Thrive in Action Blog Series: Rigorous Thinking, GPS 7 - Provide Support
The Thrive In Action blog series highlights practical applications for Great Pedagogy Strategies (GPS) within the EdConnective Thrive Framework, summarized here. The EdConnective Thrive Framework is unique in that it can be applied to teaching actions seamlessly whether learning is in-person or remote. This week we get more familiar with:
Rigorous Thinking, GPS 7 - Provide Support: Responds to communication from students (body language, verbal comments, and assessments) that they are not mastering the content and intentionally creates time and space to follow-up with the student in a focused way.
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During this time of uncertainty, students are feeling the effects as well, which means they may need additional support in the classroom. Providing support to students encompasses responding to communication from students and intentionally creating time and space to follow-up and support them in a focused way. As educators, we may ask students to inform us when they need help or ask clarifying questions in class, but we also know that some students are not comfortable with asking for help. In addition to verbal expression, consider looking at students’ body language, checks for understanding, formative assessments, and summative assessments to determine who may need support.
Traditional classroom
In a traditional classroom setting, providing support is vital to students’ success. While support can be as simple as creating small groups with your students, it can also include your teaching style. Differentiation and scaffolding are key ways to provide support while teaching. While you are executing your gradual release of “I do, we do, and you do,” do a quick check for understanding to understand who may need additional scaffolding. Scaffolding can be utilized as modeling, think alouds, or hooks. Additionally, differentiation ensures that all needs are being met in the classroom. Consider utilizing sentence stems or graphic organizers to scaffold and differentiate the material for students who may need additional support. Lastly, plan with your learners in mind through their learning modalities--kinesthetic (moving), visual (seeing), tactile (touching), and auditory (listening). Some examples for each modality include scavenger hunts or dances for kinesthetic learners; videos and graphic organizers for visual learners; manipulatives and scavenger hunts for tactile learners; and your voice and read alouds for auditory learners.
Remote classroom
During the pandemic, districts across the country have been navigating teaching and learning remotely. Just as you can provide support to students in a traditional classroom setting, it is possible to also do the same in a remote classroom. All of the aforementioned strategies under the traditional classroom heading can be utilized in a remote classroom. Also, if you remember when you earned your degree(s), your professor offered office hours. For your students, schedule regular virtual office hours where you’ll be available on video conferencing to answer student questions, chat about life, or provide additional support. For your students who you see need additional support, reach out to them to schedule one-on-one or small group tutoring sessions. Additionally, choice boards can be used to provide support. Support is not just for our students who need some assistance; it is also for our students who need extension. Creating a choice board with fun, engaging review material and/or extension material will help you to utilize technology and also assist your students simultaneously.
Here are some additional resources to consider when providing support for your students:
Helping Students Cope with Change and Disruption (Thibodeau and Rappaport 2020)
How to Provide Help, Harvard GSE (Shafer 2018)
Why We Need Differentiation Now More than Ever (Westman 2020)
Sound off: What are some of your favorite strategies in building and/or remote that you use to provide support for your students?
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Download a summary of the EdConnective Thrive Framework here. EdConnective provides 1:1, personalized non-evaluative coaching to teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators, as well as small group coaching and large group training.