Literacy Leaders High School Teachers Taking Charge of Their Professional Learning Today’s Strategy is: Reciprocal Teaching

Literacy Leaders We have started a collaborative study group that will meet once a month to:  Discuss, develop, and organize resources for teachers to incorporate literacy strategies … in all content areas

Inspiration … Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (2008) “A Content Literacy Collaborative Study Group: High School Teachers Take Charge of Their Professional Learning” One year of secondary teachers attempting to integrate literacy strategies & content instruction

Literacy Resources for Teachers in D128 On the D128 homepage, under Literacy Resources you will find: Content Literacy Instruction Strategies Strategy Descriptions Templates & Examples

Today’s Strategy: Reciprocal Teaching Based on the paper: Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension- Fostering and Comprehension-Monitoring Activities Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar & Ann L. Brown Center for the Study of Reading University of Illinois (1984) Original research available as a pdf file if you are interested

Why Teach Literacy Strategies? 70% of 8 th graders read below the proficient reading level on the NAEP (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009)

Difficulty Understanding Text Some students can decode words– but have difficulty understanding what they have read

Difficulty Summarizing Text Many students have trouble summarizing or pulling main ideas from their reading

What Does Recent Research Say? Students from all grade levels from primary to secondary grades need comprehension strategies (Block, Parris, & Whiteley, 2008; Pearson & Duke, 2002; Kincade & Beach, 1996) Need for: Strategies to clarify unknown words Guided instruction to question & predict Ability to sort out main ideas and order events in text

Why Use Reciprocal Teaching? Based on the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction (Pearson & Fielding, 1991) Multiple-strategy technique (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) Has been extensively researched & has produced positive results with:  First graders (Palinscar & David, 1991) through college students (Fillenworth, 1995)

Goals of Reciprocal Teaching Improve students reading comprehension Scaffold strategies while reading Guide students to become metacognitive & reflective in their strategy use Monitor comprehension Improve & scaffold through social setting Strengthen whole-class sessions & guided reading groups (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007; Keene & Zimmermann, 2007; McLaughlin & Allen, 2002; Oczkus, 2004; Pearson, Roehler, Dole & Duffy, 1992)

Palinscar & Brown Findings Groups of Students Palinscar & Brown, the creators of reciprocal teaching found that when RT was used with a group of students for days, the students reading on a comprehension assessment increased from 30% previously to 70-80% Tested a Year Later Students not only maintained their improved comprehension skills almost immediately, but also maintained their improved comprehension skills when tested a year later

How is Reciprocal Teaching Used in the Classroom? Whole-Class Session To introduce RT strategies To model for students in think-alouds To establish common language & terms To provide reinforcement in content area reading Guided Reading Group To introduce/reinforce strategies in a teacher-led small group To provide extra support or intervention to students To differentiate instruction based on needs

The Four Reciprocal Teaching Strategies PredictQuestion ClarifySummarize

Oczkus Reciprocal Teaching Method (2010) See Reciprocal Teaching Comprehension Chart Notice additional box for background knowledge Notice order of questions The “Fab Four” Strategy Starters

Focus: The Original Research by Palinscar & Brown Significant improvement in the quality of summaries & questions Sizable gains on criterion tests of comprehension Reliable maintenance over time Transfer to other tasks Improvement in standardized comprehension scores

What do expert readers do? They proceed automatically until a triggering event alerts them to a comprehension failure

How do expert readers comprehend? When comprehension failure is detected, they slow down, allot for extra processing to the problem area, deploy debugging devices and utilize active reading strategies

Main Focus of Palinscar & Brown’s Paper Practiced readers’ split mental focus seen in successful reading/studying:  Comprehension-Fostering Activities  Comprehension-Monitoring Activities

Palinscar & Brown’s 4 Concrete Activities 1.Questioning 2.Summarizing (self-review) 3.Clarifying 4.Predicting Embedded in the instruction of the reading is a clear purpose for reading, and a discussion of relevant background knowledge Important to note the order of the activities

Questioning Ask students: “What main idea question would a teacher or test ask about this section of the text?”

Summarizing This is an activity of self-review Ask students: “State what has just happened, or summarize this section of text” (to see if they have understood it) Remedial action (clarifying) may be needed

Clarifying Clarifying occurs only if there are confusions either in the text or in the student’s interpretation of the text Requires that students engage in critical evaluation Is a natural part of the discussion process

Predicting Ask students: “Make a prediction about the future content of this passage”

Basic Procedures 1.Teacher or student readers assigned passage silently 2.Then, ask a question that a teacher or test might ask on this segment 3.Summarize the content 4.Discuss/clarify content, as needed 5.Finally, make a prediction about the future content

Acquisition of Question-Asking Charles, 7 th grade minority student, (IQ=70), reading comprehension was 3 rd grade level Sara, 7 th grade competent student Initially, Charles could not formulate questions at all Sara’s questions were classified primarily as inventions

Comparison Graph of Study 1 See last page of packet

Next Month’s Plans Bring your ideas, questions, successes, failures with reciprocal teaching We’ll share and discuss what worked & what didn’t

Science Teacher Models RT Shared Reading of an informational text Small group setting Uses reciprocal teaching model Her students are early in the RT process (not ready to student-lead) She uses Think-Aloud strategies also