Scaffolding in the Classroom

Scaffolding. What an odd term for an educational concept. When I think of scaffolding I first think of support structures that are set up alongside a tall building that allow workers to do their job safely when high in the air. In education, that definition is not far from the truth of scaffolding in the classroom. Scaffolding, or giving students support as they learn something new, is essential for students to be able to internalize what they are learning.

In today's lesson, the scaffolding tools of showing and hiding text in a document and hidden slides in a presentation were very helpful as they gave me an opportunity to use a template to fill in the necessary information. This was very important because I had not yet internalized what kinds of information I would need to write about in a business letter or an action plan presentation. With the tools of the templates available, I was able to see exactly what I needed to provide. In the future, those tools could be removed and I would be able to remember how to create business letters and action plan presentations.

Technology helped me modify the files so that I could save them as my own template and adjust them according to my own needs. For example, in the presentation, I was able to delete the hidden slides once I felt I no longer needed them anymore.