A lesson you climb down.
Teaching starts by showing the work and ends by taking every prop away. Scaffold does that per learner: it decides how much help each person is standing on, hands the tutor the same limit, and strikes a bay every time they prove they no longer need it.
- Modelled You watch the whole thing done, then explain it back.
- Guided You do it with every step laid out for you.
- Prompted You do it with cues, not steps.
- Coached You do it alone; help comes only if you ask.
- Independent You do it alone and apply it somewhere new.
The engine moves the learner, never the model
Two clear answers in a row strike a bay. Two poor ones put it back and reopen the ladder. The model marks an attempt and has no say in what the mark means.
A tutor that refuses to overhelp
The learner's rung goes into the system prompt and nothing they type can move it. On the bottom rung the tutor will not give a hint even when asked outright.
Mastery is only ever earned alone
The independent rung is in play at every support level, so finishing a ladder always means finishing it unaided. Scaffolded work never counts as mastery.