In the article The Use of Scaffolds for Teaching Higher-Level Cognitive Strategies, Barak Rosenshine and Carla Meiser list many documented ways scaffolding has been successfully implemented in classrooms, which yielded higher order thinking and processing skills by the students. Furthermore, these strategies once implemented, take no more time than without because learners need less scaffolding once he or she understands the material at a higher level. The scaffolds "bridge the gap between their current abilities and the intended goal".
At Castleberry High School, we strive to fill each lesson with higher level learning that is student centered. According to Rosenshine and Meiser, "scaffolds can be applied to the teaching of all skills, they are particularly useful, and often indispensable, for teaching higher-level cognitive strategies, where many of the steps or procedures necessary to carry out these strategies cannot be specified". These strategies include: models, concrete prompts, think-alouds, simplified problems, suggestions and hints; each can be used generously at first and less as students are capable of leading their learning through higher order thinking.
My five takeaways from the article:
1.) Reciprocal teaching- student lead which shifts responsibility of learning to students and away from teachers.
2.) Think-alouds- teacher explains his or her thought process as he or she gives students examples of the problems and steps.
3.) Concrete prompts- basically question stems made for students. Allows the student with an established procedure to start the thinking process.
4.) Keep the scaffolding within the students' "zone of proximal development". Students cannot learn AP Physics no matter how much scaffolding, unless they first have the sufficient background ability learned in other Science classes.
5.) If we do not implement scaffolds, our instruction at CHS is inadequately preparing students for college or post-high school learning.
Please take time to post your five takeaways from the article, and then comment on my post and one from a peer. (3 total posts)
My 5 take aways:
ReplyDelete1. We must create scaffolds to enable the student does the cognitive work.
2. If we do this well, we will achieve the goal: creating "learners who participate at an ever-increasing level of competence" -- that is higher-level, independent thinkers
3. Students do not know how to think at higher levels, we must model these thought processes by thinking aloud, literally showing them how to think at the expected level.
4. We must move from getting students remembering to think at a higher level to applying the skill of thinking at a higher level.
5. Keep your eye on the goal: Increasing levels of student responsibility for their own higher level thinking.
Increasing the level of student responsibility is the key. If the student is more responsible for their learning, they should be able to learn and understand it at a higher and deeper level.
DeleteIncreasing student responsibility is very important, but how do we get them to take that responsibility?
DeleteI like # 5. It is imperative that the kids own their learning and think at a higher level.
DeleteComment on Mr. Enos's Post:
ReplyDelete4.) Keep the scaffolding within the students' "zone of proximal development". Students cannot learn AP Physics no matter how much scaffolding, unless they first have the sufficient background ability learned in other Science classes.
The scaffolding is always shifting and moving to allow growth within the student, and we as as the facilitators must be pro-active in monitoring and adjusting for each student. This also means sometimes we tear it all down and re-teach.
Tyler, you are absolutely correct. We will occasionally have to stop, take a deep breath and reteach.
Deletethe problem many teachers have is with their level of patience to continue taking that deep breathe.
DeleteI know that is one of the things my students discuss in mentoring when I question them about their grades. That some teachers get frustrated with them when they ask questions or do not understand. I know there have been days that I have become frustrated with students as well. Just need to keep in mind what we are trying to accomplish as a whole staff.
DeletePeter Branca Five takeaways:
ReplyDelete1. Teachers should provide self-checking procedures to increase student independence. This will allow students to identify and correct their own mistakes.
2. Teachers should anticipate potential student errors and determine a method to help students correct the errors.
3. Remember to start with a small concept or task and then build to larger tasks. If students have not understood and mastered the small concept, it will be difficult for them to understand the large concept.
4. Provide think aloud methods for the students to follow. When completing the problem explain to students that what you are saying are the steps to follow to complete the problem.
5. Scaffolds can be different depending on the needs of a specific student. Scaffolds should be decreased as the student becomes more proficient with the concept.
Right now we are doing basic verb conjugations. I guide them through the steps aloud. Identify what kind of verb it is in the infinitive,separate the root, and the appropriate ending, etc.
DeleteComment on Mr. Enos's Post:
ReplyDelete1.) Reciprocal teaching- student lead which shifts responsibility of learning to students and away from teachers.
It is vital that students not only be able to understand the assignment, but if they are able to explain the steps to a classmate, teacher or parent this will allow the student to demonstrate a better and deeper understanding of the topic.
Peter, I agree.
Delete1.) Reciprocal teaching can give deeper meaning to a topic as well as support(reinforce) the development of higher level thinking and even leadership skills.
