What: Reciprocal teaching is a scaffold discussion technique that incorporates four strategies, predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. Good readers use a combination of all of these strategies to comprehend text.
 

Who: Reciprocal teaching can be used in grades K-12 using any subject specific text.

When: This strategy can be used during whole group instruction with students divided in collaborative learning groups.

How: First, the teacher will review the four processes that will be used in the strategy. These will be the roles that students fulfill during the activity. The teacher will divide students into groups of four and they will determine who wants to fulfill each role. The teacher will distribute materials to complete the activity. The goal of reciprocal teaching it to get students to remember the purpose of each role, so they can use the strategies independently.

Reciprocal Teaching Roles

Predictor: Helps the students to anticipate what will be discussed in the text.

Questioner: Requires students to generate and ask questions about the passage.

Clarifier: Helps students focus on what makes the selection difficult to understand.

Summarizer: Requires students to restate what they have read in their own words.