Scaffolding To Help Students Learn. will

Many of us are dealing with students who are well behind due to lockdowns, quarantines, and COVID cases. The group of students I have now, have not had math in over a year so I'm working on incorporating a lot of  scaffolding to fill in gaps in their foundational knowledge without having to begin at the beginning.  

Scaffolding is a way of providing support to help students bridge gaps and learn better.  In a sense, it is filling in the areas where students are weak so they are better able to do mathematics.  Scaffolding is not just for students who are behind, it is for all students who have any gaps in their knowledge.

There are two types of scaffolding one may use:  hard or soft.  Hard scaffolding refers to using techniques and activities that directly impact student learning and require advanced planning such as games, or the way a lesson is taught.  For instance, I am getting ready to have students review adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.  For my students to do this, I have to teach them about prime factorization and least common denominator.  To take it further, I'm reviewing what a prime number is, how prime factorization works and at least two ways to find the least common denominator including one using their multiplication tables. The other type of scaffolding is the soft scaffolding which is a more indirect method which might use targeted questions.

As far as questioning goes, remember Bloom's Taxonomy when you create questions.  Questions are either remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, or creating.  When you ask a question, the way it is asked will be determined by your end goal which is to help students develop a deeper understanding of the topic.  Furthermore, the use of questioning as a scaffolding tool can actually help students learn faster, not slower as you might think.

Another way to scaffold is to provide two or three simpler problems before assigning the more complex problem of the same type.  For example, if the complex problem asks students to go from one number to another in a specific number of steps by multiplying by one number or subtracting another number,  students might struggle. However, if you have students do two easier versions such as going from the starting number in the complex problem to the next counting number in a smaller number of steps either multiplying or subtracting by the same numbers in the original problem. Then provide another simpler problem starting at the same number but has a larger jump with a couple more steps before assigning the original complex problem. 

So Friday, I'll look at a variety of scaffolding techniques we can easily use in the classroom so students gain in understanding and ability.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a good day.

Finally Figuring Out How To Scaffold Properly.

 Up until recently, our school district has not had any decent software with adaptive capabilities.  I've been trying to figure out where the holes in their learning is which has made it really really hard to differentiate or scaffold learning.

Our benchmarking program only gives general lists of what students need so I've had to go looking for something that is free that will test students, give me more detailed information.

So far, I've found two programs which will provide me with the detailed information I need for one class.  I had students take a pretest for measurement and data in that class and I was surprised at the results.  Two out of ten students performed at a fifth grade level, while most were down at either a first or second grade level.  These are ninth grade students!

The program sent me individual results for each student down to the point of telling me exactly which standard they began at after the assessment.  I can use this information to create packets for each child.  When I say packets, it might include a video, a game, or a website along with some worksheets.  This way for half the period, students can work on closing the holes in their foundational knowledge while the other half of the period, we will have a regular lesson with direct instruction for topics I need to cover.

In addition, the program also has some adaptive lessons so students take a pretest and they can work through the program at their level.  The unfortunate thing is since its their free version, I cannot assign as many lessons as I'd like to so I'm waiting to see if that is a per day limit or a per topic limit.  In the meantime, I signed up for another free program which appears to allow me to assign more lessons using the adaptive features.

I figure that between the two programs I'll get the necessary information I need so I can have them work on the computer to close knowledge gaps and also provide other activities both digital and hard copy so they get the scaffolding they need.

Its been very hard to get the data I've needed because my district has been quite slow at providing the type of software I've needed to provide the detailed information.  They bought something several years ago but never got it installed so it was worthless.  Eventually, they purchased MAP but they didn't buy the extra features so I couldn't get the indepth analysis for each student.  Instead, I got a kind of generic listing but none of it told me much.

I'll keep you posted on how this works out.  By later today, I should find out if they are cancelling the in-service scheduled for Friday.  If it is, I'll let you know what I'm going to plan to cover class so I don't have to teach much and so students will get to practice the current topic. 

Have a great day.

Thoughts on trying to teach two classes in one period

Due to reasons beyond my control, I have to teach both pre-algebra and algebra together in one period.  They assigned me two TA's but I usually only have one in the room at any time.  I am finding that having the ipads is a help because I can put the pre-algebra class on it to practice solving one step equations using i-spy x while I instruct the algebra class or I can have the algebra class use lion graph to practice finding equations of a line while I work with the pre-algebra.  This makes it so much easier for me and this way I am able to meet the needs of both classes. 
The other advantage with ipads is on a day where the class period ends up significantly shortened or I need to incorporate scaffolding, I can individually assign apps to the students to work on their weak area.  I know that I need to have many of my students work on strengthening their ability to work with fractions and I use the app with the video instruction and practice to help them. 
I just read something that talked about collaboration using an ipad and how to assign various jobs using various apps.  For a group of students one has the camera to record the work, another uses a word document app, the third creates a graphic organizer and the fourth is responsible for posting the work.  I like this as I've been wondering how to do collaboration and wasn't sure how to assign the tasks. This is a great start and something I can work use in class with a slight adjustment.

Hup Algebra app

I found this line of apps by HUP.  The one I am looking at is HUP algebra.  It is a nice app which could be used to help flip the class and have students use the app at home.  It has several sections starting with "What is algebra?".  Then it has sections on solving single step equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.  Each has a pictorial example using tiles, a written example and you can try problems.  There is a section on solving multi-step equations and on solving equations with the distributive property.  All sections have practice problems.  I like this app as I can use it to flip the class or I can use it to scaffold some of my students who need additional help or practice. It is free at iTunes.  I just got a Nook and I am starting to find neat apps there so I will review some of those.