Individual learning support
From following steps to choosing a strategy
When a learner could use a method with guidance, the next teaching target was learning when and why to choose it.
Observed learning patternRead the caseEvidence with context
Look closely at
the actual work.
What was difficult? What did the evidence suggest? What changed about the support? These cases make the reasoning visible.
Assessment & learning plans
A successful session is the start of the evidence
Immediate spelling success led to a more useful question: what would still be available after a delay?
Observed learning patternRead the caseEducator coaching
Turning an assessment report into a teaching decision
A tutor consultation connected current coursework, uncertain assessment findings, and a manageable next step.
Documented consultationRead the caseProgram design
Progress checks that lead somewhere
A coaching guide and monitoring design linked evidence collection to reflection, adjustment, and shared responsibility.
Documented design workRead the caseResearch into practice
Good questions have a research base.
Research informs a starting point. The learner’s response helps determine what to do next.
Institute of Education Sciences · What Works Clearinghouse
Remembering and using what we learn
The practice guide on organizing instruction and study discusses spacing learning, retrieval, and helping learners judge what they know. These principles support asking what remains available after a delay.
Read the practice guideEducation Endowment Foundation
Teaching learners to guide their own work
The guidance on metacognition and self-regulated learning connects explicit teaching, modeling, and scaffolding with planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning. It provides a research context for teaching strategy choice.
Read the guidance reportHow to read this evidence
The research links provide context for instructional principles; they do not independently evaluate Synapse + Scaffold or prove the effectiveness of these individual cases. Practice examples are descriptive accounts, not controlled studies or promises of a particular result.
Names, schools, precise dates, diagnoses, and identifying details have been omitted. Private reports and records are not linked publicly. Examples may describe different aspects of the same engagement. Explanatory graphics summarize the teaching ideas; they are not reproductions of student work.
A conversation is a good beginning
You don’t need to have
it all figured out.
Tell me what’s hard, what matters, and what you’d like to change.
We’ll work out a useful next step together.