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Main Question:

How do teachers describe their experiences using the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy (Palincsar, 1984) in their classrooms?

Subquestions:

How do teachers use technology to support their use of this strategy?

How do teachers incorporate other literacy strategies, such as annotation, into the reciprocal teaching strategy?

To what extent is the reciprocal teaching strategy an effective practice for reading texts in a whole group setting?

Can technology be helpful in teaching students the strategies that make up RT?

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This is the strategy that anchors our reading processes in the classroom.

I have not been adequately trained in using this strategy so I have little background knowledge on how it's supposed to work and in what context.

I have had a hard time implementing the strategy at the pace in which I'm expected to.

I want to know how and if other teachers have been struggling in the ways I do.

I wonder if technology can make implementing the strategy easier?

I want to know what other teachers have done to teach students the subskills needed in order to successfully complete the protocol.

When we think critically about the strategies we use in the classroom, especially when we do this thinking in community, we emerge from the conversation with a deeper understanding of how to improve our students' reading and writing skills.

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My background knowledge for this study is informed by my experience as a newer classroom teacher -- I just finished year three. I am also informed by the research, some of which is cited below, and the discussions I've had with fellow teachers. Through observing my students and doing my own reflective writing, many questions emerge for me, but one of the main ones is: Are we teaching texts the right way? Is there even a right way?

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Palinscar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension-Monitoring Activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175.

https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci0102_1

The article by Palincsar and Brown, alongside their pilot study, is the origin of the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy. Palincsar and Brown present reciprocal teaching as an effective instructional method for improving comprehension skills, emphasizing six key functions and four concrete activities embedded in dialogue between students and teachers.

With a mixed methods approach, the study demonstrates the efficacy of reciprocal teaching in enhancing comprehension, underscoring collaborative dialogue's importance for fostering understanding and metacognition. My research proposal seeks to explore teachers' perspectives on reciprocal teaching, their attitudes towards integrating technology, and the role of annotation in enhancing comprehension and engagement, aiming to contribute valuable insights into effective pedagogical strategies for fostering reading comprehension and metacognitive skills in students.

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Okkinga, M., Steensel, R., Gelderen, A. J. S., & Sleegers, P. J. C. (2018). Effects of reciprocal teaching on reading comprehension of low‐achieving adolescents. The importance of specific teacher skills. Journal of Research in Reading, 41(1), 20–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12082

This study investigates the impact of reciprocal teaching on low-achieving adolescents' reading comprehension in a whole-classroom setting, exploring the role of teacher skills in implementing this strategy. It employs a quantitative, somewhat experimental design, comparing outcomes between students who received reciprocal teaching and those who received regular instruction, while assessing teacher skills through observations and discussions. The findings underscore the importance of teacher training and effective implementation for improving reading comprehension. The training needs to be extensive and rigorous.

I plan to use this study to inform my research because I am aiming to explore teacher perspectives on the strategy and incorporate more data and information, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and classroom recordings, to enrich our understanding of reciprocal teaching's impact on student participation and growth. I also wonder how reciprocal teaching can be used to foster literary analysis.

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Since I am interested in understanding how other teachers feel, I would start off by giving them a survey. Then from the survey information, I would narrow down the teachers I want to work with/study. I would then set up times where I can do the following:

Observe the teacher(s) using the strategy and take field notes

Discuss/debrief their strategy use

Interview the teacher(s) regarding their use; after progress monitoring assessments would also be a good time to conduct such interviews.

Facilitate a series of group discussions, possibly focus groups, where we discuss:

strategy use

how we feel while using it

student progress

digital tools used during the process

adaptations if any are made

I'm also thinking of a lesson study approach. If one of the primary foci of the RT strategy is student discourse, how can we examine our lessons as a community so that they encourage talk.

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1. Reciprocal Teaching Survey (Google Form)

2. Classroom Observations of teacher(s) using the strategy.

1. Need an observation instrument/scheme

2. Need to focus on technology use

3. Teacher debriefing sessions and interviews

4. Focus Group with multiple teachers who have used the strategy

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MAIN QUESTION

I feel like digital literacy is not at the forefront of this study, is there a way I can make it a more central focus? Or is it present enough? It is a gap in the studies I've read so far.

The more research I do on the subject, the greater understanding I gather about the strategy; which makes me feel like my research questions are dissolving....After reading more about the strategy and implementation, I have more questions about the role technology plays in simplifying and presenting RT than anything else.

I think I also need to accept that there isn't going to be one solution or cure-all to the struggles my students have with basic skills, even my "advanced" and/or "gifted" students struggle with summarizing. My research question serves as more of a call for better curricular construction than anything else.

I may have more specific research questions about how technology can be used to promote classroom discussion between/among students. As Okkinga, et. al. established, the teachers in their study did not reach the threshold by which they could help students have meaningful dialogue while also using the RT strategies. This becomes even more challenging in a whole-class setting.

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Screenshot from my district's curriculum resource materials. This is the student-facing resource known as a placemat, that explains each part of the Reciprocal Teaching (RT) protocol.

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1a) Personal Experience with Reciprocal Teaching

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1a) Personal Experience with Reciprocal Teaching

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Every time I come up with a research question, I always fall back into thinking about how time and pacing works in the classroom. I am not against the strategy so much as I am concerned by the pace at which we are expecting students to complete these strategies that have complex skills involved within them. This is the first text we are reading in our class and this is also the first time we are supposed to be teaching and using the strategy with students. The gradual release of responsibility is in place but why aren't we starting with a simpler text at first?

Moreover, I think establishing an understanding of the text is quite important but what about a deeper analysis -- this is what today's assessments are looking for and I am wondering how we can maximize this protocol or implement tools that help our students gather things like the importance of figurative language.

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Influence Definition: An instructional strategy which aims to foster better reading comprehension and to monitor students who struggle with comprehension. The strategy contains four steps: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. It is "reciprocal" in that students and the teacher take turns leading a dialogue about the text in question, asking questions following each of the four steps.

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Problematizing Palincsar and Brown (1984)

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Problematizing Palincsar and Brown (1984)

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It's important to note that Palincsar and Brown conducted their study within small groups of students but the expectation in my district is that RT be implemented in a whole class setting.

This raises many questions about behaviors that may limit dialogue (Okkinga et. al., 2018) as well as what monitoring tools can be used support teachers as they work with multiple groups of students. Moreover, what tools are teachers being given to support students while they dialogue with their small groups? This 2018 study combined with my own personal experience is what started it all for me.

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Can a document (or study?) that presents the challenges with helping students engage with texts through RT (and dialogue) produce better professional development opportunities for the teachers?

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**SIDENOTE: I still have many questions about annotation in the classroom but I'm not sure it fits within the parameters of this question, right now. The only reason why it comes up for me is because annotation, specifically highlighting is also a major component of our district curriculum. It's usually a second close read protocol.

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Reciprocal Teaching with Multimedia - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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Shifting from teacher-led to student-led learning requires that teachers equip students with the skills necessary to assume responsibility for specific learning activities in the classroom. It also necessates that teachers release some of the control in a lesson and trust that with the right scaffolding and support, students can drive the learning experience.