The WWC Scaffolding Playbook: How to Scaffold Each Comprehension Gap

Description

The WWC Scaffolding Playbook

How to Scaffold Each Comprehension Gap Type

Every scaffold you add should have a removal plan from the moment you add it.

The WWC Scaffolding Playbook helps teachers select targeted supports for the specific comprehension gap a student is experiencing—without turning temporary assistance into permanent dependence.

Many scaffolding guides explain how to support students but stop before addressing the most important question: How will this support eventually be removed? When scaffolds remain in place longer than necessary, students can begin to believe that reading requires an introduction, an explanation, a graphic organizer, or a teacher beside them. Instead of building independence, the support can unintentionally create what the We Write Curriculum framework identifies as the Teacher-Dependent Gap.

This playbook approaches scaffolding differently. Each strategy is connected to one of the five comprehension gap types identified within the Independent Comprehension Design™ framework, allowing teachers to respond to the actual source of difficulty rather than applying the same support to every student and every text.

For each comprehension gap type, the playbook explains:

• What the gap may look like in the classroom
• What the student may be experiencing while reading
• The risk of scaffolding without a removal plan
• The specific scaffolding move to use
• How to introduce the scaffold to the student
• What the student should do while the scaffold is in place
• What teachers should observe and document
• The signs that the scaffold is helping
• The evidence needed before support is reduced

The goal is not simply to help students complete the current passage or assignment. The goal is to provide the smallest useful support, strengthen the missing comprehension process, and prepare the student to perform the thinking independently.

This resource is ideal for ELA teachers, reading interventionists, special education teachers, instructional coaches, tutors, and educators supporting students who struggle to comprehend independently.

Use The WWC Scaffolding Playbook alongside Part 2: The WWC Release Protocol, which provides the decision-making process for determining when and how each scaffold should be reduced, removed, or temporarily restored.

Scaffolding should help students reach independence—not become the place where they remain.