Scaffolding Students’ Comprehension of Text

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Scaffolding Students Comprehension of Text

• Article written by
• Kathleen F. Clark Michael F. Graves
• Summarized by
• Kristine Barrett

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Scaffolding

• The scaffolding of a building under construction
  provides support when the new building cannot
  stand on its own. As the new structure is
  completed and becomes freestanding, the
  scaffolding is removed. So it is with scaffolded
  adult-child academic interactions. The adult
  carefully monitors when enough instructional
  input has been provided to permit the child to
  make progress toward an academic goal, and thus
  the adult provides support only when the child
  needs it. If the child catches on quickly, the
  adults responsive instruction will be less
  detailed than if the child experiences
  difficulties with the task.

M. Pressley
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Why use scaffolding?

• Vygotskys zone of proximal development
• Pearson and Fieldings release of responsibility
  model

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Inductive form of instruction

• It teaches students how to find and organize
  information, create and test hypotheses that
  describe relationships among data sets. (Joyce
  Weil)

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Forms of Scaffolding Instruction

• Moment-to-moment scaffolding
• Instructional frameworks
• Questioning the Author
• Scaffolded Reading Experience
• Instructional procedures
• Direct Explanation of Comprehension Strategies
• Reciprocal Teaching

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Moment-to Moment VerbalScaffolding

• Use of a variety of questioning techniques
• Prompt
• Probe
• Help explain answers more in-depth
• Knowledge of how to ask questions without giving
  answers
• Give meaning and purpose to questions
• Must remain very aware of students abilities

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Instructional Frameworks

• Questioning the Author
• Use for reading individual texts
• Used to understand, interpret, and elaborate on
  authors meaning
• Open-ended questioning techniques instead of
  story element questions
• A variety of responses is desired from questions
• Designed by I.L. Beck, M.G. McKeown, J. Worthy,
  C.A. Sandora, and L. Kucan

• Scaffolding Reading Response (2 phases)
• Planning Phase in which the teacher must
  consider
• The students who are reading
• The reading selection
• The purpose for reading
• Implementation Phase
• Pre-reading activities
• During-reading activities
• Post-reading activities
• These activities are designed to guide the
  students to meet the purposes set in the planning
  phase.
• Designed by M.F. Graves B.B. Graves

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Instructional procedures for teaching reading
comprehension strategies

• Direct Explanation of Comprehension Strategies
• Reciprocal Teaching

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Direct Explanation of Comprehension Strategies

• The teacher
• Clearly explains strategy
• How it is to be used
• When it is to be used
• Models the strategy
• Provides opportunities for student modeling

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Reciprocal Teaching

• Teaches four comprehension strategies
• Questioning
• Summarizing
• Clarifying
• Predicting
• The strategies are directly taught and modeled.
• The strategies are designed to teach
  understanding of the purposes of reading,
  activating prior knowledge, focusing attention on
  important content, critically evaluating text,
  monitoring comprehension, and drawing testing
  inferences.

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The teachers role is to provide the students
with enough instruction and guidance as long as
necessary. That instruction and guidance will
continually change as the students develop their
own skills and strategies, which will enable them
to become independent learners and thinkers.
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Final Thoughts

• Very well written
• Provides useful insights into reading instruction
• Explained in easy to understand ways
• Background information is provided
• Constructivist elements are provided
• Scaffolding, zone of proximal development,
  Reciprocal Teaching, and the gradual release of
  responsibility model
• Definite instructions for use in the classroom
• Allows students to grow into creative thinkers
  who are able to take learning into their own
  hands.
• Each form builds on the other ones so students
  will continually use them in comprehending any
  type of material.
• Students will begin to see the connections to all
  subject areas instead of just during reading
  time.

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• Each form of scaffolding instruction requires
  students to think for themselves.
• Teachers model strategies.
• Collaboration between students is encouraged.
• Examples are given from a variety of levels of
  education
• Authors quote directly from classroom discussions
  so readers can see the form at work.
• This is a real-world article, which would allow
  me to take the knowledge gained from it and begin
  using it immediately within my own classroom.

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• Scaffolding is a highly flexible and adaptable
  model of instruction that supports students as
  they acquire basic skills and higher order
  thinking processes, allows for explicit
  instruction within authentic contexts of reading
  and writing, and enables teachers to
  differentiate instruction for students of diverse
  needs (Clark Graves, 2005, p.579).