Structure
Set the container before the work begins. Clear expectation, visible agenda, predictable sequence.
Teachers
For Teachers
You are already doing this work. This gives it a framework.
Most teachers who remain in educational settings that serve struggling students have already developed some version of rescue education, staying alongside students whose relationship with learning has deteriorated, finding ways in that no one taught them. The STEPS framework does not replace that instinct. It names it, structures it, and makes it transmittable.
The Instructional Arc
I Do · We Do · You Do
| Phase | What happens | Teacher's role | Student's role |
|---|---|---|---|
| I Do | Teacher models the skill or task explicitly, naming their thinking aloud. | Demonstrate. Narrate. Make the invisible visible. | Observe. Anticipate. Notice. |
| We Do | Student and teacher work together. The teacher gradually releases. | Scaffold. Ask rather than tell. | Attempt. Ask for help. Practise. |
| You Do | Student works independently. | Monitor. Step back. | Apply. Produce. Self-assess. |
The key variable is the length of time spent in each phase. A student in Stability may need several sessions entirely in I Do before We Do is possible. A student at Agency may move through all three phases in a single short session.
A STEPS Session
Activate
Low-stakes entry into the content. Engage prior knowledge. Reduce threat before introducing challenge.
Regulate
Monitor and respond to student state throughout. The pause, the reset, the adjustment of demand happen here.
Reflect
Close every session. One thing learned. One thing to try differently. One thing noticed about how I worked today.
Where Is This Student on the Spiral?
The STEPS Spiral is not a tracking system and not a labeling system. It is a set of questions the teacher asks about this student, for this skill, in this context, right now.
- Does this student need me to provide the structure entirely? Stability
- Is this student practicing with support but not yet reliable independently? Momentum
- Can this student recover from difficulty without my intervention? Resilience
- Is this student initiating, monitoring, and adjusting independently? Agency
A student may be at different cycle positions for different skills simultaneously. This is normal and does not indicate inconsistency in your teaching.
The Five Skills at a Glance
| Skill | When | What the teacher does in each cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Start | When stuck | S: prompt and take first step together · M: ask what the first step is · R: observe and offer if not taken · A: step back entirely |
| Pause | When escalating | S: name and offer the pause · M: cue the pause · R: observe student initiating pause · A: student prevents escalation |
| Reset | When overwhelmed | S: structure the reset · M: offer reset menu · R: student selects and uses independently · A: student re-engages without cueing |
| Recover | When things go wrong | S: co-regulate and name what happened · M: guide three-question debrief · R: student leads debrief with support · A: student adjusts own systems |
| Reflect | To improve next time | S: lead brief structured reflection · M: structured prompt · R: student generates own questions · A: student maintains ongoing reflective practice |