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
9
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