The OMGs about ZPDs

I’ve noticed in my student teaching that there’s a fine line between a person’s ZPD and giving them work that is to difficult, even when scaffolded, that can lead to severe frustration and even shutdown. On the other side though, there’s giving them work that is way too simple and can lead a student to feeling bored or even insulted.

I believe that the expectations we have about our students and their abilities creates in our minds as educators what we think is their ZPD. For example, I think that I have really high expectations for the work my students are capable of. I scaffold and structure my lessons to reflect that. I ask a lot of my students but nothing I don’t think they’re capable of. I believe though that many teachers do not have as high of expectations and when they use lessons that show these low expectations and they scaffold things that are unnecessary the students lash out. When we do those dreaded powerpoints that go over terms and ideas the students already know, they become disinterested and zone out because they already know what we are insisting that they write down in their interactive notebooks. It’s the self fulfililng prophecy of a teacher having low expectations for their students so the students don’t push themselves. It’s a huge challenge in diverse classes, such as ours, to keep in mind the varying ZPDs in the room. At my school we have one of the highest ELL population in AISD. Many are new to the country, some are even new to the alphabet. How do we go about balancing their needs and what they can handle in terms of our lessons with those who are native English speakers and who have the background knowledge in ELA? In one classroom we can have students who are completely overwhelmed and frustrated with the complexity of the lesson sitting right next to bored students who swear they’ve had the same lesson on literary terms every year.

While I don’t have the answer to this problem, I do know that we have to become well versed in juggling. We have to juggle our students ZPDs and having several different activities focused on the same topic that is appropriate for all students in the room making sure they are engaged and able to complete the task within their ZPD. That is really difficult with one teacher in the room! Having an inclusion teacher or a support teacher working with ELLs is very helpful but they aren’t always there. And even then it’s difficult when they are. It’s a constant struggle we’ll have to be prepared for. I’ve had a lot of experience with having to think on my feet when I’ve taught before. It felt like something would always go wrong in Thailand and I had to have at least three backup plans. Yes, three. My ideal is to give individual attention to every student in my class. I make sure I walk around to the different tables and ask if there are any questions or anything I can help with. This seems so simple but I feel like I don’t always see this at my school. I also want to become more conscious about challenging those students who are bored and don’t need extra help, the students who finish the task in record time. I find myself focusing on helping only the struggling students but not pushing the kids who can do assignments with their eyes closed. Making sure they are also challenged is just as important. I need to make sure there are backup activities that initiate critical thinking and inquiry and isn’t just busy work to keep them from goofing off.