What is Reciprocal Teaching?
The activity called "reciprocal teaching" is a learning strategy during which students, in small groups of about four kids, do tasks that help each other learn. Reciprocal teaching is often based on a text, and in this post I'm going to share how I use reciprocal teaching groups to develop my students' reading comprehension.
Reciprocal Teaching Student Tasks
During a reciprocal teaching group activity, each student in the group is responsible for doing a specific job. Typically, these tasks are 1) Summarizer, 2) Questioner, 3) Clarifier, and 4) Predictor. In my experience, I've found the task of predictor to be the one that least contributes to my students' growth. I've also found it to be either too difficult, or too easy, meaning that it doesn't require delving into the text.
Include Vocabulary Building
With my students, I replaced the "Predictor" job with "Vocabulary Builder." It follows nicely from the routine I have of always teaching vocabulary first. The kids are tuned into words from the start, and the Vocabulary Builder, I've noticed, will either review a word we've already discussed, or pick out another word to talk about. This task seems to foster reading comprehension more than making a prediction does. In my observations, picking out a word to define or discuss is a valuable task that enhances fellow students' learning and comprehension.
The "Vocabulary Builder" may choose a word they know, or one they don't know. If none of the students can define the word, or disagree on its meaning, I encourage them to look it up in a dictionary (if practical), or I may simply tell them the meaning, particularly if the word is a proper noun.
Reciprocal Teaching Activities and Task Cards
How the text is read, whether by the group or independently, is up to the teacher, the abilities of the students, and the nature of the material. In another post, I've detailed several methods that may be employed to support students in their reading.
Another decision the teacher makes regards the length of the reading.
I divide the assigned text into four sections and instruct the students to stop and do their jobs after each section. Usually there are four students and four jobs, so each child does each job once. For clarity, it's important to post the divisions on the board, indicating when students are to stop reading and do their tasks.
Summarizer
In this first task, one student tells the group what the reading was mainly about.
Questioner
The second student poses a question about the reading and calls on whomever in the group offers an answer.
Clarifier
This is the most challenging of the four tasks. As you can see on the students' task cards, the scaffolding will help. I tell the kids that the "Clarifier" can either repeat, or add to, the summarizer's comments, or create their own summary.
Vocabulary Builder
This is usually the fourth and final task. The student must choose a word from the text that was just read, and ask the group what it means. After the group discusses the word, they move on to reading the next section of the text.
Click on image below.
It is up to the teacher whether students keep their jobs for the whole lesson, or switch jobs after every section. The switching usually works well once students are familiar with the reciprocal teaching group activity.
In conclusion, I discovered that substituting "Vocabulary Builder" in place of "Predictor" worked well in my classroom and fit in with the way I teach reading comprehension. For elementary students at least, task cards for reciprocal teaching are extremely helpful. They not only clarify expectations, they serve as focus points and reminders for each child. They help to keep the group on the job. The cards I made for my students also provide sentence starters to help them know what to say.
If you have any questions or comments about reciprocal teaching, I'd love to hear from you! What can you share from your experience?
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