Agent skill

Scaffolded Task Modifier

by GarethManning in GarethManning/education-agent-skills

Modify a classroom task with language scaffolds that preserve cognitive demand for EAL learners.

Custom licenceAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Scaffolded Task Modifier

skills CLI
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill scaffolded-task-modifier -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills scaffolded-task-modifier --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eal-language-development/scaffolded-task-modifier .claude/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
scaffolded-task-modifier
GitHub stars
835
Token cost
~5.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,744 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
142
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Custom licence

At a glance

Modify a classroom task with language scaffolds that preserve cognitive demand for EAL learners.

  • Works in 3 steps: When the audience hears Mr Birling say… → Mr Birling says these wrong predictions… → Mr Birling also makes predictions about…
  • Adapting existing tasks for students at different English proficiency levels
  • SKILL.md covers What This Skill Does, Evidence Foundation, Input Schema and Prompt, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Scaffolded Task Modifier is an agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills. Modify a classroom task with language scaffolds that preserve cognitive demand for EAL learners. Use when adapting existing tasks for students at different English proficiency levels.

Its SKILL.md is about 5.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development, covering Project scaffolding. The repository describes itself as: 165 evidence-grounded AI skills for teachers, school leaders and EdTech builders—pedagogy, learning science, curriculum, assessment and regeneration. Claude, Codex and Hermes.

When your agent uses it

  • Adapting existing tasks for students at different English proficiency levels
  • Tasks that involve Project scaffolding

Example prompts

  • “/scaffolded-task-modifier”

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. When the audience hears Mr Birling say the Titanic is "unsinkable," what do they think about Mr Birling? Do they trust his judgement?
  2. Mr Birling says these wrong predictions with great confidence ("I say there isn't a chance of war"). What effect does his confidence have?…
  3. Mr Birling also makes predictions about business and social responsibility — he says people should only look after themselves. Priestley…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6bbbce4. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Scaffolded Task Modifier loads about 5.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 52 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,744 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~52
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~5.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 1,744 words (~5,413 tokens).

“Adapts a classroom task for a specific language proficiency level while explicitly maintaining cognitive demand — ensuring that EAL students engage with the same thinking as their peers, even when they need language support to do so. The critical design…”

— opening of SKILL.md by GarethManning, Custom licence
name
scaffolded-task-modifier
disable-model-invocation
false
user-invocable
true
effort
medium
skill_id
eal-language-development/scaffolded-task-modifier
skill_name
Scaffolded Task Modifier
domain
eal-language-development
version
1.0
evidence_strength
strong
evidence_sources
Gibbons (2002, 2015) — Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: scaffolding that challenges rather than simplifies, Cummins (2000) — Language, Power and…
output_schema.type
object

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/eal-language-development/scaffolded-task-modifier of GarethManning/education-agent-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6bbbce4

Compare with similar skills

Scaffolded Task Modifier next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Scaffolded Task Modifier compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Scaffolded Task Modifier this skillGarethManning/education-agent-skills835—~5.4kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Nx Generatenomcopter/react-mosaic4.8k7 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
PonytailDavidObando/gsharp5658 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Run Nx Generatornrwl/nx29k2 repos~592Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Conductor Setupgemini-cli-extensions/conductor3.8k—~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Mirage VFS Adapter Authoringstrukto-ai/mirage3.7k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Scaffolded Task Modifier

What does Scaffolded Task Modifier do?

Modify a classroom task with language scaffolds that preserve cognitive demand for EAL learners. Scaffolded Task Modifier is an agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills. Modify a classroom task with language scaffolds that preserve cognitive demand for EAL learners.

When should I use Scaffolded Task Modifier?

Scaffolded Task Modifier fits situations like: adapting existing tasks for students at different English proficiency levels; tasks that involve Project scaffolding.

How do I install Scaffolded Task Modifier in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill scaffolded-task-modifier -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/eal-language-development/scaffolded-task-modifier in GarethManning/education-agent-skills) into .claude/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Scaffolded Task Modifier in Codex?

Run `npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill scaffolded-task-modifier -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/eal-language-development/scaffolded-task-modifier in GarethManning/education-agent-skills) into .agents/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Scaffolded Task Modifier in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill scaffolded-task-modifier -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier, .gemini/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier, .github/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier and .opencode/skills/scaffolded-task-modifier in your project.

What does Scaffolded Task Modifier need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Scaffolded Task Modifier is instructions for the agent only.

Does Scaffolded Task Modifier access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Scaffolded Task Modifier safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Scaffolded Task Modifier use?

Scaffolded Task Modifier has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.

How many tokens does Scaffolded Task Modifier use?

About 5.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 22k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Scaffolded Task Modifier?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Scaffolded Task Modifier: Nx Generate (nomcopter/react-mosaic, 4.8k stars), Ponytail (DavidObando/gsharp, 565 stars), Run Nx Generator (nrwl/nx, 29k stars) and Conductor Setup (gemini-cli-extensions/conductor, 3.8k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Scaffolded Task Modifier?

GarethManning (a GitHub user) maintains it in GarethManning/education-agent-skills, which has 835 GitHub stars. The repository holds 142 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 28, 2026.

Source: GarethManning/education-agent-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.