My 5 take aways:
ReplyDelete1. Teachers have to create the scaffold to ensure the individual cognitive process can begin.
2. Think aloud..done by the teacher as well as students can aide novice thinkers in honing their skills.
3. Using a progression method of development of students cognitive skills from easy to advance will help ensure higher level thinking is being learned(done).
4. Varying the content for practice...this allows students the opportunity to develop skills in a variety of ways; teacher-guided, reciprocal and small groups.
5. Providing feedback is vital in teaching cognitive strategies. Increase the students level of responsibility.
I also took away varying the content for practice. I know I get hung up sometimes on doing the same thing over and over instead of trying something different.
DeleteAs a teacher, I need to speed up the feedback so that students will care about making the necesary changes and not have moved on.
DeleteFive things that stood out:
ReplyDelete1. Student modeling and think-alouds keep the students actively involved, and they give the teacher a chance to informally assess student progress.
2. The difficulty of tasks needs to increase gradually. Students should start off evaluating a sentence and work their way up to a passage. They can't just be given a passage right off the bat.
3. Sometimes teachers are required to step back in and increase their involvement even after the students have worked up to higher level learning.
4. Student errors can be anticipated, and the teacher can provide prompts to help eliminate these errors.
5. Having the students work in small groups not only allows the teacher to walk around and assess student understanding, it lets the students practice group decision making and collaboration skills.
I agree with small group work even though I do not use it enough. Our students struggle with working together and making a decision.
DeleteReply to original post:
ReplyDelete2.) Think-alouds- teacher explains his or her thought process as he or she gives students examples of the problems and steps.
I think it's important to practice this at every level of instruction. There might be some things we think of as simple, but a student might not. Talking through the steps of how we got to our final result can help students better understand certain concepts, as well as learn how to come to those conclusions on their own.
My 5 take aways:
ReplyDelete1. "Understanding is more likely to occur when a student is required to explain, elaborate, or defend his or her position to others"
2. Checklists are helpful to students to make sure they've covered everything.
3. I thought it might be a good idea to try having students in small groups generate questions after a lesson.
4. Extensive practice and practice with a variety of material and group sizes is important.
5. I like the idea of modeling "thinking aloud". I try to do that when we're learning how to do some new chemistry concept.
I really like the suggestion of having students work in small groups to create questions. I have never really done that before with my students but it is really important.
DeleteI agree that checklist are helpful for students to make sure they cover the required material
DeleteComment on Mr. Enos' post:
ReplyDeleteReferring to #4, Chemistry and Biology will not prepare a student for AP Physics because the subject matter is so diverse. If they had IPC or possibly some sort of physical science in junior high then those courses may lay a foundation for Physics.
As you can tell, I am not a Science guy. lol You still get the point I was making, right? Students cannot be expected to scaffold outside of their own zone of proximal development.
DeleteMy five take-aways are:
ReplyDelete1) Scaffolding works best when you come at it from prior knowledge. If those connections are made, students will remember information long-term..
2) The importance of using key words/ prompts. If students can remember the prompts then they can scaffold themselves to the correct answer. It triggers that connection in the brain.
3) Writing can be huge for helping students to create connections. Allowing them to free write and answer prompts on paper is a great way to encourage this process.
4) Looking at context and using it to give meaning. In reference to any specific text, breaking it down sentence by sentence and looking for meaning, then referring back to prior knowledge to gather as much context as we can.
5) Asking questions can be just as important as answering them. For students, learning how to ask or formulate the right questions in regards to text or information is just as important as being able to answer contextual questions.
I like that you touched on how writing and answering prompts can help students start making connections. Coming up with the right prompts to guide them also goes along with anticipating where they might get lost. Providing more opportunities for my students to just write and work through problems is something I want to work on adding to my classes.
DeleteReply to Mr. Enos #2 - think-alouds are a great tool to help model critical thinking for students. I often forget, especially with my science students, that they need that modeling. The students don't have the ability to read our minds (just like we can't read theirs) and unless we help show and explain what we are talking about, they may never understand.
ReplyDeleteReply #3 to a peer: I agree with you on the think-alouds, probably I think something that many teachers overlook when teaching, but how are students supposed to learn how to think about complicated problems if they have never had that higher order thinking modeled for them
DeleteMy 5 takeaways
ReplyDelete1. Scaffolds can not help students if they do not have the necessary background knowledge.
2. Modeling by the teacher gradually diminished as students begin to tai on more of a responsibility for completing the task
3. I liked the chart on pg.27 that broke down how to teach higher-order cognitive strategies into 6 steps.
4. "teaching in small steps" sometimes as teachers we forget to break things down no matter how small
5. Varying the context for practicing the application of cognitive strategies through teacher guided practice, reciprocal teaching, and working in small groups.
My five takeaways from this are:
ReplyDelete1. Varying the context for practicing the application of cognitive strategies through teacher guided practice, reciprocal teaching, and working in small groups.
2. Looking at context and using it to give meaning. In reference to any specific text, breaking it down sentence by sentence and looking for meaning, then referring back to prior knowledge to gather as much context as we can.
3 I like the idea of modeling "thinking aloud". I try to do that when we're learning new grammar.
4. I liked the chart on pg.27 that broke down how to teach higher-order cognitive strategies into 6 steps.
5. Extensive practice and practice with a variety of material and group sizes is important.
I agree that many times breaking things down to smaller steps can sometimes be forgotten
DeleteSpanish is one of those subject where we teachers have to break everything down to better explain to our students about Syntax or the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Language acquisition at there are age is hard to acquire but if they figure it out, it is possible.
DeleteTake away:
ReplyDelete1. Anticipating errors to regulate difficulty. I agreed with this information because many times from year to year or class to class , we observe common misconceptions. We are able to use these misconceptions to strengthen our teaching method and as the article mentions regulate difficulty.
2. provide self checking procedures to increase student performance.
3.it is important to reduce the number of prompts and increase the amount of complex material.
4. the concrete parts given are helpful
5. guided practice takes place in the context of teacher - student dialogue.
1. Modeling for students should be the cornerstone of scaffolding especially when teaching a language. Teachers should demonstrate to students exactly what they are expected to do every chance they get.
ReplyDelete2. By asking students to share their own experiences or prior knowledge about the content and have them relate and connect it to their own lives, this may lead them to make connections and grasp learning on their own.
3. By giving your students time to talk, they will have time to process new ideas and information. They also need time to verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with the community of learners who are also engaged in their content area.
4. Using Visual Aids and Graphic organizers such as pictures, and charts can all serve as scaffolding tools. Graphic organizers help kids visually represent their ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts such as sequencing and cause and effect.
5. Pausing, Asking Questions, and reviewing is a good way to check for understanding while students work on difficult text or learn a new concept or content.
comment to Mr. Enos 5.) If we do not implement scaffolds, our instruction at CHS is inadequately preparing students for college or post-high school learning.
ReplyDeleteThere are different affective scaffolds teachers use to teach students and help them become better educators and it is not only our duty but responsibilities students graduate with the knowledge and skills to succeed beyond high school.
Our students need to experience the level of learning that they will see at the college level before they get there.
ReplyDeleteComment on Mr. Enos' post: I can speak from experience that students that enter college unprepared struggle and fall behind. I experienced this first hand in my quest to graduate. Our level of questioning needs to put the students in a position so that they must answer has a critical thinker.
ReplyDeleteMy Five Takeaways:
ReplyDelete1.Scaffolds can only be used when the students have sufficient background ability.
2.Question prompts can help teachers raise the level of questioning.
3. Think aloud strategies can be used to help student follow steps and understand what to do by the teacher providing a model.
4. Discuss possible student errors before they occur.
5. For students to be independent thinkers they must have a strategy to go from where they are to learning on their own.
My five takeaways:
ReplyDelete1. Teach alouds, or modeling thought processes are an effective way to show "novice learners a way to observe "expert thinking".
2. Feedback is important all the time, especially so when providing feed back on learning how to learn, i.e. cognitive strategies.
3. Student learning with scaffolds requires assessing student understanding at various points to be sure they are applying thought processes successfully.
4. When scaffolding it is important that the teacher steps back to let the students try on their own, Students must take responsibility for their learning but cannot if their is always someone there to hold their hand.
5.Practicing cognitive strategies through various materials demonstrates to students the strategies they are using can be applied in other ways.
Comment to Enos: I agree with all of your takeaways, and the article, it was a good read and I think really makes the case for the use of using scaffolding.
ReplyDeleteHolcomb's 5 takeaways
ReplyDelete1. I think you have to increase the difficulty of the task gradually in order for the student to understand it totally.
2. As a teacher we have to model the proper way of asking questions.
3. I think the student working in groups to create some questions over the material covered could work as well.
4. If we use key words they might help prompt our students to remember an answer to a question later.
5. With incoming high school students it is important to teach in small steps.
Comment on Enos': 1. shifting the responsibility to the student is an important step in the student becoming independent learners.
ReplyDelete