"Sometimes all you need is just one person" – anonymous.
When discussing schools, people often say that "sometimes all you need is just one person" to understand, guide, and accept you. This is especially true in traditional schools.
When Adam Grant introduced the word "scaffolding" in his book Hidden Potential, it reminded me of that "one person."
Scaffolding is a support structure from someone to help us reach our goals. The difference between scaffolding and bridging is that the former emphasizes lifting us to achieve a higher goal (otherwise, we can't do it alone), and the latter closes the gap between the separate ends.
Scaffolding is a crucial concept to understand.
Between studying and learning, learning is the scaffolding our schools can provide for children to reach their studying goals that feed their significant education needs and dreams.
Because learning can be facilitated and designed by schools and adults (often called coaches and mentors in learning environments and culture), it is a system where children can find their identity and resilience to further their experiences with studying and the school environment.
When "one person" has become not just an individual but an established system with coaches, learning programs, specialists running these programs, and peers, we can expect a much wider range of success with children and school as a whole.
Understanding and establishing the scaffolding system is a strong indicator demonstrating our understanding of how learning happens.
