Reciprocal Teaching Essay

The Benefits of Reciprocal Teaching and Its Impacts on Student Learning

Our job, as educators, is to create an atmosphere in which students learn and thrive. It is a goal of every teacher to be efficient in guiding students through the learning process, all the while instilling within them the means to succeed. It has become clear that one of the most important ways an educator can do this is by helping students learn to not only read, but to understand what they’re reading as well. Learning to read and comprehend is an important skill that is used consistently throughout everyday life. It is not only used for discovering new things and expanding the imaginations of readers everywhere, but it is also a vital tool in communicating during day-to-day activities. One way that teachers can accommodate students with the gift of reading, is by introducing students to literacy strategies that can help them make reading an easier and more enjoyable task. Luckily, there is a wide variety of strategies that an educator can use, but the one that I will focus on is known as reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching is an activity where both the student and the teacher share the role of “teacher.” The students help guide discussions and their own learning by using four strategies:

When one makes a prediction, you make a guess as to what the content of the text is based on clues the author provides. Predictions can begin as soon as a reader views a cover, or reads an introduction. As a student reads, they will either confirm or revise their prediction. They might even make other predictions. A teacher 's role is to model how to predict for students by looking and noting the title, author, cover illustrations (if using a book), and illustrations or graphics within the text. It is important to model for students how to use clues from the text to make predictions as well (Glass, C., and V. Zygouris-Coe.