278. Scaffolding That Sticks: 4 Steps to Support Student Learning

If you’ve ever wrapped up what felt like a perfectly modeled lesson only to see blank stares when your students try it on their own, you’re not alone. You know the moment: you’ve explained, demonstrated, and thought aloud, but when it’s their turn, they freeze. The problem often isn’t the modeling itself—it’s that students need more support between watching and doing. That’s where effective scaffolding comes in. In this episode, I break down the four key steps of scaffolding—modeling, approximating, fading away, and independent learning—and share why each one matters. Yo...