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Merry Bee Presents |
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Instructional Techniques
- across the curriculum or reading in the content areas
- anticipation guide
- assisted reading
- choral reading
- cloze
- directed reading thinking activities (DRTA)
- dialog journal or double entry journal
- focused imaging
- guided reading
- KWL and variations
- literature circle
- modeling, coached practice and reflection (MCR)
- question/answer relationships (QAR)
- questioning the author
- readers theater
- readers workshop
- reciprocal teaching
- sketch to stretch
- Socratic questioning
- storytelling
- technology
- transactional strategies instruction (TSI)
- word walls
- writers workshop
Reciprocal Teaching
Background
Developed by Annemarie Palincsar, 1984
Use with small group (preferred), whole class
Use before, during, or after reading
Use 1-12; adapt for age appropriateness with elementary students
Explanation
Reciprocal teaching develops the ability of students to use four comprehension strategies - predicting, summarizing, clarifying, and questioning. The four strategies can be taught in any order. The teacher begins with direct explicit instruction, uses modeling and demonstration, and provides guided practice. The activity is “reciprocal” in that students take the lead as they become more proficient in using these strategies. Thus the teacher role is flexible, shifting between instructor and facilitator as leadership shifts back and forth between the teacher and the student. It is important that the text used for reciprocal teaching be decodable by the student. It is desirable to apply the reciprocal teaching technique with a variety of genre.
The strategies developed in reciprocal teaching are defined as:
- Predict - Hypothesize using the information given in the text.
- Summarize - Identify and condense the most important points in the text.
- Clarify - Identify what makes a given text difficult and seek an understanding of difficult vocabulary, usage elements, or concepts.
- Question - Generate appropriate and important questions about the text.
This technique is particularly pertinent to developing comprehension in reading, but the student should internalize the use of other comprehension strategies as well.
Links to resources
- An overview by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) includes the purpose and research base for reciprocal teaching.
- The article Reciprocal Teaching defines reciprocal teaching and describes how to implement the technique in the classroom.
- Reciprocal teaching is explained in a Q&A format prepared as a Theory into Practice (TIP) Monograph by a cadre of California teachers in 1995.
- Heather Wall describes a method for reciprocal teaching using cards to provide a structure for the discussion leader. grades 3-5
- In Reciprocal Teaching in the Primary Grades, Laura Lewis Richards examines the literature about the use and benefits of reciprocal teaching and outlines a one-hour inservice to enable teachers to implement reciprocal teaching. (PDF)
- The M-DCPS Reciprocal Teaching model (Miami-Dade County Public Schools) adds a fifth strategy "visualizing". The site has sample lesson plans, printable materials, and a review of reciprocal teaching in the professional literature.
- Houghton Mifflin's Soar to Success intervention program, grades 3-8.
- Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s Spotlight on Literacy