Scaffolding your Learning

Construction workers after scaffolding a new building. Sadly there's no budget for the walls.

What's Scaffolding to begin with? An architect would say it is the temporary structure used by construction workers to move around a building that is being repaired or when construction is being built. A teacher would say something else. Instructional Scaffolding (that's the complete term) is the group of instructional strategies implemented to help a learner or a group of learners to reach deeper comprehension so they can grasp successfully the target content intended for them.
Scaffolding is connected to the concept of Constructivism which is about giving the learner knowledge that can be tested and thus is also reliable. Scaffolding is more than anything about training the learner to do his/her own learning. Little by little the learner is left alone so he or she can devise his/her own learning strategies and in the end, becomes an independent learner.
Scaffolding is a fascinating topic and one that deserves more space and further study, especially by those who are just beginning their teaching experience.

Comments

Unknown said…
Dave Criollo
I have heard something about instructional scaffolding in a subject, I don't remember which it was, but I think high schools and college should teach more about instructional scaffolding, it could help so much to us.
July 13, 2021 at 4:15 PM
Mendoza Párraga Martha said…
I had not heard about it before, but I find it a very interesting topic, I think we should learn more about it because it could be useful for us.
July 13, 2021 at 4:35 PM
Katherine Cabezas said…
I agree with this, using scaffolds strategies is great for helping students to understand and interact in the classroom with grade-level content. However, they shouldn't be permanent because students end up coming to rely too much on the scaffolding and not on their own ability. As teachers, we need to observe the difficulties students have in some tasks and then, apply different kinds of scaffolds.
July 15, 2021 at 1:31 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more