In this scene, Miss Vaughn seems as if she is trying to help Billy to pass the third grade in the two weeks he is there. While it seems that she tries to challenge him to master his cursive skills, she actually used what could have been a learning experience to instead tear Billy down. As Johnston says to do, Miss Vaughn did ask Billy if he wanted to write on the board--this allowed Billy to have a choice. Miss Vaughn did also tap into Billy's ZPD, as discovered by Lev Vygotsky, however she did it in a wrong manner. Billy spelt the first word, "dugout" correctly, and Miss Vaughn then challenged him with another word, "bunt." This word Billy also was able to spell on his own without any assistance. Miss Vaughn then told Billy to spell "Rizzuto," a challenging word for Billy as he did not know how to write a 'z' in cursive. Miss Vaughn could tell that Billy did not know how to write his z's on his own, yet she still made him perform a task he was incapable of without her help, thus causing him to get so frustrated that he never wanted to go back. Spelling the word, "Rizzuto" should have been done with the help of the teacher--the middle part of the ZPD, because it was a task that Billy could have completed with the help of Miss Vaughn showing him how to write a 'z' in cursive.