Adventures in Scaffolds & Supports
Are you familiar with the “opt out” in your classroom? You know, when you ask a question and no one volunteers so you choose someone to call on and get, “I dunno” as the response. Again, and again. That used to be my reality. As I write this, I’m getting ready to start my 4th week of school. And if there is one thing my students have already learned, it’s that we don’t have an “opt out” option in my room.
It’s not that I expect students to know everything or get everything right… or even close to right. But we have a culture of trying and putting forth effort. And I don’t believe in showing up to the table empty handed. I expect my students to show up with effort and participation and they expect me to show up with scaffolds and supports to aid their efforts… until they no longer need them.
Scaffolds and supports in my room look like lots of different things. They look like themed vocabulary lists given to students for each unit. They look like writing out PQA questions and leaving space for student to take notes. They look like word walls. They look like reading a book on your reading level. They look like gestures. But my favorite… and possibly their favorite as well… are password posters.
Each week my students are required to receive a “do now” grade that is one of the items in their 20% process category in the grade book. They “do now” has to take place within the first five minutes of class, and it cannot be made up if a students misses it (school policy). So I grade my password question as my “do now” grade. Per our policy, student earn a 100% if they do it and a 30% if they don’t. So I give students all week to answer the question in a complete, Spanish sentence with a logical answer and they earn a 100%.
I made my students a promise about 5 years ago when I started doing passwords – I would give them EVERYTHING they need to be successful in answering that question. So on Mondays they write it down, we review it as a class, we take volunteers to answer as examples…. and I make them a sign with the question in Spanish / English, a sentence stem option in Spanish / English, and several possible answer options in Spanish with a picture for support. This removes the opt out. They have everything they need to be successful right in front of them.
Over the years, many have asked if I would create digitally printable signs like my handmade ones I use for this scaffold… so I finally did! These are currently only available for purchase through my website here. There are 55 signs in the set, and more will be added as I create and use new Passwords. They’re printable up to 24″ x 36″ – but they can also be scaled down if you don’t have a poster printer.
