A middle school language arts teacher relates how she used the Internet to "scaffold" students' learning. She notes teachers have begun the shift from assigning rote homework to assigning independent work that gives the student the opportunity to test the information on his or her own, and that children need time to make the shift from years of standardized testing to trusting that independent thinking is desirable. After illustrating the problems that students were having in understanding her homework assignments, she outlines her attempts to make them clearer, which, though they didn't use it, included giving them her home phone number. She then demonstrates how the Internet became her method for scaffolding students who were not yet ready for total independence. A simple Web page was designed by a high school student, a brother of one of her students. The first section displayed homework assignments; the second allowed both the questions and answers to be posted continuously; the third held examples of what the teacher wanted the students to accomplish; and the fourth included Web sites that would direct them to helpful resources. The page was finished in one week and the teacher logged on each night at the same time to answer any student questions that were emailed to her. Students expressed their appreciation. (AEF)