Session3: Scaffolding Learning during Small Group Skills Instruction

Sequence of Sessions

TEACHERS & PRINCIPALS

This one-day training is designed for teachers using preschool CKLA. The training will focus on how to use scaffolding techniques to provide support to diverse learners throughout the CKLA preschool day. The training will follow an “I do, we do, you do” approach to teach participants to apply scaffolding strategies to different types of CKLA activities.

Overarching Objectives of this May 2014 Network Team Institute:

TEACHERS

  1. We discussed 3 aspects of an activity that can be changed to adapt for more or less support. What are they?
  2. In planning for adaptations, what is the first question to consider?
  3. Which is an example of a high-support read-aloud prompt?

High-Level Purpose of this Session:

TEACHERS

Session Description:

Presenters will showcase ways to offer support during Small Group Skills instruction for diverse learners. Examples of ways scaffolding techniques can be layered onto Small Group Skills activities will be demonstrated for activities in the Animals domain. With guidance from the presenter, participants will then collectively brainstorm ways in which they might scaffold one Small Group activity using a specific scaffolding technique and its dimensions. Then, participants will work independently or in small groups to adapt one Small Group activity to fit the needs of learners with diverse needs (presented as a case study).

Related Learning Experiences

Prior to the May NTI, all participant not familiar with UDL may wish to view this overview document:

For those participants who did not participate in the November/December Preschool ELA NTI session, or for those who wish to review, we recommend the following resources be reviewed prior to the May NTI event:

CKLA-Preschool General Overview document:

CKLA-Preschool Overview Webinar:

Key Points

  • This session will give participants an opportunity to scaffold (applying process from session 2) with particular students in mind, using student profiles that will be provided.

Session Outcomes

What do we want participants to be able to do as a result of this session? / How will we know that they are able to do this?
In this session principals and teachers will:
  1. Participants will gain familiarity with scaffolding one Small Group Skills activity from the Animals domain using an ‘I do, You do, We do’ protocol and three different scaffolding strategies
  2. Using the tool presented in Session 1, participants will demonstrate two adaptations of a Small Group Skills activity in response to the needs of two groups of students who need varying levels of support.
/ In this session principals and teachers will:
  1. Participants demonstrate scaffolding one Small Group Skills activity from the Animals domain
  2. Using the tool presented in Session 1, participants will demonstrate two adaptations of a Small Group Skills activity in response to the needs of two groups of students who need varying levels of support.

Session Overview

Section / Time / Overview / Prepared Resources / Facilitator Preparation
1.
Hook, Remind, and Present / 15 / HOOK: MODEL the Day 16 Warm Up Activity using beach ball and rhyming words from the activity.
REMIND: Tell participants that the purpose of Small Group Skills is to introduce new skills and concepts and to spend time working directly with students in a small group setting.
PRESENT:Tell participants that any activity throughout the day can be broken down into discrete steps. Show and explain the stair step metaphor which represents identifying the end goal (end of the stairs) of an activity or skill and then identifying the discrete “stair steps” a student needs to take to master that goal/skill. Tell participants that planning for diverse learners is especially important in Small Group Skills. Small Group time is set aside specifically to allow teachers to provide highly individualized feedback and scaffolding to students. / Beach ball, Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Days 1&16 / Read and practice facilitating Animals Day 16 Small Group 2 Warm Up Activity
2.
Prepare and Present / 15 / PREPARE: Have participants prepare for the session by reading the Warm Up activity from Small Group 2, Day 16 (Animals) while thinking about how the stair step metaphor applies to the activity.
PRESENT: Using the planning tool steps, model for participants the use of the planning tool to plan the Skills activity that they just read. The activity’s end goal is to have students provide a rhyming word when prompted. Break down the skills (“stair steps”) needed to achieve this goal and identify scaffolding strategies that can be applied to each step. / Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Days 1&16
3.
Group Practice and Quick Debrief / 15 / GROUP PRACTICE 1: Have participants read Small Group 2 activity: “Silly Animal Rhymes” which is very similar to the Warm Up that was just modeled and identify the end goal of this activity (Step 1 in planning tool). Quickly review as a whole group the end goal: to provide two rhyming words that fit into the verse structure of the song “Down by the Bay.”
GROUP PRACTICE 2: As small groups or individually, have participants identify the steps required to achieve the end goal of providing a made-up rhyming verse. Remind participants to think about both the specific activity on that day and how the skills needed for that activity are dependent on other skills.
QUICK DEBRIEF: Review the steps identified as a whole group to make sure every step is detailed. Discuss how steps can be related to the specific activity or can be broader as they relate to a skill (phonological awareness) building across the year. / Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Days 1&16 / Read Animals Day 16 Small Group 2 Silly Animal Rhymes Activity
4.
Group Practice / 10 / GROUP PRACTICE: Split participants into small groups (4-5) and assign each group a student profile. The student profiles will vary from students who need very high support to students who need low support, to students who have mastered the end goal already with most profiles being students who need various types higher support. Have the small groups identify scaffolding strategies and dimensions to apply at each step in order to help the profile student achieve the end goal. / Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Days 1&16, 4 Student Profiles / Read student profiles and list of possible scaffolds you might provide for each student to facilitate discussion
5.
Debrief and Reflect / 20 / DEBRIEF: Discuss as a whole group which scaffolding strategies and dimensions were used for different student profiles (i.e., students who are far from mastery versus for students who are close to mastery). Then, ask about students who have already mastered the skill.
Discuss: Does the end goal ever change?
Answer: The end goal only changes in order to challenge students who have attained master. The end goal might change for a specific student for that day’s 10 minute small group because a teacher is scaffolding the student to “climb a certain number of stairs” on a given day, but the ultimate goal is to get every student to attain the end goal for a given skill.)
During each share, as a whole group, decide whether each adaptation was related to 1) materials 2) child response 3) teacher feedback
REFLECT: Have participants think about how the planning tool can aid them in their existing planning. / Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Days 1&16, 4 Student Profiles / Read student profiles and list of possible scaffolds you might provide for each student to facilitate discussion

