Busy work vs scaffolding in MS

[Anonymous]

Our eighth grader gets assigned A LOT of things that the school describes as “scaffolding”. As an example, after slides are presented in the classroom, they go home and look at the slides on their own, fill in “guided notes” (like a worksheet to teach them how to take notes), then are asked to copy those notes over again in their own words (on blank paper), then asked to take 12 terms (assigned, not determined by the student) to make flashcards, etc. After doing this for each class they’d eventually have a test.

I appreciate what they’re trying to do, but at what point does it all become busy work? In our case our DC got an A on every test but didn’t complete each individual task along the way, and so can only end up with a B or lower in the class. Yet a kid who completes each of the tasks and gets a B on the test - which is pretty easy to do since anything below a B can be retaken until a B is achieved - can still get an A in the class (because the test isn’t worth as much as all the individual scaffolding assignments).

Does this make sense? Is this common? It seems like it rewards kids for doing the scaffolding tasks even if they don’t end up learning the material, and punishes those who are bright enough they don’t need this much scaffolding.

[Anonymous]

That makes perfect sense to me. Learning how to study is a much higher priority in middle school than the content, or at least it should be, so a kid who didn’t do the work that is designed to teach study skills should have that lack of skill development reflected in the grade and the parent should feel grateful that someone is thinking of the child’s best interest and teaching critical lessons before grades count

[Anonymous]

You are focused only on the academic aspect of the scaffolding. Learning how to take notes, and study from them is a skill that is going to help them in college. Your child may not need to apply this skill to the current material, but they will need it someday. They're also teaching them about directions and the importance of following them.

They're using the academic material to teach the other skills. If your kid knows how to take notes, study, and follows directions then they probably don't need the scaffolding.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Is it fair to expect that this level of heavy scaffolding will be dropped by high school? Kid hates it, and I can see why.

[Anonymous]

I would hate it. I just remembered stuff! I didn’t need all that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Is it fair to expect that this level of heavy scaffolding will be dropped by high school? Kid hates it, and I can see why.

If your kid hated math would you advocate for them to be able to drop it? Your kid hates it because right now he has a good enough memory to get by without using the strategies they teach. But HS will be significantly harder and grades will count. And yes the scaffolding will go away, because they will assume he learned the skills.

[Anonymous]

There are so many stories of the kids who were smart enough to make A’s without needing to actually learn how to study who slam into late high school or college work and start failing because they finally get challenging enough material that they do need to study, and suddenly realize they don’t really know what to do.

[Anonymous]

I have a 7th grader in private MS amd the scaffolding is not like that. Yes they need to be taught skills and guided through studying, because smart kids eventually hit their cliff and need to know how to study, but what you are describing is too much hand holding for the age.

The kind of scaffolding required for my 7th grader is:
Freehand notes on each chapter of a novel, checked for homework credit.
Making a study guide and turning it in for credit.
Filling out a worksheet packet based on the assigned reading.
Turning in an outline of a paper and getting feedback before starting to write.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader in private MS amd the scaffolding is not like that. Yes they need to be taught skills and guided through studying, because smart kids eventually hit their cliff and need to know how to study, but what you are describing is too much hand holding for the age.

The kind of scaffolding required for my 7th grader is:
Freehand notes on each chapter of a novel, checked for homework credit.
Making a study guide and turning it in for credit.
Filling out a worksheet packet based on the assigned reading.
Turning in an outline of a paper and getting feedback before starting to write.

Thanks for this.

It’s not that I think my kid doesn’t need to learn study skills, it’s that it feels like overkill and is destroying their enthusiasm for school.

I’m guessing some schools do more of this and others less? Do more “traditional” schools do more? I’ve heard of kids leaving more progressive schools because they need more structure, is this the type of structure / hand holding people are referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader in private MS amd the scaffolding is not like that. Yes they need to be taught skills and guided through studying, because smart kids eventually hit their cliff and need to know how to study, but what you are describing is too much hand holding for the age.

The kind of scaffolding required for my 7th grader is:
Freehand notes on each chapter of a novel, checked for homework credit.
Making a study guide and turning it in for credit.
Filling out a worksheet packet based on the assigned reading.
Turning in an outline of a paper and getting feedback before starting to write.

Thanks for this.

It’s not that I think my kid doesn’t need to learn study skills, it’s that it feels like overkill and is destroying their enthusiasm for school.

I’m guessing some schools do more of this and others less? Do more “traditional” schools do more? I’ve heard of kids leaving more progressive schools because they need more structure, is this the type of structure / hand holding people are referring to?

The tasks you're describing are not by themselves traditional education. I think it's just that the level of the work is not a good match for your kid (many kids, IMO).

It might be useful to know if most of the students find this boring, or if they're still getting Bs despite this scaffolding. The school is not going to want to excuse your kid from work the rest of them are doing. But it's worth bringing up with the teacher that this is making your kid disengage, and can they rethink it or perhaps change the grading policy so it's more optional.

[Anonymous]

I would ask whether this is happening in all classes or if it’s just one. People love to talk about scaffolding and study skills. I think it’s great for many kids, but for others, it’s a real waste of time that will cause them to be disengaged. In our generation, none of us were expressly taught these skills. I think it would have benefited some, but I would have been so annoyed to be micromanaged in how I studied.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate what they’re trying to do, but at what point does it all become busy work?

I feel like practice for every new skill becomes busy work pretty quickly after the student has learned it. But the teacher is teaching to a class of kids who learn at a different pace. So just because your kid caught on and is doing really well, doesn’t mean the matter has been sufficiently taught to the whole class. What you describe is the difficulty with group education for those who are quick to learn and catch on to new skills. All in all it’s better to be in your kid’s position than to be a kid who takes awhile or learn new things - or never learns them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Is it fair to expect that this level of heavy scaffolding will be dropped by high school? Kid hates it, and I can see why.

Yes. Usually when a school emphasizes this in MS, it's because they will expect students to know how to do them without any prompting in HS. If your kid doesn't learn how to do it in MS and then has to figure out in HS, the HS teachers won't have patience with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our eighth grader gets assigned A LOT of things that the school describes as “scaffolding”. As an example, after slides are presented in the classroom, they go home and look at the slides on their own, fill in “guided notes” (like a worksheet to teach them how to take notes), then are asked to copy those notes over again in their own words (on blank paper), then asked to take 12 terms (assigned, not determined by the student) to make flashcards, etc. After doing this for each class they’d eventually have a test.

I appreciate what they’re trying to do, but at what point does it all become busy work? In our case our DC got an A on every test but didn’t complete each individual task along the way, and so can only end up with a B or lower in the class. Yet a kid who completes each of the tasks and gets a B on the test - which is pretty easy to do since anything below a B can be retaken until a B is achieved - can still get an A in the class (because the test isn’t worth as much as all the individual scaffolding assignments).

Does this make sense? Is this common? It seems like it rewards kids for doing the scaffolding tasks even if they don’t end up learning the material, and punishes those who are bright enough they don’t need this much scaffolding.

One way to handle this is for your kid to figure out how to make the scaffolding work for them. Can they learn how to minimally copy the notes again when they have to use their own words -- like turn the notes into bullet points or an outline? Can they make flashcards that contain just the bare minimum? Usually IME if your kid can show the teacher that they what they are doing is enough for them to master the skills and learn the stuff, teachers let them.

[Anonymous]

The problem with the scaffolding tasks you list is that they are designed to encourage memorization rather than understanding. For a kid who can memorize easily, it's going to feel like a drag. I would want to know what they school is doing to teach understanding and going beyond memorization -- because those are the skills that will be needed in high school and college.