Monday, February 16, 2015

RECIPROCAL TEACHING

WHAT IS RECIPROCAL TEACHING?
            Normally when teaching most subjects, teachers teach or go over the assignment up at the front of the room to the whole class together.  Teaching the group as a whole tends to lose some students who thrive on scaffolding learning and needs that teacher’s affirmation that they have achieved milestones and levels.  A learning strategy that teacher’s use to help students, especially with subjects such as reading, is the use of reciprocal teaching in the classroom.

            Reciprocal teaching is an interactive style of teaching in which both the teacher and the student(s) assume the role as a teacher during a discussion on the topic or subject matter usually in small groups of four.  The teacher presents an idea or introduces a story line and then proceeds to have the students assume the role as the teacher by giving them one of four concepts of reciprocal teaching.  The students will have to take that information that was given to them and answer or discuss a “Prediction” of the story by saying what they think is going to happen.  As the story progresses students will be at liberty to ask questions as they go.  Then if they have any questions about vocabulary, pronunciation, or are uncertain about the storyline, then they will take the next step in the process and “Clarify” those questions or concerns.  Lastly, the group will collaborate, put together their major points, and summarize the reading.  This learning strategy will help students recognize and determine what are valid and important points of the story.

RECIPROCAL TEACHING FAMILY TREE
Reciprocal teaching falls in the Constructivist Learning Theory family tree.  Reciprocal teaching follows all four key principles of the constructivist learning theory.  It involves active learning through interaction between the teacher and students, and between students and students.  It also follows the principle learning-by-doing, with the teacher allowing the students to assume the roll of the teacher and leading the discussion,  scaffolded learning is achieved when the teacher has listened to the student(s) and has either approved or agreed with what the student had to say about the reading passage.  Lastly, the students will collaborate what they are learning within their groups and present findings at the end of the week.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
Teacher:  Put the students in groups of four.  Have the teacher determine which of the students will get one of the four areas.
Teacher & Student:  Both the teacher and the students will begin reaching the first few paragraphs.
Student A:  The student assigned to “predicting” will start off the discussion with input from the class.
Student B (Teacher Aided):  This student will lead the discussion of any questions his or her peers have regarding the concepts of the story that they may be confused or unclear about.
Student C (Teacher Aided):  The students assigned to “clarify” will help discuss the answers and clear up any questions that the student will have.  Any questions pertaining to the vocabulary, meanings, and or story line will be address at this point.
 Student D: This student will collaborate with his or her peer group and compile the major points of the storyline into one summary for the group.

References:
Classroom Strategies: Reciprocal Teaching. (2015). In All about Adolescent Literacy . Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19765/
Reciprocal Teaching. (n.d.). In Reading Rockets. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal_teaching
Strategies for Reading Comprehension Reciprocal Teaching. (2012, August 25). In Reading Quest.org. Retrieved from http://www.readingquest.org/strat/rt.html

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