Let's hope the scaffold does not give way

Scaffold – this is one of those terms co-opted by the Education world for their particular purposes.  The term seems to be ubiquitous but the context has been hard to follow since it is used variously as a noun, verb, and adjective.

 

-        I provided a scaffold for the student.

-        I scaffolded the student on the exercise.

-        I provided a scaffolded exercise for the student.

If for no other reason than to solidify my own understanding and further my attempts to speak like a native, I undertook a slightly more detailed study of the word and its uses.  I will now report back in the hopes of helping others, or at least in hoping others will correct me and further my understanding.

As I defined earlier, scaffolding is the concept of an expert assisting a novice, or an apprentice.  It has a very rich literature going back to the 1930s, with Vygotsky and Bruner being two of the big names associated with academic research on the topic.  More than just assisting, scaffolding (per Bruner) is setting up the situation to make the child’s entry into a topic successful by providing additional support but pulling that support back over time as the child learns the skills to do the work him or herself.  The term scaffold then comes from the more industrial use to mean provide a structure that supports the student; the structure can be modified and taken away as the support is no longer needed.

Scaffolding has two general types, hard and soft.  Hard scaffolding, aka embedded, are those activities which are planned in advance for topics that are known to be difficult.  Soft, aka contingent, interactional, or (my term) just-in-time is support that is given as and when needed.  To hopefully illustrate:

-        A hard scaffold could be a SIOP modeled lesson plan where key content and vocabulary is defined and taught; several examples are demonstrated by the teacher; hands-on, step-by-step activities are then conducted by the students; student coaching is conducted to further refine the concept; and finally students individually work problems of increasing complexity to engage higher level learning.

-        A soft scaffold is the teacher circulating through the classroom and offering prompts, giving advice, and coaching.  Instead of answering direct questions from students, a scaffolded response would be to ask a re-directing question back to the student that provides cues but requires the student to think.

There are numerous references on-line.  Several that I found useful are:

-        Education.com which has a good overview article

-        This YouTube video which provides a good oral overview

-        And this YouTube video which provides some good do’s and don’ts for teachers

Hope that helps; keep calm and scaffold on!

A Brief Detour



I attended the change of command ceremony today for Colonel Pat Dedham who relinquished command of the 11^th Signal Brigade to Colonel James Parks.  The 11^th is headquartered at Fort Huachuca, AZ, but is moving shortly to Fort Hood, TX.  A short video of the ceremony can be found HERE.  It was quite warm, but the skies over Brown Parade Field were a beautiful blue and eventually a bit of a breeze picked up.

Ft Huachuca is an historic Cavalry post, founded in 1877 by Captain Whitside of the 6^th Cavalry Regiment.  Its main purpose was to protect the valley from marauding Apaches and bandits from Mexico.  In the earliest years elements of the 4^th and 5^th Cavalry were stationed at Ft Huachuca.  It was 4^th Cav that participated in the campaign that finally captured the famed Apache warrior Geronimo.  Starting from the 1890s and through the First World War the historic Black units 9^th and 10^th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed at Ft Huachuca.  10^th Cav participated in Pershing’s punitive expedition into Mexico and helped capture Pancho Villa.  Later, the 25^th Infantry Regiment, another all Black unit was stationed at Ft Huachuca where they remained until absorbed into the 93^rd Infantry Division.  The 93^rd ID was an all-Black unit formed for World War Two and, after training at Ft Huachuca, saw extensive combat operations in the Pacific.  The other all-Black division, the 92^nd ID, also trained at Ft Huachuca until deployment for European combat operations.  In 1949 President Truman directed the military become fully integrated and the 92^nd and 93^rd passed into history.  Today Ft Huachuca is the home of the Military Intelligence School and several technology oriented commands.  The post has a wonderful museum that explains the history of the post and local area, the units who served here, and the missions in which they participated.

We now return you to your regular blog.

I plan to attend the HBSS ROC drill at the CSTF

Professions and professional organizations are marked by, among other things, a professional language.  To be successful in that profession includes mastering the language of the profession and to use it with the other members.   I can read the subject of this blog to anyone in my office and they will know exactly what I am talking about.  So it is with Education; it has its own unique language that we L2 Education speakers must master.

I had signed up for my first M.Ed (uh, Masters in Education) class, SEI, where we would study SIOP.  My wife asked me “What is SIOP?” (pronounced ‘sigh op’).  I quickly replied, “It is psychological operations” (pronounced ‘sigh ops’).  Strike one for the L1 Army speaker.  So, with this daunting dilemma in front of me I have set out to master the language of the Education profession, where I feel somewhat of an ELL (Education Language Learner).  To that end I am developing my own dictionary of terms that I have attached HERE.  I will update it periodically as I add to it and I invite others to add to it and to clarify my own entries.  I try to attribute terms to authors or developers where applicable; if I have missed someone I would appreciate that being pointed out.

And just for those who are interested, translating the subject line: I plan to attend the Host Based Security System (a type of defensive software to protect computer systems against cyber-attack) Rehearsal of Concept drill at the Consolidated Systems Testing Facility – hope that clears it up.

Houston, I think we have a problem

I first got an inkling what the problem might be when I met with the head of the education program to discuss my applying.  As we talked I heard terms I was not familiar with and made a comment along the lines of “I don’t really know anything about teaching”.  She replied, “Don’t worry, most teachers don’t either”.  I was serious, I’m not sure she was.  The second inkling came when researching certification requirements – what exactly is highly qualified?  Why do I need to know the Arizona State constitution if all I want to do is teach math?  I have to take a what, an NES content certification in math, what’s that?  The last inkling was registering for classes when the title of the class doesn’t even make sense, Sheltered English Instruction; clearly the images in my head do not match the content of the reference book.  All I can say is this valley of education is wide and deep, and there are miles to go before I sleep.

Why Education as a Second Language?

I have spent nearly 30 years in the military.  In these 30 years I have learned a profession, become thoroughly engrained in the intricacies of the institution, and have assimilated into the culture.  But all good things come to an end; eventually you must move on to other endeavors.  Instead of pursuing a traditional post-military job, e.g. Defense Contracting, I have decided to be a teacher.  It sounds cool, it is needed, I think I can do it … and yet I know nothing about it.  So now, 30 years down the road, as I make a career U-turn I find that I am not a native Education speaker – it’s a second language to me and I need some sheltered instruction!

This blog then is my reflections on learning education – how an L1 Army speaker moves from being a Stage 1/Preproduction Education speaker to a Stage 4/5 Mainstreamed Education speaker.  I will try and capture my thoughts, questions, answers, concerns, frustrations, resolutions, and solicit feedback on the same so that those of us not born L1 Education Speakers might learn, share, and grow so that someday we too can proudly carry the title: Teacher.