What Is Guided Practice in Scaffolding?

Scaffolding is a teaching technique.

Guided practice is an integral part of the scaffolding teaching technique, whose theory is to teach students what is expected of them, and to get them to the point where they can perform the educational task on their own.

What is Scaffolding

Scaffolding is a teaching technique. In scaffolding, the teacher has a clear objective or purpose of what she is trying to teach her students. She assists the students in practicing the skills, and learning the techniques. Gradually, she teaches students to work on the task on their own. It's like a mother bird teaching her baby to fly. She actually accompanies the bird at first, then gradually lets him practice on his own, until one day he takes off without any assistance.

What is Guided Practice?

There are five steps in the scaffolding teaching technique. Guided practice is the third step. If a teacher wants to teach a student how to diagram a sentence, she will actually show a student how it is done on an overhead or white board. She may even use presentations, worksheets and group exercises. The teacher provides assistance with the task, showing a student how to perform each part of the task. The student is never alone during the guided practice portion of the scaffolding teaching technique.

Tips for Effective Guided Practice

Research conducted by the University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency shows that in order for Guided Practice to be effective, the teacher needs to provide immediate guidance with a learning task. She should model how the task is to be completed, then help each student through the steps. She provides positive feedback when correcting a student, and demonstrates the correct way to complete the task, problem or assignment.

References

• Scaffolding and Sequencing
• Itinerant Connection
• Meadows Center