8
Reciprocal Teaching
With Reciprocal Teaching, a student’s natural
curiosity is embraced. The method is a school wide
best practice in effect at Cuivre Park Elementary
(CPE). Piloted by Title I Teacher Stacy Grover in
the 2012-13 school year, her colleagues jumped
aboard the following year. According to Grover,
Reciprocal Teaching fills the comprehension void
the school had been missing with students in
previous years. “The students enjoy it because they
are in control and play an active role in learning.”
Grover said the best practice engages and
motivates even the most unmotivated student.
Reciprocal teaching aligns with the Common
Academic Standards and encourages the student
to “dig deeper” and understand the content before
moving on. The practice develops students’
skills such as inferring, synthesizing information,
visualizing, making connections to the real world
and evaluating.
The “Fab Four” skills, predicting, questioning,
clarifying and summarizing, are more than likely
the best known among the students because
characters and signals represent each of the skills.
Often, you’ll see Quinn the Questioner or Clara the
Clarifier make an appearance in lessons.
"When a teacher actively uses RT in
most readings required by students,
reading levels increase one to two
grade levels in three to six months"
And the
teacher isn’t
(Oczkus, 2005; Sporer, Brunstein, & Kieschke, 2009).
the one
necessarily
answering the students when “Quinn” or “Clara”
make an appearance. Reciprocal teaching
encourages classmates to help each other and
in most instances, the teacher
becomes the facilitator.
According to students in
Maggie Schulte’s class, a
fourth grade teacher at Cuivre
Park Elementary, asking for
clarification or predicting what’s
going to happen next is no longer
embarrassing. It’s a safe environment.
As a result, Grover said participation
and comprehension increases in each
classroom.
“RECIPROCAL TEACHING
LETS THE STUDENTS
KNOW THAT IT’S OKAY
TO NOT KNOW SOMETHING.
THAT’S WHY WE ARE
HERE; TO LEARN.”