THE SKILL OF SCAFFOLDING

How are you at scaffolding? I scaffold, you scaffold, we all scaffold. Well, not all of us— only those who have learned the intricacies of this skill. So you ask, “And what pray tell is this skill?” You can somewhat guess what it is by examining how the term is currently being used. Today the skill of scaffolding is being used today to refer to a range of things— there is scaffold learning, scaffold teaching, scaffold training, and scaffold personal development. There are now numerous books on it as well as websites. It is especially a big thing in educational circles, especially in schools with elementary level children. I recently read several books on scaffolding, one that focused on preschool age children and those in grades K through third grade, Awakening Childrens’ Minds.