Scaffolding Strategies: Students need scaffolding in order to provide support

for students, breaking learning down into manageable chunks,

progressing toward stronger understanding and ultimately greater
independence.

1. Give mini-lessons. Break new concepts down into bite-sized. Teaching a

series of mini-lessons provides students with a safety net that moves them
progressively toward deeper understanding.
2. Model/demonstrate. Show your students an example of what they will
be learning, demonstrate a science experiment, or gather them on the rug
and let them watch you solve a math problem in a new way, verbalize your
thought process as you demonstrate. This gives your students a model for an
inner dialogue they can copy.  Click here for an example of using think-
alouds to improve reading comprehension.
3. Describe concepts in multiple ways. To support different learning
styles, show them, tell them, and let them try it for themselves. The more
ways you approach learning, the more sense it will make for students. 
4. Use visual aids. Show a video, pass out colorful images, or provide a
concrete object to start off a new lesson. For example, if you’re teaching a
lesson on polyhedrons, place models of different types on tables for students
to see and touch. 
5. Students talk time. Give time to process new information, partnering
them up or breaking into small groups, have them articulate concepts in
their own words to one another. Come back together as a whole group and
share any insights that might be helpful to everyone. This is also a great
time to implement cooperative learning structures.

6. Time to practice. Have a few students come up to the board and try

a math problem. Or write a paragraph together on chart paper. Think of
this guided practice as a series of rehearsals before the final
performance. 

7. Check for understanding. Check to make sure students are with

you, thumbs up, a sticky note check-in, desktop flip chart - a few of
the ideas you can use to see who’s good to go, who’s almost there
and who needs some one-on-one. 
8. Activate prior knowledge. Show a big picture, make connections to
concepts and skills students have already learned, connect to experiences
they have - field trips, projects. 
9. Front-load concept-specific vocabulary.  make students
understand ahead of time so that vocabulary doesn’t become a
stumbling block to higher level learning. 
10. Set High Expectation. Make students understand what is expected,
describe the purpose, give them concrete examples, give them
clear directions and show them exemplars of high quality work, and provide
a rubric so they know what to do to successfully master the concept. 

Lesson Design:

Lessons for students with learning difficulties would require

scaffolding in order to provide support for students, breaking learning
down into manageable chunks, progressing toward stronger
understanding and ultimately greater independence. I usually break
challenging concepts into bite-sized, series of mini-lessons providing for
movement of learning progressively toward deeper understanding. I would
show students an example of what they will be learning through
demonstration, or let them watch me solve a math problem in a new way,
verbalizing my thoughts process I demonstrate. This gives your students a
model for an inner dialogue they can copy when doing think-alouds to
improve reading comprehension. I also try to support different learning
styles, show them, tell them, and let them try it for themselves using a
video, a colorful images, or a concrete object. For example, if I am teaching
polyhedrons, I place models of different types on tables for students to see
and touch. I also give time for students to process new information,
partnering them up or breaking into small groups, have them articulate
concepts in their own words to one another. Come back together as a whole
group and share any insights that might be helpful to everyone. I also ask a
few students come up to the board and try a math problem, or write a
paragraph together on chart paper. To check for understanding I make
students do a thumbs up, a sticky note check-in, desktop flip chart,
and the like. I also go around to see who’s good to go, or who’s almost
there, or who needs some one-on-one help. 

8. Activate prior knowledge. Show a big picture, make connections to

concepts and skills students have already learned, connect to experiences
they have - field trips, projects. 
9. Front-load concept-specific vocabulary.  make students
understand ahead of time so that vocabulary doesn’t become a
stumbling block to higher level learning. 
10. Set High Expectation. Make students understand what is expected,
describe the purpose, give them concrete examples, give them
clear directions and show them exemplars of high quality work, and provide
a rubric so they know what to do to successfully master the concept.