Vygotsky proposed the notion that children first experience a particular cognitive activity in collaboration with expert practitioners. The child is a spectator as the majority of the cognitive work is done by the expert (usually a parent or a teacher), then a novice as he or she starts to take over some of the work under the close supervision of the expert. As the child grows in experience and capability of performing the task, the expert passes over greater and greater responsibility but still acts as a guide, assisting the child at problematic points. Eventually, the child assumes full responsibility for the task with the expert still present in the role of a supportive audience. This model fits what is known theoretically about teaching and learning. It is also a model which is familiar to teachers who have adopted such teaching strategies as paired reading and an apprenticeship approach. An adaptation of this model to the teaching of writing gives a three-part model according to which teaching proceeds from teacher demonstration of writing, to teacher and child collaborating, and then to the child writing independently.

In busy, overpopulated classrooms, however, it can be difficult to use this model as a guide to practical teaching action because it is constructed around an ideal of a child and an expert working together on a one-to-one basis, which is rarely feasible. In particular, students too often are expected to move into the independent writing phase before they are really ready; often the pressure to do so is based on the practical problem of teachers being unable to find the time to spend with them in individual support. What is clearly needed is something to span the joint-activity and independent-activity phase.

We have called this additional phase the scaffolded phase -- a phase where we offer our students strategies to aid writing but they can use without an adult being alongside them. A revised four-part model adds in a scaffolding phase to the teaching process.

At the scaffolded phase, strategies include those that can be used by students without the teacher being alongside them. One such strategy that we have been exploring is writing frames.

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1. Demonstration (teacher modelling)

2. Joint activity (collaborative writing)

3. Independent activity (independent writing)

1. Demonstration (teacher modelling)

2. Joint activity (collaborative writing)

3. Scaffolded activity (supported writing)

4. Independent activity (independent writing)