The Stride Professional Development Center has launched a new course that helps teachers know, understand, and do the important work of providing scaffolds for students. The course will take about an hour to complete and will provide you learning content, real-world examples, and 5 takeaway resources that you can immediately use in your practice.
Even though scaffolding is an important topic for teachers, the course is still designed with an on-the-go learner in mind. We packed the course with content but kept it bite-sized and mobile-friendly. That choice allows you to complete a section, pause to reflect, and then resume working as you have time.
Why is this course needed?
To answer the “why” question, let us ask you a question – how would you define scaffolding for students?
That answer is the “why” for this course. If we asked 10 teachers to define scaffolding, we would get 10 different answers. Yes, there may be some similarities but precision in definition would be lacking.
This course offers a short definition – “a support to promote higher growth” – and a longer, more complex definition. Both are instrumental in creating commonality of language upon which other concepts can be built.
What Does this Course Contain?
- 5 sections that take you through a self-rating tool. It serves as a great self-awareness exercise both now and in the future.
- Descriptions of DOK and the importance of data. Simple resources and a protocol will be shared that you can immediately put to use.
- A summary podcast that speaks to classroom application. Analogies and strategies are provided to you by an accomplished teacher.
- Examples of scaffolding for particular content areas, student learning styles, and learner challenges.
- Checks for understanding and reflection opportunities.
- 5 downloadable and takeaway resources just for you.
The learning experience will be perfect for brand-new teachers in the classroom wanting to learn more about the topic while also getting practical examples for use. However, veteran teachers simply wanting a refresher would benefit from the reflection exercises throughout.
How Should I Take this Course?
This question is great and, quite honestly, you can tailor the experience based upon your needs. The design gives you control and choice over the best way to move forward.
- Individually – the course is designed where you can finish it all at once (in about an hour) or over a series of sessions. The platform will remember where you left off so that you can immediately resume whenever you have time to return.
- Collectively – you could use this course in a flipped, PLC format. Each teacher could work through the content on their own and then come to a PLC to take their learning deeper. This would be ideal in building out additional scaffolds that could be matched to a specific learning challenge.
However you choose to take the course, the critical part is to ensure you apply the scaffolding principles of Alignment, Basis, and Communication. These are the 3 foundational elements upon which the entire course is built.