Scaffolded Teacher Practice
Making practice the bulk of coaching meetings is a powerful strategy for helping teachers build new habits quickly. This post goes deep into the details of scaffolded practice, so I recommend that you read my early post introducing practice in coaching meetings, as well as the difference between role-play and co-planning practice.
Scaffolded practice is the concept of planning for and facilitating practice sessions that build from simple to complex, helping the teacher add one small piece at a time to learning a focused skill or strategy.
I’ve found this to be one of the most challenging areas for coaches, likely because most of us haven’t experienced coaching in this way ourselves. Once they learn the basic idea around practice, most coaches get a good start to the practice session, but if they haven’t planned well, they get stuck repeating the same thing too many times or teachers really aren’t autonomous in the new skills by the end of the coaching meeting.
Scaffolded practice should:
Move from very simple to increasingly complex
Be broken down into very small layers
Center teachers - teachers should be talking or doing the majority of the practice session
Practice each step with coach feedback until the teacher can do it perfectly
Practice for automaticity by practicing 3 - 5 additional times, even after the point of being able to do it perfectly
A framework for scaffolded practice
While coaches can build their own version of what scaffold practice looks like in their coaching meetings using the criteria above, I recommend the following process as a strong starting point to work from. I think of scaffolded practice in “layers” that build up.
Coach model: The coach briefly models and names the criteria for success for the focus strategy. See my previous post on modeling. The model should be brief and focused, no more than 30 seconds if it is a role-play scenario.
Teacher copies coach model: The most basic layer for the teacher is to just imitate the coach’s model exactly. This is particularly helpful for role-play practice. To prepare for this, the coach needs to have their models scripted out in advance, so the teacher can use it to read from.
Practice with feedback to perfection: The coach then provides one point of feedback at a time to the teacher, and asks them to implement the feedback immediately by trying the practice round again. This continues until the teacher is able to copy the coach’s model perfectly.
Practice for automaticity: After being able to do it perfectly, ask the teacher to practice 3- 5 more times in a row, ideally doing it perfectly again each time. (Provide brief feedback again if not.) This feels awkward for most people at first, but the repetition of doing something correctly is what helps rewire our brains and build this new skill into a habit and something that we don’t need to think consciously about.
Add a new layer: Introduce a new scenario in which the teacher needs to practice their new skill or strategy on their own. Typically, it works well to give the teacher 30 seconds to 1 minute to plan how they’ll respond before either role-playing or co-planning together.
Practice with feedback to perfection: With the new layer, continue practicing by providing one piece of feedback at a time until the teacher can do it perfectly.
Practice for automaticity: Just like above, practice the new layer 3 - 5 more times to build automaticity.
Repeat: Continue adding one new layer at a time, practicing to perfection, and practicing for automaticity. The layers should build in complexity and get closer to real classroom situations. This could include combining the new skill from this coaching meeting with skills from previous coaching meetings, or preparing for potential situations that could trip the teacher up when in front of students.
While I list the coach’s model as the first step in the process, repeating a model or a piece of the model throughout practice may be necessary for teachers to progress. If you see a teacher really struggling with a new scenario, pause to model again, and then let the teacher continue to practice.
Example of scaffolded practice
Let’s imagine a coaching meeting with a 5th grade teacher that focuses on active student response strategies where all students are asked to create an answer to a prompt simultaneously. Here’s how I would facilitate the scaffolded practice, with approximate timing included:
(2 min) Coach model: For using active student response strategies, I would name these criteria for success for the teacher: a) require all students to create a response, b) include a way to check students responses, c) use for key questions aligned to the objective, and d) use at least 3 times in each lesson. For my model, I would stand in front of the teacher’s classroom and in my “teacher voice” say, “Here we have 4 decimals on the slide. Take 1 minute to put the decimals in order from least to greatest on your whiteboard. Go! (after one minute) When I count to 3, please hold up your white board. 1, 2, 3! I’m seeing some great responses (scan the room), thank you, thank you. Manny, please tell us how you got your answer.” I would note to the teacher that I would count and note any students who did not get the correct answer to immediately support them. Ideally, I would have a slide prepared to show the teacher.
(1 min) Teacher copies coach model: Then I would ask the teacher to copy my model above (what’s included in the quotes) by standing at their board and role-playing through facilitating this active student response strategy.
(3 min) Practice with feedback to perfection: I would provide one piece of feedback at a time on their tone, delivery, and brevity and ask the teacher to practice the same thing again.
(1 min) Practice for automaticity: After they have nailed it, I would ask the teacher to practice the model 3 more times.
New layers: Then to support the teacher in their autonomy with the new skill, I would add the following layers, practicing each to perfection with 3-5 additional reps to build automaticity:
(2 min) Additional math prompt with whiteboards: Create a new slide for a given math problem that also uses whiteboards as an active student responses strategy and role play through the scenario
(2 min) ELA prompt with whiteboards: Create a new slide for a given ELA prompt that uses whiteboards and practice as a role play.
(3 min) Select a new active student responses strategy: From a list of 5 options, select a new active student responses strategy to try with the same math prompt from the model.
(3 min) Plan tomorrow’s lesson: Given the choice of ELA or math, plan 3 active student responses strategies for one lesson. Role play through at least one of them.
The timing provided above is approximate. Depending on how the teacher does with practice, this may need to move much slower or quicker to match their level. I’ve found it helpful to always over plan, and any additional “layers” that remain undone can be given to the teacher as a deliverable. (See my previous post on deliverables.)
Scaffolded practice requires planning. Coaches should plan not only their model, but also the additional “layers” or scenarios that teachers will engage in to practice building their automaticity with a skill.