Scaffolding

 Scaffolding - Helping Struggling Readers Love Reading! 

Rafe dramatically speeds up the reading ability of his (mostly ESL) students by scaffolding his isntruction so that they can access their materials, feel confident, and ensure that they are meeting the learning outcomes he has determined for the class.

“I used a two-pronged strategy here.  First, by constantly explaining material, I am able to keep struggling students up to speed.  I prepare in advance particularly simple passages for students who are beginning readers.  I create their success before the lesson even begins.  They gain confidence on a daily basis because they read in front of their peers, are never laughed at when they struggle, and find themselves improving faster than they ever had in the past.  When I assign written work, I am there to help such students answer questions and improve their writing skills.” (p. 39)

Rafe helps learners and provides them support that is "tailored to that learner's needs in achieving his or her goals of the moment...the best scaffolding provides this help in a way that contributes to learning...[by providing] prompts and hints that help learners to figure it out on their own" (Sawyer, p. 9).

Here's Rafe teaching one of his students how to read by reading and explaining text with him:

Hear straight from Rafe Esquith what he teaches his students in class!

Source:

Esquith, R. (2007). Reading for Life. In Teach like your hair's on fire: The methods and madness inside room 56 (p. 39). New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Sawyer, R K. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. , 2014. Internet resource.