Gently stretching to reach all students: Inclusive learning through scaffolding and flexible pedagogy

Abstract

Being flexible and responsive to students’ unique learning needs is a powerful skill in any teaching context, but it is perhaps especially valuable in one-shot library instruction, when a librarian has limited time with students and is often meeting them for the first time. Because librarians frequently enter the classroom with limited information about a class’s dynamics and its students’ current understandings, abilities, and interests, we often find ourselves needing to adapt in the moment of teaching more than we would if we had a more extensive connection to that class.