1. 1 Names: Georgia Papaleventi, Penny GkerzeliWhich of the four face-to-face institute or Elluminate session topics did you select to report on and why? The topic selected to report on is Reciprocal Teaching, that was included in the “Engaging Children in Collaborative Literacy Learning” session (Pamela Mason, 12/12/2009). This choice was based on the fact that we found it relevant and applicable to our reader’s series.(Oxford Reading Tree, Oxford University Press)With whom did you pilot this new practice and at what grade level did you undertake your pilot? Georgia Papaleventi, Penny Gkerzeli (En teachers) Grade Level:2 nd Grade (age 7-8) Making Reading Fun for Students

2. 2 Connections with Colleagues Connections with Colleagues We agreed that our literature lessons required summarizing, questioning, clarifying and predicting strategies enhancement, in order to make the text more meaningful to the students. We both wanted to monitor their reading to ensure that they understand what they read. We came up with relevant activities for the four strategies (summarizing, questioning, clarifying and predicting) e.g. for the summarizing strategy we provided the students with a fill in the gap activity, as their level is not adequate enough to write by themselves a whole summary in L2 (second language).

3. 3 Successes Successes Even the less confident students felt more comfortable and therefore their participation was improved. It was an effective way to attract our students’ attention and make them more interested in reading. The lesson became more playful while using puppets, flashcards and drawings.

4. 4 Challenges Challenges There were students that were less active during group activities, while others behaved as “leaders”. Some unfamiliar words were difficult to be clarified without using their L1(mother tongue). However, we overcame this obstacle by using appropriate flashcards.

5. 5 Next Steps Next Steps We will try to break down the summarizing strategy in order to make our students feel more independent when dealing with such activities. We will use more visual resources (e.g. photos taken from everyday life situations) and therefore find it easier to generate students’ questions. We are going to put “literature circles” reading strategy into practice for all books, as we have already used it once.