The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy January 30, 2010 Are You Scaffolding or Rescuing?


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The Big Fresh from Choice Literacy
January 30, 2010
Are You Scaffolding or Rescuing?

Red Badges

The consultant was brought in to turn around the software development company. By the end of the first day, he knew the task was nearly hopeless. The problem wasn't talent or hard work - the issue was organization. There were teams and hierarchies, flowcharts and calendars, but products weren't getting out the door on time. Projects came in weeks, even months over deadline, and every attempt to fix the delivery problem had failed. It was going to be a monumental task to keep the company from falling into bankruptcy within a year.

First the consultant met with management to prioritize projects, with sane but ambitious new schedules set. Then badges were distributed - a small blue badge and an oversized red badge to each employee. The instructions were simple - if the project you were working on had at least two weeks until the shipping date, you wore your blue badge that day. If you were within two weeks of your project team's deadline, you wore your red badge.

The new cardinal rule at the company was that anyone who was wearing a red badge moved to the head of the line for prototypes, meeting discussions, and any other work task. If you were wearing a blue badge and came across a colleague wearing a red badge, you were required to stop, ask how you could help, and then drop whatever you were doing to assist. This meant the president of the company might find herself running photocopies for an engineer fresh out of college. It was months before the company was fiscally and structurally healthy again, but it did survive. The red badges blew away all the noise of competing priorities and pecking orders to remind employees of what mattered most - getting quality products out the door on time.

We moved to a new town between my daughter's kindergarten and first grade years. I was worried the first day I brought her to school - it was a tiny public K-8 building, with one class of students at each grade level. Virtually everyone in her class had attended preschool and kindergarten together - a close-knit community, and we were outsiders.

Within a week I realized it was almost like she was wearing an invisible large red badge. Every day when I dropped her off or picked her up from school, a different teacher or staff member would come up to me with a warm welcome, and note something my daughter had said or done that day. I was amazed that the eighth grade teacher was so aware of a new kid in first grade, and the art teacher knew instantly that drawing was Dee's passion.

After a couple weeks, the principal called to check in, and mentioned he'd sat with Dee at lunch that day. Nice touch, I thought, assuming "sitting with" meant walking by and saying hello. There was a long pause, and then he said, "Boy, that girl sure can talk. And she really doesn't like green beans." He rattled off more details from their conversation, and I realized he was definitely getting to know my daughter.

Some days it feels like everything has been marked as a priority by someone who has authority over you. A "red badge" mentality in schools puts some people first in the queue - the specific students or colleagues who aren't in crisis, but are likely to need a little more help right now. Maybe we need red badges for the new teachers and staff members the first week of school - a concrete reminder that no matter how busy us vets are, it's our job to pause, ask how we can help, and provide whatever is needed at that moment to help those newbies become a part of our community.

Even if that new kid who just transferred into 3rd grade this week isn't wearing a physical red badge, I wonder what it would take to create a school environment where no matter how busy and stressed everyone is, we know it's our school's top priority for everyone to greet and get to know that child, at least a bit. Consultants are hired to rescue software companies and schools not because there isn't talent, heart, or drive for success in those places. It's often because there isn't a red badge mindset for providing that just-in-time assistance when needed.

We've posted a lot of resources this week on the difference between scaffolding, rescuing, and the power of the gradual release model for teaching and learning. I hope they help you sort through the red and blue badge needs around you. When scaffolds are in place, rescues are rarely needed. There are so many kids and colleagues crying out for your attention. But one needs you most right now. Who is it?

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy

Free for All

We talk about "scaffolding" learning, but what does that really mean? Terry Thompson has a practical and helpful take on the difference between scaffolding and rescuing, as well as a quick self-test that might help you slow down and rethink your teaching style. "Are You Scaffolding or Rescuing?" is a terrific article for discussion in a study group or grade-level team meeting:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1073.cfm

Karren Colbert at the Writing Teacher Blog writes about how gradual release can sometimes feel like spoonfeeding students. That's exactly what is needed sometimes, but it goes against the grain of how we see ourselves as teachers:

http://www.thewritingteacher.org/writing-blog-home/tag/education

Many of the best lessons about scaffolding and rescuing come from our experiences as parents (or favorite aunts and uncles). In "Running Club," children's librarian Andrienne Furness shares a lovely story about the risk she feels in turning a small task over to her son, and how taking the risk helps her see him with new eyes. This is a terrific reading to launch a conversation about how adults and children interact, and why it is sometimes so hard to watch students struggle as they try to learn new skills:

http://www.watat.com/archives/2010/01/running_club.html

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"Why don't these sixth graders know how to summarize? They've been taught summary skills since first grade!" If you've ever asked yourself some variation of this question, you'll enjoy the latest features in Heather Rader's popular "On the Same Page" series. In Wii Summary, Heather considers why complex skills like summarizing must be revisited, retaught, and practiced often:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1075.cfm

A Summary is a Sponge provides an in-class example of how a coach and teacher can partner with demonstration lessons, observations and reflections to build summarizing skills:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1074.cfm

This week's video is a two-part sequence to show scaffolding and gradual release in action. Franki Sibberson has a "next-book stack" conference with Hailey to help her reflect on her reading interests and skills, and then sets up an impromptu peer group with girls who have read some of the books and authors Hailey enjoys:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/767.cfm

Our latest cluster is on Teaching Revision Strategies, with contributions from Aimee Buckner, Clare Landrigan, Tammy Mulligan, Heather Rader, and Karen Terlecky:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/1077.cfm

That's all for this week!