Introduction

Lev Vygotsky shares a socio-cultural theory that stresses social interaction as important to cognitive development. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is what a child can learn with help. This is where peer support or scaffolding can happen.

This assignment fulfills:

• Module Outcome 2: You will have interpreted formative assessment to engage in differentiated instructional practices.
• Student Learning Outcome 1: You will have differentiated instructional needs of children (i.e. adapt environment, curricula, etc.) with exceptionalities and diverse abilities using formative assessment.

Watch Video 7.19: Peer Supports in Bingo (opens in a new window) [https://www.connectmodules.dec-sped.org/connect-modules/resources/videos/video-7-19/], which shows a teacher encouraging children to help one another during a game of Bingo. This is an example of peer support. The peer offering support is one who can share knowledge with another child.

After watching, reflect on other ways that peer support can be implemented in the classroom or home setting and respond to these prompts:

1. Peer support was shown in the video when…
2. My experience with peer support includes…
3. I believe implementing peer support is important because…
4. My challenges have been or my worries about implementing peer support include…
5. I can implement peer support in the following activities or routines…
6. It might look like this when I do…

Initial posts should be between 250-300 words. No replies needed this week.

• For a satisfactory score, your initial responses should include specific support from course materials, including any readings, videos, or lecture narratives, your own experiences, or other sources as detailed in the assignment instructions. An appropriate opening response should consider the topic of peer supports. Post your opening response to the prompts early in the assignment period so that others have time to respond to you.
• You should also respond in a substantive way to other students, moving the conversation forward, presenting an alternative viewpoint, or providing additional support for classmates’ ideas. Supporting information is expected in those responses as well. In addition, you are expected to reply to those who may have responded to your initial postings.