“Scaffolding” is an educator term to describe teacher actions to help students learn something new. Scaffolding could be a series of questions meant to prepare students for what they are to read. Scaffolding could be a timeline of a topic—say American history—to show where a subtopic—say the Civil War—fits into the big picture.
Scaffolding can also be simple diagrams to help visual learners, ESL students and students with comprehension issues understand what they are about to read or write. These diagrams help students “see” the organization of a reading passage, or they help students “see” the structure of a paragraph or essay they are about to write, providing clarity.
For example, suppose a student needs to read a biography of Coretta Scott King. To help the student see the organization of Mrs. King’s life, the teacher could draw a color-coded diagram of important activities in Mrs. King’s life. Take a look.
This diagram is a simple visual pattern following Mrs. King’s life, more or less in chronological order. With a little help, the student might see that Mrs. King’s life was private until she married; then her life became public as she worked with her husband on civil rights matters; then her life became even more public after his death as she led efforts to honor him and she spoke and wrote about ongoing civil rights matters.
If each box of the diagram is outlined in a color which corresponds to a portion of Mrs. King’s life or activities, the overall organization of the essay becomes clear. Color-coding the information is important because it helps visual learners “see” how the reading passage breaks down into smaller chunks.
Whether it is Junie B. Jones’ fear of school buses or why polar bears face a bleak future, a diagram showing students what they will read before they read it allows them to see the big picture and each subtopic in the order in which they will read about it. For children learning English or children with reading comprehension problems, a diagram can help them understand and remember what they read.
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