What is Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. Once students have learned the strategies, they take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading a dialogue about what has been read.
(Reading Rockets, Inc., 2015)
Using reciprocal teaching in the classroom
Before you can expect reciprocal teaching to be used successfully by your students, they need to have been taught and had time to practice the four strategies that are used in reciprocal teaching. One approach to teaching reciprocal teaching might be to have students work from a four-column chart, with each column headed by the different comprehension activity involved.You might also consider implementing reciprocal teaching the way Palincsar and Brown recommends. Here's one way she suggests you use reciprocal teaching:
Tie it to writing
Through all four strategies encompassed in the Reciprocal Teaching strategy, students are presented with several opportunities to incorporate writing standards. Whether it be recording a summarize of read material in a journal or mapping their predictions in a paper as an assignment, students look to improve writing technique as they improve upon their comprehension skills.
Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. Once students have learned the strategies, they take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading a dialogue about what has been read.
(Reading Rockets, Inc., 2015)
Using reciprocal teaching in the classroom
Before you can expect reciprocal teaching to be used successfully by your students, they need to have been taught and had time to practice the four strategies that are used in reciprocal teaching. One approach to teaching reciprocal teaching might be to have students work from a four-column chart, with each column headed by the different comprehension activity involved.You might also consider implementing reciprocal teaching the way Palincsar and Brown recommends. Here's one way she suggests you use reciprocal teaching:
- Put students in groups of four.
- Distribute one notecard to each member of the group identifying each person's unique role.
- summarizer
- questioner
- clarifier
- predictor
- Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection. Encourage them to use note-taking strategies such as selective underlining or sticky-notes to help them better prepare for their role in the discussion.
- At the given stopping point, the Summarizer will highlight the key ideas up to this point in the reading.
- The Questioner will then pose questions about the selection:
- unclear parts
- puzzling information
- connections to other concepts already learned
- motivations of the agents or actors or characters
- etc.
- The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that were just posed.
- The Predictor can offer guesses about what the author will tell the group next or, if it's a literary selection, the predictor might suggest what the next events in the story will be.
- The roles in the group then switch one person to the right, and the next selection is read. Students repeat the process using their new roles. This continues until the entire selection is read.
Tie it to writing
Through all four strategies encompassed in the Reciprocal Teaching strategy, students are presented with several opportunities to incorporate writing standards. Whether it be recording a summarize of read material in a journal or mapping their predictions in a paper as an assignment, students look to improve writing technique as they improve upon their comprehension skills.
References:
Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension Monitoring Activities. Cognition and Instruction
Reading Rockets Inc.. (2015). Reciprocal Teaching. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching
Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension Monitoring Activities. Cognition and Instruction
Reading Rockets Inc.. (2015). Reciprocal Teaching. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching