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From McCown et al.
(1996) p.46
Pre-reading questions:
- What are your thoughts on peer tutoring – learners
supporting each other and teaching each other?
- Do you think this method could benefit learners in any
way?
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Jason D. Lopez, is a teacher at a secondary school
in California, USA. In California, many people from Central America
(from countries such as Mexico), are found because they have come
here in search of job opportunities. In countries like Mexico, Spanish
is the home language spoken by the people there, so when they come
into the USA, they need to learn English. One of the terms used
for students with little knowledge of English is ‘limited-English
proficient’. Jason writes the following in answer to the question:
What advice can you give teachers
about using scaffolding as an instructional method?
Standing in front of my class of thirty-five
mostly limited-English proficient students, I quickly realized
communication between myself and this class would be strained.
Even the ability of communication among the students themselves
would pose a challenge. The learning process seemed to go from
challenging to nearly impossible, and given the communication
challenge and diversity in one class, I could not help wondering,
what hurdles would my other five classes pose?
It was clear to me that I alone could not give
all the students the learning opportunities they needed. I remember
thinking that I needed a teacher for each of them.
This is when I began to change
the way I perceived the students. Rather than see them solely
as individuals in need, I realized they represented a wealth of
resources.
| Good teachers concentrate on what
learners can do, and not on what they cannot do. Good teachers
believe that all learners have strengths, that all learners
can participate and contribute in a unique way. |
By simply pairing the students into learning
teams, I would, in fact, be providing a teacher for each of them.
Through trial and error, I discovered that the trick to pairing
the students was to arrange partners who were sensitive to or
suited to each other’s needs, based on each student’s
areas of strength and weakness. These arrangements guaranteed
a balance of leading and following in the partnership.
| Instead of giving up
or despairing about how he was going to teach these learners
with Limited English Proficiency, this teacher looked for and
found a creative opportunity for learning in the class and opportunities
for positive interaction between learners. |
Teaching became even more motivating to my students
than learning. Enabling the students to achieve success as leaders
solidified their understanding of the content, and it also encouraged
both partners to embrace the teaching and learning paradigm.
Peer tutoring benefits both parties.
Support for learners by their peers, is an extremely powerful
resource in the classroom. |
A scaffolding process took place in which students
supported each other’s learning as needed, while I supported
the learning of each team. I believe in today’s increasingly
diverse and inclusive classrooms, scaffolding will be a necessity
for the repertoires of tomorrow’s teachers.
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