Fostering the Search for Understanding: A Teacher's Strategies for Leading Cognitive Development in “Zones of Proximal Development”

This article reports on the ways in which one teacher led her special education students' cognitive development in their “zones of proximal development,” with a specific focus on her interactions with one preconventional writer. Our examination showed that she advanced the student's performance by involving him in literacy activities in advance of competence, using meaningful text representations to scaffold performance, modeling and apprenticing him in the social dialogue, and assisting his performance through social interactions with peers.