Scaffolding for Student Success - Rachel Prondzinski

Teacher

Rachel Prondzinski has been a first grade teacher at Valley View Elementary for 14 years. She scaffolds learning experiences for her students to ensure all students reach their learning targets.

Instructional Strategy

Most teachers spend the beginning of the school year helping students learn the routines of the classroom, and Rachel’s class is no different. Her first graders receive scaffolded instruction, meaning she provides supports to help students learn a skill and then gradually removes the supports so they can perform the skill independently.

During the 2017-18 school year, Rachel worked with her first grade teacher teammate to create choice menus for her students. Choice menus (click here for examples) allow students to choose the order in which they complete tasks chosen by the teacher. Menus might include activities such as independent reading, using apps on the iPad, completing paper/pencil activities, or working with the teacher.

This year, Rachel developed a system of scaffolds to help students gain familiarity with the expectations and different types of tasks on the choice menus. Instructional supports include whole-group instruction about how to use a choice menu, starting the year with shortened menus that have easy to accomplish tasks to help students gain confidence in the process, and continually checking in with students to make sure they’re on track. Once students are able to use choice menus independently, she plans to use menu time to provide targeted small-group instruction.

One support Rachel doesn’t plan to remove is easy access to instructions, which she provides by using QR codes to quickly link students to videos she created in the Seesaw app. The videos give instructions and provide examples of what student work might look like as they progress through the task. Students can pause or rewatch the videos, and Rachel is available to answer her students’ questions.

Through scaffolding, Rachel is cultivating an environment where students are confident in their skills and feel a sense of ownership of their learning.

See What It Looks Like

Hear from Rachel about her use of choice menus and see the students in action: