Joan M. Miller, Ph.D. Professor of Education Mount Saint Mary College Newburgh, NY

 a proven strategy  originally designed (by Palincsar and Brown) for junior high students in remedial reading classes.  shown to work with a range of students from 4 th grade through beginning college.  that works with expository and narrative text.  that is focused on metacognitive learning. 2

 predicting  summarizing  clarifying  questioning 3

 students use the four strategies again and again for each section of the passage they’re reading; essential  students use the four strategies in small groups in which dialogue is an essential element;  students take turns leading the discussion; and  the teacher participates as a member of the group, serving MOSTLY as an expert model of applying the four strategies. 4

 social learning theory  cooperative learning  peer tutoring  constructivism  self-monitoring  scaffolding 5

 Teaching a variety of strategies is “most promising” for instruction in comprehension.  The following instructional strategies have a “firm scientific basis” for improving comprehension in normal readers:  cooperative learning  graphic organizers  question answering  question generation  story structure  summarization  comprehension monitoring 6

 An effect size (d) of 1.0 for a particular variable means ◦ an increase of one standard deviation on whatever is being measured. ◦ a typical growth of two to three years in children’s achievement, aka improving learning rate by 50%. ◦ students receiving that treatment would score better than 84% of students not receiving that treatment.  In general, we can interpret effect sizes of 0.2 or less as low, 0.4 as medium, and 0.6 or more as high.  Reference: Miller, G. (n.d.) 7

on reciprocal teaching:  ES =.33 on standardized reading tests a  ES =.88 on experimenter-designed tests of comprehension a ◦ a Rosenshine & Meister’s 1994 review of 16 studies on reading comprehension programs:  ES = 0.74 b  ranks 11 out of 150 influences on education b ◦ b Hattie’s (2012) summary of meta-analyses in education 8

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 Students make one or two predictions for the first/next section. new  If they’re starting a new passage, ◦ students base their predictions on text cues + background knowledge continuing  If they’re continuing with a passage, ◦ students base their predictions on what they’ve read so far + background knowledge. 10

main idea  Students learn to paraphrase the main idea of the section they just read.  Typically, the summary should be one sentence – no details. ==============================  IF necessary, we can teach a subroutine for summarizing: 1. Cross out trivia. 2. Delete redundancies. 3. If there are lists of examples, think of a category title. 4. Start thinking with the topic sentence (if there is one). 5. Invent a topic sentence if there isn’t one. (Brown & Day, 1983) 11

 Students learn to self-monitor their own comprehension. They are taught to EXPECT and WATCH FOR parts of the passage that they don’t understand.  These problems (“clunks”) might be ◦ words they can’t read ◦ words they can read but don’t understand, or ◦ whole ideas they don’t understand.  Once they run into a problem, they use fix-up strategies to figure it out. 12

 Students learn to ask and answer “teacher- type” questions (aka “quiz” questions). They try to ◦ predict what questions the teacher might put on a test and then make sure they can answer them. ◦ ask higher-order questions more often than lower-order questions.  This one takes a LOT of modeling and support. 13

 Basic sequence: ◦ explain ◦ model (“I do”) ◦ guided practice (“we do”  “you do”) 15

 cue cards  sentence stems a, “ Start with, ‘I think we will learn that …’”  prompting b, " What question did you think a teacher might ask?”  instruction b, " Remember, a summary is a shortened version; it doesn't include detail.”  modifying the activity b, " If you're having a hard time thinking of a question, why don't you summarize first?"  specific praise b : ◦ “ You asked that question well; it was very clear what information you wanted." ◦ “Excellent prediction; let's see if you're right." ◦ "That was interesting information. It was information that I would call detail in the passage. Can you find the most important information?" ( a Oczkus, 2005; b Palincsar & Brown, 1984) 16

LOT  Use a LOT of modeling and thinking aloud as one of the group: ◦ “A question I would ask would be..." ◦ "I would summarize by saying …” ◦ “Did you find this statement unclear? I did.”  The teacher’s primary job is to be an “expert” thinker/comprehender. 17

clearly  Research clearly calls for students to complete the following repeatedly: ◦ predicting, ◦ summarizing ◦ questioning  There is less evidence for clarifying.  However … (my experience) 18

IS  It IS important to activate prior knowledge before beginning any new passage. IS  It IS important to appoint a “teacher” for each section. NOT  It is NOT important to assign specific people to specific strategies (e.g., “the summarizer,” “the questioner,” etc.), even though it’s commonly done. 19

IS  It IS important that students orally complete each strategy. NOT  It is NOT important that students write any responses.  There are many cue cards, bookmarks, etc. available online to use with student.  You can evaluate individuals’ progress using the “four-door” technique (Oczkus, 2005). 20

 I was surprised at how easy it was to use; also, how easily the kids adapted to (it).  Their eventual enjoyment of it, their desire to be more creative with their learning.  I learned how to engage my students to ask better questions. They can now self-regulate responses. I also learned how to model thinking aloud while including the students and their responses. 21

 I was surprised at how quickly the students picked up on the reciprocal teaching.  I was amazed that they actually enjoyed it. They took control of the reading and helped their peers.  Effective. They enjoy it.  They were able to independently complete the RT model by themselves.  The students were actually able to sit long enough and do it. They were able to “take over” and run the class. 22

 How eager the students are to be involved with the process, i.e., fighting over who gets to be the summarizer.  The thing that surprised me was that the students were willing to participate and effectively use the strategy in core subjects. FROM TWO STUDENTS  I’m not really good at questions because when people say, “Give me a question,” I don’t know. … I am good clarify, summarize, and predict.  I improve really good … and I really don’t have anything to improve. 23

Brown, A.L., & Day, J.D. (1983). Macrorules for summarizing texts: The development of expertise. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22(1), Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers. London: Routledge. Miller, G. (n.d.). Visible learning by John Hattie (2009). Retrieved January 14, 2013 from Rosenshine, B., Meister, C., & Chapman, S. (1996). Teaching students to generate questions: A review of the intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 66(2), 181. Stricklin, K. (2011). Hands-on reciprocal teaching: A comprehension technique. Reading Teacher, 64(8), Torgesen, J.K., Houston, D.D., Rissman, L.M., Decker, S.M., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Francis, D.J., Rivera, M.O. (2007). Academic literacy instruction for adolescents: A guidance document from the Center on Instruction. Center on Instruction for K-12 Reading, Math, and Science. Portsmouth, NH 25

 JeE JeE  KaCQ KaCQ  wts wts 26