Reciprocal Teaching

Objective: Aid students in constructing meaning from texts as well as monitoring their

reading to ensure that understanding is taking place.

Definition: instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between

teachers and students regarding segments of text.

Purpose: to facilitate a group effort between teacher and students as well as among

students in an effort to bring meaning to the text.

Structure:

1. Summarizing – identify the most important information

2. Questioning – generate questions about the text in response to significant

information

3. Clarify – decide upon what makes sense in the text and what does not,

identify problems with understanding a text

4. Predicting – hypothesize what the author will discuss next in the text

Activity:

1. Arrange students in groups of four.
2. Hand each student a “reciprocal teaching” card and a piece of text.
3. Group members decide on item from the card upon which to concentrate.
4. Students read text and write on the card the part they are concentrating upon.
5. After reading and jotting notes, the students take turns sharing what they wrote down.
6. As each student shares, the other members write down the thoughts expressed by each member by each category.
7. Lastly, reread the text with members’ thoughts in mind.
8. Share thoughts with whole class.

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