Teachable Moments!

Coaching children to learn about learning is an important aspect of the scaffolding process. When you coach children to build upon familiar experiences, or offer the next step after long periods of open exploration, the scaffolding process is most successful. When you see children involved in activities where they might benefit from mastering a skill, this is a teachable moment. You must believe they are capable and deserve more support or it won't occur to you to offer something more. And with each coaching session or demonstration, children need ample opportunity for practice to make this a part of their own repertoire for learning.

Today I noticed Sam R and Teddy F working together building with wooden Kapla blocks. I said to the boys, "I noticed you are placing the blocks in a certain way...Can you tell me more about how you are building your structure?" Sam said,"I put one down,one across,then one down and one across." I said, "How did you learn how to build that way?" Sam told me, "Last week Sauci came to Lunch Bunch and show me how to do this."

A few weeks ago Sauci worked the Lunch Bunch shift and apparently had the opportunity to coach the children and teach them building strategies, while using the Kapla blocks. Sauci thank you for taking advantage of that teachable moment!