"An invaluable tool that helps calibrate our teaching toward powerful student learning and independence" (Donalyn Miller). The Construction Zone will improve your use of instructional scaffolding as a literacy teaching strategy. Includes practical advice on focusing instruction, flexible teaching, effective feedback, and gradual release.
Preview the entire book online |
Stenhouse Publishers writes, "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, 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, in every moment, students are working at optimal levels of responsibility.
About the Author
Photo: Terry Thompson |
He received his bachelor's degree in elementary education from Lamar State College and his master's degree in counseling from Sam Houston State University. He has worked in elementary education for sixteen years in grade levels K through 5 as a classroom teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, basic skills teacher, reading interventionist, state testing coordinator, and literacy coach. He is currently a full-time literacy coach for the pre-K through 5 Title I campus in north Houston. He travels regularly, giving presentations to literacy instructors, and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Houston.
Read more...
Source: EdWeek Update and Stenhouse Publishers