Session Roadmap

Section1: Hook, Remind, and Present / Time:15
Materials used (in slides)
Time / Slide #/ Pic of Slide / Script/ Activity directions / GROUP
10 minutes / Slide 1 /
  • Have participants stand in circles of 10 people with one facilitator.
  • Begin this session with a Warm Up activity from Small Group Skills: The facilitator acts as the teacher. The facilitator says a single syllable word like cat and passes the ball to someone else in the circle. The person with the ball says a rhyming word and passes it back to the facilitator. The facilitator says another rhyming word or changes the rhyme family.
/ Small Groups with Facilitator
NA / Slide 2
/ NA / NA
NA / Slide 3 / NA / NA
1 minute / Slide 4 /
  • During this session is participants will use the planning tool handout to
  • Identify the end goal of a particular activity/task.
  • List the steps for completing the end goal.
  • Identify ways to help students achieve mastery of each step.
  • Participants will use the 3 scaffolding strategies discussed in earlier sessions to plan ways to help students achieve mastery at each step.
/ Whole Group
2 minutes / Slide 5 / (REVIEW)
  • The purpose of Small Group Skills is to introduce new skills and provide opportunities for individualization and differentiation.
  • Maximum of ten kids with one adult.
/ Whole Group
2 minutes / Slide 6 / (REVIEW)
  • There are two small group activities per day that take about 10 minutes each.
  • Typically each small group begins with a short active warm up followed by a more in-depth activity that focuses on a particular skill or group of skills.
/ Whole Group
Section 2: Prepare and Present / Time: 15
Materials used (in slides)
Time / Slide #/ Pic of Slide / Script/ Activity directions / GROUP
2 minutes / Slide 7 /
  • The warm up rhyming activity we just did involves many levels or steps to achieve the end goal of producing a rhyming word.
  • In this session we will talk about how to differentiate instruction during Small Group Skills activities.
HANDOUT:
07_Handout_ckla_pk_d3_tg_Day16 / Whole Group
2 minutes / Slide 8 /
  • Step 1 of our planning process is to identify the activity’s end goal.
  • The end goal of this activity is for a student to produce a rhyming word.
  • This is an expressive task and requires the student to be able to think of a word that rhymes (real or nonsense) and say it out loud in front of the group.
/ Whole Group
6 minutes / Slide 9 /
  • Step 2 is to identify the steps that a student takes to the end goal.
  • In this case, there are the steps during the activity but there is also an assumed skill that is the building block of producing rhyming words: identifying rhyming words (point to blue box).
  • An activity can be more or less demanding depending on the response expected from a child. Identifying two words that rhyme (receptive) is easier than producing a rhyming word (expressive).
/ Whole Group
1 minutes / Slide 10 / (REVIEW FROM EARLIER SESSION)
  • Remember, Carol Tomlinson, an expert in instructional differentiation uses the analogy of a sound system equalizer when describing scaffolding.
  • Sometimes, only one aspect of the instruction is scaffolded. Other times several aspects of the instruction can be scaffolded.
  • Keep this image in mind while we talk about Step 3 of planning, deciding how to scaffold the steps.
/ Whole Group
2 minutes / Slide 11 /
  • The final step in planning is to think about how to support each step.
  • The first two steps in this activity are more about behavior management than the skill itself, but are essential for successful participation in the game and can be scaffolded with teacher feedback.
  • As students play this game more and more, you can remove these scaffolds because they will have learned the game and the behavior expectations.
/ Whole Group
2 minutes / Slide 12 /
  • The next steps in this activity address the expressive skill of producing a rhyming word.
  • You might need to adjust the way you give students the prompt, perhaps using additional materials, or you might change the response you expect from a child.
  • The ultimate goal of the activity, to produce a rhyming word, does not change; only the scaffolding changes.
  • As students master the end goal, you adjust each step to provide less and less support and introduce new challenges.
/ Whole Group
/ Animals Teacher Guide: Day 16
Section 3: Group Practice and Quick Debrief / Time: 15
Materials used (in slides)
Time / Slide #/ Pic of Slide / Script/ Activity directions / GROUP
5 minutes / Slide 13 /
  • Have participants read Small Group 2: Silly Animal Rhymes in their handouts.
  • As they read, have them think about the metaphor of stair steps. How can you break this activity down into stairs a student could climb?
HANDOUT:
07_Handout_ckla_pk_d3_tg_Day16
04_Handout_ckla_pk_d3_tg_Day1 / Independent
2 minutes / Slide 14 /
  • Have participants identify the end goal of the Silly Animal Rhymes Activity
  • Debrief on the end goal: There are really TWO goals:
