Sigh. I'm ashamed to admit that I definitely, without a doubt, over-scaffold my students' learning in the classroom. My main excuse is, "They're 4 and 5! They need my help!", but I know I'm not making the best teaching decisions when it comes to their autonomy. It's easy for me to forget that they actually have any autonomy, to be honest, when they can barely tie their shoes or spell their names.
I think I've known for a while, deep down, that I was over-directing them, but the "Great Teaching Means Letting Go" article really made me see it. And now I have to face it. Whinnnne. My sweet babies!
But, truthfully, it's time. Especially as we ease into the last leg of the school year. They need to be better prepared for Kindergarten where hopefully their teachers will also strive for their autonomy in the classroom.
I have a prime example from today, actually. My students, particularly the girls, have always had some trouble getting along and solving their arguments effectively. They run to me, and I walk them through the steps of solving disagreements. Every single time. Sometimes I find myself thinking, "Haven't we gone through this about a million times, and yet they don't remember?!" But, like the article pointed out, I've never just sat back and watched them try to do it on their own. Without teacher help. Without guided, word-for-word, "now you say this", help. It's definitely time to let them go, if nothing else but for my sanity.
By reducing my scaffolding in both social and academic areas, my students have the opportunity for more inquiry based learning. I think I can ease my way into a less-guided classroom by starting with our technology based lessons. Most of my students can probably use our iPads better than I can, anyway. I need to cut out the over-direction before the lesson and just see what they can do when they start up their apps. I think I'll try this tomorrow with our new ABC app, and see what happens! They'll probably be able to understand the game without any directions from me at all, or find different ways to play that I hadn't thought of. I could also back off while they play "classic" roles in the Home Living center, like "doctor" or "police officer". I find myself showing them what a doctor would do, or how a police officer would act, instead of just letting them work through it. Laying out new math manipulatives during small group time and just watching what they do with them would be beneficial, too. Do they sort them by color? Size? Do they count them? Group them into 2s?
From there, I'll work on not helping them so much with their other issues.
Baby steps, people.
It is definitely scary retracting our scaffolding. I sometimes feel like I'm throwing them into the deep end, but I forget that I have already taught them how to swim, they just need to learn the particular pool that they are thrown into. In generally, regardless of our students' ages, I teach middle school, they need more control over their own education. They definitely need more time to think problems through. I have heard several other teachers, including myself, claiming that there just isn't enough time to teach everything we expect students to learn, but I think if we adapt more of an inquiry learning style, perhaps we will find they know more than we thought.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I know I scaffold too much for my 6th graders. I have got to let go and let them discover the learning for themselves. It will only help them in the long run.
ReplyDeleteMorgan, we are all guilty of over scaffolding our students. I try not to do it myself but looking back after reading the article and viewing the video I admit I am guilty. Much of it probably has to do with standardized testing and making sure students can be successful with certain things and I know many would argue against standardized tests. I really need to try and provide my kids with more opportunities with inquiry style activities and not help as much.
ReplyDeleteI have the opposite problem with my students. I am called mean many times by the students because I will not just give them the answer. They try to ask others for help and I guess that is okay because its working with someone closer to their level, but I do try and tell the helper, "Don't just give them the answer."
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day they will see that I was just trying to help them out. Hopefully.