Accelerate Learning with Scaffolding

As teachers strive to address the unique learning needs of students struggling to succeed on grade level, they often reteach content and skills from previous grades. But, when significant amounts of instructional time and practice are spent on remedial content, students are less likely to receive the instruction they need to meet the demands of their current grade level standards. This is especially true when previously unlearned skills or concepts are taught in isolation instead of as complementary support for current grade level learning expectations. For example, if second graders are struggling with number fluency, a teacher may decide to spend a large portion of their math block addressing this foundational skill. However, this same skill can be reinforced during math instruction that focuses on explicitly teaching repeated addition. The potential struggle point is overcome subtly by “scaffolding up” and addressing number fluency in the context of the current mathematical objective. It can gradually fade as students build their number fluency. This is the foundation for effective scaffolding - to avoid a decrease in learning expectations while building a bridge to a better understanding of a lesson’s grade level learning objectives.

Accelerate Learning with Scaffolding provides schools and teachers with an extensive understanding of the types of Scaffolding Strategies that may be proactively planned and applied when needed to support struggling learners and how to gradually shift the responsibility more fully to the student as their confidence and competence grow during a lesson, unit, or course of study.