Why Scaffold Assignments?

(Adapted from the resources of Sweetland Center for Writing, University of Michigan)

The secret to effective writing instruction that integrates with your course content is to move from simple tasks to more complex tasks. Think in stages of skill development, as coaches do when training athletes. For instance, in baseball, players build their skills through batting practice, fielding practice, strength training, agility training, sliding, etc. In general, no one executes a home run before they learn to swing, or build their strength, or learn base-running strategies. It’s the same with writing. So, to integrate writing instruction effectively, you’ll want to do two things:

1. Sequence the assignments in your course strategically by creating a series of assignments that build on each other over time, each adding to—and even to some extent repeating—skills and knowledge gained in the ones before, and
2. Scaffold the tasks within your assignments by breaking assignments or units into manageable tasks that add up to a whole.

More on effective assignment sequencing for scaffolding learning here.