Scaffolding is an analogy borrowed from construction. It is a temporary structure on the outside of a building made of wooden planks and metal poles that is used by builders to repair or complete a building. Educational scaffolding is an instructional method used to help students learn by giving them tailor-made support when learning new tasks and information. Modeling often goes hand-in-hand with instructional scaffolding. Modeling is simply exhibiting a behavior or task before having students attempt the same behavior or task on their own.
Teachers model in many ways in different subject areas. For example, modeling in reading is different than modeling in math. Often teachers break down their lessons into three parts with scaffolding built into the structure of the lesson. The first part of the lesson is teacher modeled and is called the "I do." The second part of the lesson is teacher supported but student centered and is called the "We do." The final part of the lesson is completed independently by the student and called the "You do." This lesson structure provides both scaffolding and modeling for students.
In the "I Do" portion of a lesson, teachers model what they want their students to do. For example, if students are required to complete a graphic organizer, such as a chart or graph that helps them to analyze theme in a story, the teacher would place the graphic organizer on the screen, read a portion of the story out loud and fill out the graphic organizer before students attempt to do so. If a teacher were teaching a lesson on theme, he or she would pull out examples from the text that exemplify theme and fill out a graphic organizer and explain his or her thinking process to model how to analyze theme.
During the "We Do" portion of the class, teachers allow students to volunteer to read and fill out portions of the graphic organizer while they monitor student understanding and clarify any areas of confusion. The teacher continues to support students during the "we do" portion of a lesson and models and scaffolds students at this stage. In the lesson on theme, the teacher would have student volunteers find passages of text that exemplify theme and add their examples to the graphic organizer on the board or screen. In this portion of the lesson, the teacher is still supporting and providing scaffolding for the students before releasing them to full independence.
After a teacher has provided adequate scaffolding and modeling, then they release their students to complete work independently. In the theme lesson, the teacher would have the students complete reading the text and filling out the graphic organizer on their own. According to the book "Scaffolding," modeling and scaffolding are designed to be temporary. However, if further scaffolding is required for certain students, teachers can add additional scaffolding by giving students pre-populated graphic organizers and responses as necessary.
Research has shown that modeling and scaffolding are beneficial in student learning. Students who have academic tasks modeled before attempting assignments on their own are often more successful. As the book Scaffolding explains, it "clarifies purpose, expectations and reduces uncertainty." For example, in the lesson on theme, teacher modeling provided scaffolding by making teacher expectations and the purpose of the lesson clearer for students.