Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding

Create a rigorous learning environment with strategic and inclusive scaffolding practices

Today's classrooms are more linguistically diverse than ever, but many educators still feel underprepared to support multilingual learners in accessing grade-level academic content. Without intentional scaffolding, these students miss opportunities to thrive alongside their peers. Through nine scaffolded approaches instructional, linguistic, multimodal, multisensory, graphic, digital, interactive/collaborative, social-emotional, and environmental this resource offers content area teachers research-based, practical strategies to meet the linguistic, social-emotional, and academic needs of multilingual learners.

Key features of this book include

• Detailed vignettes and authentic examples from classrooms to illustrate scaffolding in action
• Research-based strategies for integrating scaffolds into lessons across content areas
• Self-assessment tools and reflection questions for personal and professional growth
• Practical templates to help educators tailor their scaffolding techniques to individual student needs

Scaffolding instruction is not just another teaching approach to learning it is a critical non-negotiable for multilingual learners, providing a lifeline to language mastery, academic achievement, and a profound sense of belonging. Dove, Honigsfeld, and McDermott Goldman offer the guidance and inspiration educators need to cultivate equitable, engaging learning opportunities that truly help multilingual students to soar.

Maria G. Dove, EdD, is professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Molloy University, Rockville Centre, New York. She teaches preservice and inservice teachers about the research and best practices for implementing effective instruction for English learners, and she supports doctoral students in the EdD program in Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities.  Before entering the field of higher education, she worked for over thirty years as an English-as-a-second-language teacher in public school settings (Grades K–12) and in adult English language programs in the greater New York City area. She frequently provides professional development for educators throughout the United States on the teaching of multilingual learners. She also serves as a mentor for new ESOL teachers as well as an instructional coach for general-education teachers and literacy specialists.

With Andrea Honigsfeld, she has coauthored multiple best-selling Corwin books, including Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (2010), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K–5: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), and Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6–12: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Collaboration and Co-Teaching: A Leader’s Guide (2015), Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018). Along with other Corwin top-named authors, she coauthored Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learner Success (2020). In addition, she coedited, Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012) and Co-Teaching for English Learners: Evidence-Based Practices and Research-Informed Outcomes (2020) published by Information Age. With Audrey Cohan and Andrea Honigsfeld, she coauthored Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014) published by Corwin and Team Up, Speak Up, Fire Up: Educators, Students, and the Community Working Together to Support English Learners (2020) published by ASCD.

Andrea Honigsfeld, EdD, is professor in the School of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. Before entering the field of teacher education, she was an English-as-a-foreign-language teacher in Hungary (Grades 5–8 and adult) and an English-as-a-second-language teacher in New York City (Grades K–3 and adult). She also taught Hungarian at New York University. She was the recipient of a doctoral fellowship at St. John’s University, New York, where she conducted research on individualized instruction. She has published extensively on working with multilingual learners and teacher collaboration. She received a Fulbright Award to lecture in Iceland in the fall of 2002. In the past 22 years, she has been presenting at conferences across the United States, China, Denmark, Japan, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.

 She coauthored Differentiated Instruction for At-Risk Students (2009) and coedited the five-volume Breaking the Mold of Education series (2010–2013), published by Rowman and Littlefield. She is also the coauthor of Core Instructional Routines: Go-To Structures for Effective Literacy Teaching, K–5 and 6–12 (2014), Growing Language and Literacy (K-8 and 6-12, 2019, 2024 respectively) published by Heinemann. With Maria G. Dove, she coedited Coteaching and Other Collaborative Practices in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Rationale, Research, Reflections, and Recommendations (2012), Co-Teaching for English Learners: Evidence-Based Practices and Research-Informed Outcomes (2020), Portraits of Collaboration: Educators Working Together to Support Multilingual Learners (2022), and coauthored Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (2010), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K–5: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades 6–12: English Language Arts Strategies (2013), Beyond Core Expectations: A Schoolwide Framework for Serving the Not-So-Common Learner (2014), Collaboration and Co-Teaching: A Leader’s Guide (2015), Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection (2018), Collaborating for English Learners: A Foundational Guide to Integrated Practices (2019), and Co-Planning: 5 Essential Practices to Integrate Curriculum and Instruction for English Learners (2022). She is a contributing author of Breaking Down the Wall: Essential Shifts for English Learner Success (2020), From Equity Insights to Action (2022), Digital-Age Teaching for English Learners (2022), Collaboration and Co-Teaching for Dual Language Learners: Transforming Programs for Multilingualism and Equity (2023), Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall: Essential Shifts for Multilingual Learners’ Success (2024), Collaboration for Multilingual Learners With Exceptionalities: We Share the Students (2024), Collaborative Assessment for Multilingual Learners and Teachers: Pathways to Partnerships (2025), and  Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners (2026). Ten of her Corwin books are bestsellers.

Carrie McDermott Goldman, EdD is professor and Director of Graduate and Post Graduate Teacher Education Programs at Molloy University′s School of Education and Human Services (Rockville Centre, NY), brings over two decades of experience to her role teaching pre-service and in-service teachers. Before entering higher education, she taught multilingual learners across elementary, middle, and high school settings, as well as adult learners. Her career demonstrates a commitment to transforming education through innovative teaching, mentorship, and promoting equitable learning opportunities for all students. Her areas of expertise include culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies, teaching English to students of other languages (grades PK-12 and adults), curriculum development, program development and restructuring, co-teaching, multi-tiered systems of support, and teacher mentoring.

She works with school district administrators to strengthen instructional programming and to supervise and evaluate these practices through customizable coaching and mentorship protocols. As a professional developer, she works directly with teachers to support diverse classrooms through hands-on, practical approaches that can be implemented immediately in their instructional settings. Her professional development sessions emphasize actionable strategies that honor students′ linguistic and cultural assets while addressing the real-world challenges educators face in today′s multilingual classrooms.

She co-authored the best-selling book From Equity Insights to Action: Critical Strategies for Teaching Multilingual Learners (2022) and, most recently, Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding for Multilingual Learners (2026). She is also the author of several teaching guides, including Multilingual Learners: Strategies to Adapt Instruction in Content Areas (2nd Edition), Multilingual Learners: Strategic Tools & Teaching Approaches, Multilingual Learners: Language Development or Disability?, and Teaching English Learners: Strategies for Classroom Teachers. In addition, she has published textbook chapters in Teaching Science to English Language Learners: Preparing Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers, Teaching History and Social Studies to English Language Learners, Effective Teacher Collaboration for English Language Learners: Cross-Curricular Insights From K-12 Classrooms, and Approaches to Classroom Management for Diverse and Inclusive Schools. She has written articles in the Journal of Leadership and Instruction, New York State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: Impact Journal, and IDIOM. She serves as a grant writer and member of the Peer Review Committee for SCOPE′s Journal for Leadership and Instruction.  She has presented at various conferences, including TESOL International, NYS TESOL, Long Island ESOL, and The Teachers′ Institute.