Scaffolding

            “Scaffolding is a process in which an adult helps students do what they cannot do alone and then slowly encourages them to take responsibility for parts of the process they are able” (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). When applying scaffolding, students are assisted to become successful readers by gradually taking full responsibilities to become independent readers. Scaffolding instruction is not a reading program but rather an instructional design. It is designed to teach students to understand and learn the text they read. More importantly, scaffolding allows students to enjoy reading and become motivated readers.
            There are two phases to the scaffolding reading experience: the planning phase and the implementing phase. During the planning phase, the teacher needs to determine what text will be used and what the purpose will be. It is important for teachers to think of the needs of the students: What are their skills and interests? Does their purpose for reading and interests relate to the text? Is the text at the appropriate reading level of the students? 
            When a text has been selected, the teacher begins to prepare for the second phase, the implementing phase. The implementing phase consists of three components; these are prereading, during-reading, and postreading activities. Prereading activities play an important role for students to gain a better understanding of the text they are about to read. Successful prereading activities motivate students to become interested in the reading selection. Students’ prior knowledge should be activated or built, with knowledge related to the text. Activities to activate prior knowledge should relate to the students’ lives, build text-specific knowledge, and preteach vocabulary and concepts (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). Teachers should also focus on attention during prereading activities. Attention to prequestioning, predicting, and direction setting activities must be considered. The strategies that students already know are used in prereading activities; teachers should remind and suggest while students are reading the selection (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999).
            After prereading activities have been implemented, students should be prepared to read the selected text. The next step is during-reading activities, which allow for students to read and interact with text. Graves and Graves (1994) listed five categories for the during-reading activities. These categories include silent reading, reading to students, guided reading, oral reading, and modifying the text.
            Silent reading should be used most often to promote life-long, independent readers. During silent reading, readers focus on decoding and comprehension rather than worrying about articulation of words. Reading to students helps motivate students and builds interest before moving on to silent reading. Oral reading can be effective with hearing students as well as some hard of hearing students. If a student is deaf and receives information in ASL better than Manually Coded English, the teacher needs to translate the meaning of the text to ASL. Guided reading includes scaffolding activities that encourage students to enjoy the text. Appropriate questions should be asked as the students are reading. Graves and Graves (1994) suggest teachers consider what students attend to and key concepts of the text; this promotes the application of cause and effect, colorful language, and sequencing skills (McAnally, Rose, and Quigley 1999). Oral reading by students allows students to appreciate the sounds of language, while experimenting and focusing on the meaning. Deaf children cannot do this activity because translating English words to English signs can affect meaning. As a substitute, deaf students can sign in ASL; this serves a different purpose. It changes oral reading to story retelling. Modifying the text is an activity that is used to make texts more accessible to students. Rewriting or choosing a text in a simpler version can be beneficial; audio or videotapes can be used in modifying text. Changing texts can be controversial in children’s literature.
            Postreading activities are the final component of the implementing phase in scaffolding reading. This phase gives the students opportunities to synthesize and organize information, evaluate the author’s perspective, and respond to the text. Students may think about the meaning, compare ideas with other texts, get involved in activities that require creativity, and apply what they have read to personal experiences in their environments. 
            According to Graves and Graves (1994), there are seven categories of postreading activities. Questioning, the first category, encourages students to think about what they have read and apply interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating skills. The second category is discussion. This allows students to discuss their ideas, develop their responses, and modify them with classmate input. The third category is writing; this requires students to write about what they have read. Writing also shows that students understand the information and can apply, synthesize, and elaborate on information and their ideas. The fourth category is drama; the purpose of this is to have students actively engage in what they have read. The fifth category includes artistic, graphic, and nonverbal activities. The purpose of this category is to have students think in different ways and to respond to texts. This category also gives students the opportunity to interpret and synthesize what they have read in a way that matches their individual learning style. The sixth category includes application and outreach activities. In this category the students are encouraged to use the information that they have learned, explore new information, and expand on it by doing something that will apply to real life activities. The seventh category is reteaching. Reteaching helps students understand the text better because it reinforces material they have missed. During postreading activities, students apply what they have learned through reading towards real life activities. This, in turn, will help students understand the information better.

 Copyright © 2005, Danielle Thor. All Rights Reserved.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact [danielle.thor@marshall.k12.mn.us].
Last updated: 04/04/08.