I was at the Cosecha Dual Language Conference last week and had the opportunity to present both my 7 Sides of Dual Language Instruction™ and the tools to build high academic achievement by understanding the bilingual literacy trajectory.  During those presentations, one of the many things that  repeatedly resonated with many of our colleagues was the need to balance between the use of scaffolds and their removal.

I can’t tell you how many classrooms I have entered where students all received the same scaffolds and supports.  At a particular middle school I supported, every student in the grade level, regardless of English proficiency level or content proficiency, was working on the same essay, using the same graphic organizer with the same sentence frames embedded within them, and the same word bank at the top right hand corner of the page.  When I asked the principal about the graphic organizer, her response was, “Most of our students are emergent bilingual and we want to make sure that we are supporting them.”

She is not wrong… well not entirely  We want to support our emergent bilinguals.  We want to provide them with scaffolds and supports that help provide them access to grade level content and standards.  I am so glad that her teachers were ensuring that all the students had exposure to grade level standards.  They considered themselves “warm demanders” – a phrase that refers to the balance between holding high expectations while fostering relationships that encourage students to take risks in the pursuit of learning.  

However, by giving every student the same scaffolds, the students were not being held to high expectations.  There were many students in the classroom that did not need that word bank.  Others not only did not need the word bank, but also did not need the sentence stems.  And yet others did not need the graphic organizers.

Scaffolds are meant to provide the bridge between what students are currently able to do and access to reaching grade level expectations.  The farther the distance between those two points, the longer the bridge (or greater the scaffold).  The shorter the distance between those two points, the shorter the bridge (or less the scaffold will be). Grade level expectations for any student means that the student will learn the standards, and learning does not happen without productive struggle.  Hence, scaffolds are not meant to keep students from struggling; they are meant to keep students from frustration.  We want students to engage in productive struggle.  We want them to earn their grades, to be proud of their accomplishments, and to learn grade level standards,

Unfortunately, scaffolds are often used to ensure that students do not have to struggle. But struggle is not a bad thing.  Why do we engage with crosswords, Sodukus, and jigsaw puzzles?  Why do children engage with 10 piece puzzles and adults with 150 piece, 500 piece, and 1000 piece puzzles, graduating from one to another?   Because productive struggle is fun.  We like to set goals and then struggle to reach them because then, our accomplishments become a source of pride.  However, if you give the child who should be engaged with a 10 piece puzzle the 1000 piece puzzle, the fun is gone.  The struggle is too great and frustration sets in.

That is why in the 7 Sides of Dual Language Instruction™, both scaffolds and supports & struggle (productive) are highlighted.  We have to keep in mind each child’s strengths and weaknesses, provide the support that they need, and keep upping the ante as their strengths increase.  It is the only way any child will learn. Going back to the middle school story, once we started differentiating the scaffolds, we began to see results. So let’s make sure that we are appropriately supporting our students, and we will see results.

If you would like my support for working with your multilingual students, please reach out to me at 786-390-2100 or at arm977@mail.harvard.edu.