Just JUMP In!

Aug 1

Written By Lori O

Dive Into Reciprocal Teaching to Boost Reading

August means heading back to school but there’s still time for cooling off in the pool, lake, river, or the ocean. Are you a quick jumper inner or diver who bravely plunges in all at once? Or do you take a more gradual approach by dipping your toes in and slowly wading up to your knees as you gradually slip in? Maybe your water entry depends upon your mood and the situation.

Teaching is a lot like jumping in the lake. Sometimes we hesitate to try new methods and never quite feel ready. Other times we just need to dive in. In my work with teachers around the globe I support their efforts to implement reciprocal teaching (Palinscar & Brown, 1986) to improve student comprehension. Reciprocal teaching or “The Fab Four” (Oczkus,2018) involves discussions with the teacher modeling and peers rotating through a robust constellation of strategies including predicting using text evidence, clarifying words and ideas, asking questions, and summarizing important points. Reciprocal teaching is a high yield/ low prep strategy that produces .74 growth or two years in a year. Often in our project schools we see dramatic gains of 1-2 years in just a few months!

There are a variety of effective on ramps for introducing students to reciprocal teaching. You might slowly and methodically introduce students to using the strategies. Or maybe you simply jump in and scaffold as needed. Both teaching styles are effective ways to roll out the Fab Four with students. To begin select high interest reading materials that engage students as you teach them to employ the strategies.

Dipping Toes in the Water

Fab Four Read Aloud

Pause throughout a read aloud to model each one of the Fab Four strategies- predict, question, clarify, and summarize on different pages. Model the strategies pausing after each one to invite students to use the same language frame and discuss with a partner.

Think Aloud Prompts

Predict: I predict this is about____ because ________.

Question: Why do you think _____? Or I wonder ________________?

Clarify: I didn’t get the word ________ so I ________to figure it out.

Summarize: This was about ____________. OR I learned ____________.

Fab Four Mentor Texts

•Another option is to spend a few days on each strategy using a different mentor text for each one as a way to introduce them. Be sure to pull the strategies all together quickly as this high yield strategy depends on employing all four strategies in the same lesson!

•OR read your favorite text and every few pages rotate to another strategy so you cover all four by the end of the book.

Read Aloud

To use with all FOUR Strategies

Beauty and the Beak How Science,Technology, and a 3D Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle by Debra Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp.

Harvesting Hope by Kathleen Krull

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery

Mentor Texts For Comprehension

Making Predictions

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre

Clarifying Words and Ideas

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

The Big Bad Detective Agency by Bruce Hale

Asking Questions

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Summarizing

Friends by Aliki

Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh

Just Jump in

Fab Four Close Reading

Conduct a read aloud or choose a short story, informational text article, or poem and duplicate so students can mark up their copies. Project the text on the screen. Model the strategies one at a time. Mark your text to show your thinking. Invite students to mark their texts as well and then discuss their ideas with partners.

(Use the prompts listed above.)

Table Teams

Choose a short high interest story or informational text. Model by displaying the text on the screen. Assign each table team a strategy. Pause throughout the reading and ask each table to perform their “job”. Use a fab four chart to record student responses.

Literacy Today Articles

To support your own dive and splash or wade slowly into reciprocal teaching here are some articles from the latest edition of Literacy Today to guide you on your journey to improving student comprehension.

Backed by Research, Fueled by Results; Comprehension Lessons That Work!
https://publuu.com/flip-book/24429/445819/page/34

Reciprocal Teaching At Work; Boosting Comprehension with Reciprocal Teaching

https://publuu.com/flip-book/24429/445819/page/38