editor. Connect with Terry on Twitter (@TerryTreads) or through his website.
