I watched a young boy ride his bike with training wheels. I saw him dip toward one side, to be supported by the training wheels. A few seconds more and he dipped toward the other side, and again, the training wheels supported him. He was able to move forward, instead of falling, due to those training wheels.

I wonder how much we provide "training wheels" for our students as they learn our subject area. Do we provide them with support or a scaffolding, so that they can only dip so far before the scaffolding supports them? For example, do we provide the underlying structure for their writing? One English teacher starts her writing students out with a two-column, word processed sheet.  In the left column are questions such as “What would interest someone about this topic?" and “What are you trying to prove?” As the student answer each question, they are guided through their writing.  If students do not feel they need the structure, they can proceed in their writing without the questions. When they feel “stuck,” they can look at the questions. Struggling writers can use each questions to guide them through the many parts of successfully writing an essay.

Likewise, do we build in frequent mini-assessments so that we can find out their small learning gaps and then help them? Let's not let students fall down, but help them so they can travel forward in our subject area standards.

How do you design your scaffolding to support your students succeed?

Dr. Harry Grover Tuttle focuses on assessing and improving student learning through low- and high-tech tools.

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