Break It Down- Definition
Break it down occurs when a student gets a problem wrong and the teacher stops them and then goes back and breaks the problem down into smaller steps and build off of where the error occurred. Break it down is a good teaching technique to use to provide further instruction to a student who may need a little extra help when dealing with a particular problem. When a child struggles with a problem the teacher sometimes will leave that student and call on another to get the right answer. When this happens the student who did not answer correctly will not understand what they did wrong and could continue to get the same problem wrong in the future. It is always important to break the problem down to the correct level that the student needs. The teacher should start by breaking it down into chunks and then seeing where the problem further lies and then if need be break the problem down further.
Break It Down- Explained in my Own Words
Break it down is a very effective tool for teachers to use. It is very helpful to students who are struggling to grasp something in class by breaking it down further into steps. This is also know as scaffolding. Scaffolding is a process using the basic knowledge that a student knows and building off of it to help them acquire the understanding of a more complicated task. It can be compared to a building scaffolding where it starts at the bottom where things are the smallest and simplest. Then the scaffolding moves up as the building becomes taller then less and less scaffolding is needed to hold up the building until no more is needed. As the student learns more then less and less instruction is required to reach a certain task. This helps children to reach their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development). The ZPD is the zone of what a student can do with help and where further instruction is needed. There are several different ways that the teacher can further break down a problem for a student. The teacher can provide context to which the question belongs to give the student clues as to what they are guessing wrong about. The teacher can also provide the first step of the problem. This can be helpful in jogging the students memory to help them recall the problem and how to do it. Another helpful break it down way is to rollback the students answer to them simply by repeating their incorrect answer to them. This will help the student to see what they did wrong in their answering of the problem and fix it.
Break It Down- Example
I will use the break it down strategy in my classroom because I believe it to be very effective. Break it down gives the student a chance to see what they did wrong and how to go about getting the right answer. An example of how I might do this in my future classroom would look like this:
ME: Johnny what is the Capital of the United States of America?
Johnny: Ummmmmmmm
ME: Who's face is on the dollar bill?
Johnny: George..... O yeah Washington D.C.
I provided Johnny with a clue that led him to getting the answer without actually giving him the answer. Now when he has to recall the Capital of the United States he can use George Washington as a clue to help him remember it.
ME: Johnny what is the Capital of the United States of America?
Johnny: Ummmmmmmm
ME: Who's face is on the dollar bill?
Johnny: George..... O yeah Washington D.C.
I provided Johnny with a clue that led him to getting the answer without actually giving him the answer. Now when he has to recall the Capital of the United States he can use George Washington as a clue to help him remember it.