Definition



__**Definition of Seatwork Management:**__ Seatwork management is the last step in the process of scaffolding. Seatwork is completed during the phase or indeendently practice. With the term independent, meaning that the student is completing assignments at their desk or workspace independently without interacting with other students.

Scaffolding is a process of teaching students the skills so they can take a task to completion and a gradual release of responsibility. They involve three phases: Modeling, Guided Practice and Independent Practice.

"Two basic components need to be considdered when systematically monitoring student work: teacher movement around the classroom and provision of assistance to those who need help." (Savage 1999)

__** Teacher Movement: **__ During seatwork, Savage says, "Once the assignment is given and directions reviewed, you should immediately start moving around the classroom, checking to make sure that all students are working. At this point you should not stop to provide in-depth assistance to those who request it. A reminder, a quick hint, or a promise to return in a minute or two is all that should be done at this point. If many students seem confused, you might need to stop the class and review the assignment." (Savage, 1999)

__** Providing Assistance: **__ "...Suppose that you hae assigned a 20-minute independent study task. If you spend an average of four minutes with each student who requests assistance, no more than five students can recieve feedback. He [Jones] concluded that effective assistance could be provided more quickly, so he developed and tested a procedure he called the "praise-prompt-leave" procedure." (Savage 1999)

To summarize, this procedure entails praising the student for something they are doing correctly (i.e. they started looking in the right spot in the dictionary), then hint towards the next step and provide feedback of what they may be doing incorrectly (i.e they should be looking in the "sc" section for the word scale), then the teacher leaves to assist another student.

Ideally during seatwork, students should be practicing a skill they just learned, an authentic activity (an activity that has some purpose) and the teacher should be providing assistance and moving around the classroom to monitor. In addition, students should know routines and procedures for completing tasks early.

Below are three different examples showing students completing seatwork, although there is not one perfect example each shows a different aproach to seatwork. Click play to view each video:

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