  • “To produce two rhyming words, one an animal, as part of the verse.
  • And, to illustrate the Silly Rhyme they have created.”
HANDOUT:
08_Handout_BlankPlanningTool / IndependentWhole Group
8 minutes / Slide 15 /
  • Have participants identify the steps to achieve the end goal
  • Debrief on the steps to achieve these two goals: Should be
  • Produce an animal’s name
  • Produce a rhyming word matching the animal’s name (end goal 1)
  • Comprehend the verse created by student and recorded by teacher
  • Hold drawing utensil
  • Draw an interpretive picture of the verse (end goal 2)
  • Are there any implied steps in being able to do these tasks?
  • YES, expressive language, receptiveexpressive rhyme, drawing confidence, behavioral expectations include waiting your turn to have verse recorded by teacher
/ IndependentWhole Group
/ Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Day 16
Section 4: Group Practice / Time: 10
Materials used (in slides)
Time / Slide #/ Pic of Slide / Script/ Activity directions / GROUP
10 minutes / Slide 16 /
  • Hand out student profiles to tables and have participants work in small groups (3-5) with their student profile.
  • Read the profile aloud as a group
  • Plan supports tailored to the student.
  • Please note, you won’t adjust materials, response AND feedback at each step, but you might think of different ways to differentiate at different steps.
  • Brainstorm as many ways to provide support as possible.
  • These ideas would serve as your “tool box” when you actually conduct the activity in class; it will be a list of ways to support a student from which you can pull things on the fly based on how students are engaging in the activity.
/ Small Groups (3-5)
/ Student profiles, Blank Planning Tool, Animals Teacher Guide: Day 16
Section 5: Debrief and Reflect / Time: 20
Materials used (in slides)
Time / Slide #/ Pic of Slide / Script/ Activity directions / GROUP
2 minutes / Slide 17 /
  • One representative from each group of 4-5 share scaffolding ideas as we come across your student profile.
  • Keep in mind what is being used to provide scaffolding: materials, feedback, or adjusted expected response.
/ Whole Group Share
4 minutes / Slide 18
/
  • One representative from each group of 4-5 share scaffolding ideas for Sasha.
  • Possible suggestions:
  • Use picture cues for Sasha to help her choose two words that rhyme (materials, teacher feedback)
  • Ask Sasha if two words rhyme rather than having her come up with one (child response)
  • Play the rhyming game from Warm Ups to help Sasha remember some rhyming words (Teacher Feedback)
  • Give her a large crayon for drawing (materials)
  • Allow her to draw or paint on a vertical surface rather than horizontal
/ Whole Group Share
4 minutes / Slide 19
/
  • One representative from each group of 4-5 share scaffolding ideas for Maribell.
  • Possible suggestions:
  • Use picture cues for Maribell to help her choose two cards that depict rhyming words. (materials, child response)
  • Ask Maribell if two words rhyme rather than having her come up with one (child response)
  • Let Maribell whisper her rhyming words to you rather than say them in front of other students (child response)
  • Have Maribell draw her rhyming sentence before telling you the words that rhyme (child response)
  • Give her a large crayon for drawing (materials)
/ Whole Group Share
4 minutes / Slide 20
/
  • One representative from each group of 4-5 share scaffolding ideas for James.
  • Possible suggestions:
  • Model the activity for James by creating your own drawing with two silly rhyming words (Teacher feedback)
  • Use picture cues for James to help him choose two cards that depict rhyming words. (materials, child response)
  • Ask James if two words rhyme rather than having him come up with one (child response)
  • Have James draw his rhyming sentence before telling you the words that rhyme (child response)
/ Whole Group Share
4 minutes / Slide 21
/
  • One representative from each group of 4-5 share scaffolding ideas for Ian.
  • Possible suggestions:
  • Ask Ian to write his silly rhyming words using invented spelling.
  • Have Ian sing his version of Down by the Bay
  • Have Ian make multiple drawings/silly rhyming verses to create a songbook
  • Encourage Ian to create feminine rhymes (e.g., monkey, skunky)
/ Whole Group Share
2 minutes / Slide 22
/
  • The planning tool is flexible:
  • Reiterate that the planning tool can be used at the school level, classroom level, student level.
  • It can also apply to a skill developing over time (attendance) OR a simple 10 minute activity.
  • It is a methodical way of thinking about and planning an activity for diverse learnings
  • Have participants reflect on the planning tool and how it can help them plan for skills activities in their own schools and classrooms.
/ Whole Group Share
Independent Reflection

Use the following icons in the script to indicate different learning modes.