Back to: Module: Helping with Instruction
Let’s say we wanted to sum up the key messages in this module in just one paragraph. It might go something like this:
Instruction supports learning. It helps students grow, moving from their current level to the next higher level. Educators provide scaffolds to help students grow. Different students benefit from different scaffolds. And the same student might benefit from different scaffolds at different times or for different types of learning. Good instruction uses the right scaffolds. And what’s right depends on students’ preferences as well as their needs. This way of teaching makes learning meaningful. Students see how new knowledge and skills builds on prior knowledge and skills. And they see the reasons for learning new things. Good instruction in classrooms with many different kinds of students relies on the use of a number of different scaffolds. Many different activities, models, and explanations work as scaffolds. This approach to instruction helps students become aware of their own learning and to control it to the greatest extent possible. And this common-sense approach fits with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
If we wanted to state the key messages in just one sentence, it might go something like this:
Good instruction uses different scaffolds with different students to help them learn whatever knowledge or skills are next in a learning sequence that is meaningful to them.
If we wanted to sum it up in one word, we might just say:
Scaffolding.
If we wanted to create a concept map of the most important messages, it might look like this:
