Reciprocal Teaching.pdf - CTE - Online Learning Management System

Content Area: English – Novel
Topic of lesson: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Rationale of lesson: Students will examine through a variety of print, non-print, electronic, and other
media the effects of “cultural integration” described in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, an Asian American
author, to develop their understanding of and grapple with the conflicts inherent in the fusion of Chinese
and American cultures as well as to explore the themes, motifs, and symbolism in mother-daughter
relationships.
Acknowledgment of Content Expert and Consultants: Pam Mayette and Dr. Mary Ellen Beatty-O‟Ferrall
Type of strategy/approach: Reciprocal Teaching
Purpose of using strategy/approach: Use reciprocal teaching through comprehension strategy instruction
to improve reading and listening comprehension by teaching students to utilize four strategies usually
used by expert readers to improve how students interact with the text and to develop their problemsolving
skills.
How to implement strategy:
Materials needed: copies of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan in the unabridged text version,
abridged sound recording (of the author published by Dove Audio in 1989 available on two
cassette tapes or an audio compact disk running 3 hours long), and the movie version released by
Hollywood Pictures in 1993; Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment; Scoring Key for
Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment; Reciprocal teaching slide; and Reciprocal
teaching poster (at least one); copies of Reciprocal teaching pamphlet that can fit on an index card;
index cards; glue sticks; tape; overhead projector or computer with projector; pencils and or pens;
note card (with one of the following four roles written on it: Questioner, Clarifier, Predictor, and
Summarizer and the Reciprocal teaching pamphlet on the other); Reciprocal teaching note taking
sheet; Reciprocal teaching worksheet; model talking aloud using all four strategies below; a model
of completing a reciprocal teaching worksheet; a model of completing reciprocal teaching note
taking sheet; English journals or pieces of paper; computer(s) with Microsoft Excel software; graph
paper, pencils; colored markers; highlighters; dictionary in book form; and computers providing
access to dictionary over the Internet.
Step-by-step instructions:
1. Plan on students spending time building their background information in order to raise
their interest/motivation to learn about the main topics of The Joy Luck Club, which are the
American immigrant experience, culture (specifically the Chinese culture), and motherdaughter
relationships.
a. Accordingly provide meaningful opportunities for students to develop background
knowledge of China, Chinese culture, Chinese American immigrants during the 1930s,
and the Chinese-American lifestyle and culture in San Francisco, California, which is the
setting for The Joy Luck Club.
1) Direct students to take a “virtual field trip” to San Francisco over the Internet, so the
students can picture the neighborhood, the historic sites, and remarkable vistas.
2) Post a map of San Francisco on the classroom wall so that the students can see

Chinatown and where the characters in the story lived.
3) Encourage students to share their experiences and personal knowledge about
relatives in their families who have immigrated, their understanding of culture, and
the relationships of the students (e.g., boys as well as girls) with their mother and
grandmothers through class and small group activities.
2. In preparation for a lesson on reading and comprehending The Joy Luck Club using
Reciprocal Teaching, collect data on each student‟s reading comprehension by giving a
reading assessment.
a. Have the students read a passage immediately following the heading “Feathers from a
Thousand Li Away” (which is 389 words long) on page 17 of the paperback version of
The Joy Luck Club (To view online, go to http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Luck-Club-Amy-
Tan/dp/0143038095/ref=roscitrea-20#reader_0143038095).
b. Provide each student with the Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment.
c. Tell the students to read the passage and then complete the Joy Luck Club Reading
Comprehension Assessment.
d. Note that the students can leave the novel open for use during the assessment.
e. For the first 3 responses, tell the students to pretend they are the teacher and to create
three “good” questions about the passage.
f. For the next 5 responses, tell the students to answer the short questions which will
require the students to find the information in the text; although this is not traditionally
a measure of reading comprehension, this ability to identify correct information in text is
an essential skill each student needs to acquire to be able to complete work
independently (Lederer, 2000).
g. Lastly, direct the students to summarize (not list) the main points of the passage.
h. Tell the students to complete all blanks on the assessment form.
i. Allow 30 minutes for the students to read the passage and complete the Joy Luck Club
Reading Comprehension Assessment.
j. Use Scoring Key for Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment to assess student
performance.
k. Then discuss results with each student individually and obtain a written commitment
from student to learn Reciprocal Teaching so that the student improves her or his ability
to comprehend text.
3. Discuss that in order to read effectively a student must learn how to interact with the text to
discern what the author is conveying both directly and indirectly.
a. Note that good readers have learned more than one strategy or trick to help them
comprehend what they will read.
b. Emphasize that while reading skilled readers will question what they read, summarize
what the main points are, identify and clarify what did not make sense, and predict what
will come next.
c. Tell the students that they will be learning a reading activity to improve their reading
and listening comprehension by utilizing four strategies usually used by expert readers
to improve how students interact with the text and to develop their problem-solving
skills.
d. By learning how to implement Reciprocal Teaching, each student will become more
confident in their reading skills and may use it in other courses.
4. Then discuss and assist each student set her or his goals for learning the four strategies
utilized during Reciprocal Teaching with specific date for completing phases of training.
Plan on teaching Reciprocal Teaching during 45-min classes over the course of several weeks until
the students no longer require your support.

YOUR ROLE
5. Assist each student to set quality and quantity goals with respect her or his reading
comprehension.
6. Create an slide and poster as follows:
Reciprocal Teaching
Question-generating (e.g., who, what, when, where, and how)
Summarizing (Follow 5 rules:
1) Delete trivia,
2) Delete redundancy,
3) Superordinate, and
4) Select topic sentence or
5) Invent topic sentence.)
Clarifying (Identify and clarify what does not make sense.)
Predicting (next paragraph or segment of text)
DISPLAYED
ON OTHER
SIDE �
Switch roles after each
paragraph or passage by
passing your role card to
the person to your right.
7. While displaying the slide to the students on a whiteboard by a computer, tell the students
that Reciprocal Teaching is composed of four strategies.
8. Describe Reciprocal Teaching through each of the four strategies utilized (questiongenerating,
summarizing, clarifying, and predicting), the general situations where
Reciprocal Teaching can be used (to improve reading and listening comprehension), the
benefits the students can expect from learning and utilizing Reciprocal Teaching (improve
the quality of your content knowledge), and the guidelines, cautions, or exceptions for using
Reciprocal Teaching, such as when students will watch a DVD of The Joy Luck Club or listen
to a tape recording of The Joy Luck Club or their classmate reads it aloud.
9. Describe, and model talking aloud each strategy to be incorporated in Reciprocal Teaching
emphasizing that as the students gradually assume the teaching role working with their
classmates and the teacher in small groups to comprehend what they read in the novel,
discussions with classmates will increase and discussions with the teacher will decrease.
a. Note that the first strategy is question-generating with regard to the main idea so that a
student must create four or five questions a teacher might ask to assess what the student

knows about a paragraph or segment of a text.
1) Emphasize that a student will understand the text read more thoroughly if she or he
creates questions about the material read and then self-tests using those questions.
2) Note that a student must identify the concepts mentioned in the text by asking and
answering who, what, when, where, and how questions.
3) Model how to identify main points in the novel using the passage immediately
following the heading “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away” (which is 389 words
long) on page 17 of the paperback version of The Joy Luck Club (which is the passage
each student read for the reading comprehension assessment).
4) Model how to ask others in one‟s small group for information that would help a
student„s understanding as well as the understanding of others in one‟s group.
b. Note that the second strategy is summarizing wherein a student must integrate the
content of the novel across paragraphs and sections in the passage follow the following
five rules:
1) Delete trivia,
2) Delete redundancy,
3) Superordinate (so that subcategories are subsumed under a more comprehensive
category) , and
4) Select topic sentence or
5) Invent topic sentence where one was not explicitly stated in a paragraph or segment.
a) Model how to put the main points in the novel together in summary form using
the passage immediately following the heading “Feathers from a Thousand Li
Away” (which is 389 words long) on page 17 of the paperback version of The Joy
Luck Club (which is the passage each student read for the reading comprehension
assessment).
c. Note that the third strategy is clarifying wherein a student is to identify what does not
make sense to the student with the goal of clarifying it.
1) Model recognizing why the text may be difficult to comprehend, such as exposure to
new concepts, unfamiliar vocabulary, and obscure associations within the text.
2) Model talking aloud how a student will anticipate barriers to understanding the
author‟s intended meaning and act by rereading the text, using context for
identifying the meaning of an unfamiliar word, asking for help, looking up a word in
the dictionary, etc.
d. Note the fourth strategy is predicting wherein a student is to predict what the next topic
might be in the next paragraph or segment of text.
1) Model how to use the main points and summary of the passage immediately
following the heading “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away” (which is 389 words
long) on page 17 of the paperback version of The Joy Luck Club (which is the passage
each student read for the reading comprehension assessment) to predict where the
story will go.
10. Divide the students into heterogeneous groups of four and assign one of the following
reciprocal teaching roles to each student.
a. Questioner
b. Summarizer
c. Clarifier
d. Predictor
11. Tell students to get into their assigned groups.
12. Distribute one note card (with one of the four roles written on it on one side with the
Reciprocal Teaching slide cited above on the other side) to each member of the group
identifying each person's unique role.

13. Hand out a Reciprocal teaching note taking sheet and a Reciprocal teaching worksheet to
each student.
14. Direct the students to read a passage of three to four pages in four chunks of paragraph by
paragraph depending upon her or his reading level while completing the Reciprocal
teaching note taking sheet followed by the Reciprocal teaching worksheet.
15. Note that the segments will be read silently, orally by students, or orally by the teacher
depending on the decoding ability of each student.
16. Note that each student will take notes using the Reciprocal teaching note taking sheet to
complete the Reciprocal teaching worksheet.
17. Following the reading of each chunk or paragraph of the chapter, ask each student to think
of a question or questions that could be asked about the selection, such as if there were
e. unclear parts,
f. puzzling information,
g. connections to other concepts already learned, and
h. motivations of the characters, agents, or actors, etc.
18. Call on one student to provide a question.
19. Model how to refine the question.
20. Encourage others to join in refining the question or raising another question.
21. Note that later the Questioner within each group will undertake this role.
22. Model how to summarize the chunk or paragraph that has just been read in accordance
with the five rules.
23. Encourage the students to refine the summary.
24. Note that later the Summarizer within each group will summarize the passage.
25. Model how to identify and make sense of confusing parts (including words, associations, or
concepts) of the passage read it.
26. Encourage the students to assist in identifying what does not make sense to them with the
goal of clarifying it.
27. Note that later the Clarifier within each group will undertake this role.
28. Model how to think ahead and predict what the author will be sharing next and where the
narrative will take the reader.
29. Encourage the students to assist in predicting the plot in the next section of the novel.
30. Note that later the Predictor within each group will undertake this role.
31. Note as you teach the four strategies to your students the importance of modeling the four
comprehension strategies in context with the text being used for class so that the students
recognize the value of each strategy while you gradually transfer the responsibility for
applying each strategy to the students providing encouraging feedback and ongoing
evaluation.
32. Repeat this process for each paragraph or section having the students switch roles by
passing the role card each possesses to the person to the right.
33. Guide and support the groups and group members to learn how to implement the strategies
and undertake all four roles decreasing your leadership until each group can perform
reciprocal teaching entirely without the need for support and involvement.
34. Direct students to glue a copy of Reciprocal Teaching on to index cards with a glue stick
and then tape the index cards to her or his desk or in their English journal.
35. Tell students that they must memorize the strategies included in Reciprocal Teaching so
remind them to work on learning how to utilize all four strategies throughout the
days/weeks of learning Reciprocal Teaching.
36. Note that over time students will phase out their need to refer to Reciprocal Teaching taped
on the student‟s desk or in the student‟s English journal and on a poster in the classroom
and to use Reciprocal Teaching.

37. Have student self-assess their reading comprehension using the Scoring Key for Joy Luck
Club Reading Comprehension Assessment to evaluate their comprehension on a passage
deeper in the Joy Luck Club after several weeks of learning Reciprocal Teaching.
38. Using technology, teach each student how to chart her or his performance using an Excel
spreadsheet recording the sums earned on each of the three elements rated, i.e., created
questions, answers to questions, and summaries. Have students use graph paper if using
Excel is not an option.
39. Chart collected data from students and data you collected through observation.
40. Review data from student and the data you collected with student independently.
41. Congratulate students on their hard work, and review with them their goals for next time.
42. You may wish to have students volunteer to read their summaries to the class or post the
summaries for all students.
43. Assist students in generalizing the use of Reciprocal Teaching by first leading a discussion
with the students to identify and plan to use the strategy in other settings, second having
the students try Reciprocal Teaching in other settings and report back to class, and plan to
have students use Reciprocal Teaching at other times during class.
References for exemplar:
Bottomley, D., & Osborn, J. (1993). Implementing reciprocal teaching with fourth- and fifth- grade students in
content area reading (Technical Report No. 586). Champaign, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, Center for the Study of Reading.
Lederer, J. M. (2000). Reciprocal teaching of social studies in inclusive elementary classrooms. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 33, 91-106.
Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and
comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1, 117-175.
Palincsar, A. S., Brown, A. L., & Martin, S. M. (1987). Peer interaction in reading comprehension
instruction. Educational Psychologist, 22, 231-253.
Websites for exemplar:
Regan, K., & Mastropieri, M. A. (2009). Current practice alert 17: Self-regulated strategy development
(SRSD) for writing. Arlington, VA: Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) and Division for
Research (DR) of the Council for Exceptional Children. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from
http://www.teachingld.org
University of Kansas‟ Special connections: Adaptations for writing at
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgibin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=instruction&section=main&subsection=writing/adaptations
University of Kansas‟ Special connections: Revising strategies at
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgibin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=instruction&section=main&subsection=writing/revise
What Works Clearinghouse: Adolescent literacy: Intervention: Reciprocal teaching (September 2010) at
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/rec_teach/index.asp
(noting reciprocal teaching was found to have mixed results from medium to large effects on the

comprehension of adolescent learners)
Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment:
Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment*
Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________
1. List 3 good questions to ask about this passage?
a. ___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
2. Answer the following questions:
a. What did the market vendor say about the swan?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
b. Why was it important to the old woman to give the swan to
her daughter?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
c. What did the old woman think about the swan after going
through American customs?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
d. Was the old woman able to give her daughter the swan?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
e. What do you think the old woman will say to her daughter
about the swan?

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. Write a brief summary of the section you read today.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
(*Adapted from sample in Lederer, J. M. (2000). Reciprocal teaching of social studies in
inclusive elementary classrooms. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33, 91-106.)

Scoring Key for Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment:
Scoring Joy Luck Club Reading Comprehension Assessment**
Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________
RESPONSES TO
MEASURES:
KEY TO
CREATED
QUESTIONS:
1a.
1b.
1c.
KEY TO
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS:
2a.
2b.
2c.
2d.
2e.
KEY TO
SUMMARIES:
3.
-0.5
Lack of clarity;
obvious
misunderstanding; or
badly-formed
question
-0.5
-0.5
-0.5
-0.5
Obvious lack of
clarity; difficult to
interpret, yet still
interpretable; or very
weakly formed (If
student only lists
topics, the student
earns a 1 plus -0.5 for
overall score of 0.5.)
-0.5
0
Nonsense, irrelevant,
or not text-based;
incorrect or
inaccurate; formatted
in statement form;
topic of question not
clear or obvious;
question does not
make sense
0
0
0
0
Not correct
0
0
0
0
0
0
No response,
incorrect, or simple
restatement of title;
undecipherable
0
SCALES OF MEASURES: SUBTOTALS:
1
Vague question about
the general topic
1
1
1
1
Partially correct
1
1
1
1
1
1
Contains 1 of the
main or bolded points
(Note: general topic
alone should not be
counted as an idea.)
1
2
Specific, detailed, and
text-based; question
about something that
is not a main idea
2
2
2
2
Correct
2
2
2
2
2
2
Contains 2 or 3 main
or bolded points; if
the answered
questions are strung
together in summary
2
3
About main idea in
text or a bolded
concept
3
3
3
3
Contains more than 3
main or bolded points
3

OVERALL SCORE:
(**Adapted from Lederer, J. M. (2000). Reciprocal teaching of social studies in inclusive elementary classrooms.
Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33, 91-106.)
YOUR ROLE
Reciprocal teaching pamphlet:
Reciprocal Teaching
Question-generating (e.g., who, what, when, where, and how)
Summarizing (Follow 5 rules:
1) Delete trivia,
2) Delete redundancy,
3) Superordinate, and
4) Select topic sentence or
5) Invent topic sentence.)
Clarifying (Identify and clarify what does not make sense.)
Predicting (next paragraph or segment of text)
DISPLAYED
ON OTHER
SIDE �
Switch roles after each
paragraph or passage by
passing your role card to
the person to your right.

Reciprocal teaching note taking sheet:
Name: ______________________________________________ Date: __________________
Novel
Parts
Part 1
Questioner Summarizer Clarifier Predictor
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Reciprocal teaching worksheet:
Reciprocal Teaching Worksheet*
Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________
1. List 3 good questions to ask about the material you read today.
a. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
2. Main heading of section read today:
________________________________________________________________
3. Introduction:
a. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
4. Subheading (if any):
________________________________________________________
5. Main points:
a. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

(*Adapted from sample in Lederer, J. M. (2000). Reciprocal teaching of social studies in inclusive
elementary classrooms. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33, 91-106.)
Model of talking aloud how to apply Reciprocal Teaching using the passage immediately
following the heading “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away” (which is 389 words long) on
page 17 of the paperback version of The Joy Luck Club (which is the passage each student
read for the reading comprehension assessment) at http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Luck-Club-
Amy-Tan/dp/0143038095/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294774608&sr=8-1#reader_0143038095:
Question-generating
First Cycle/Paragraph: Ask,
“Who is the old woman? All that can be determined by the first paragraph is that this
person is a woman who bought in Shanghai a swan from a seller who told a story about the
swan she purchased.”
“What does „vendor‟ mean? A „vendor‟ is a person who sells goods.”
“When did the old woman buy the swan? She bought it „many years ago‟ �a long time
ago.”
“Where is Shanghai? Shanghai is in China.
“How much is „a foolish sum?‟ „A foolish sum‟ would be more money than it is worth.”
Summarizing
First Cycle/Paragraph:
“As I summarize the paragraph, I am going to make sure that I follow the 5 summarizing
rules:
1) Delete trivia,
2) Delete redundancy,
3) Superordinate, and
4) Select topic sentence or
5) Invent topic sentence.
An old Chinese woman bought a swan for too much money from a seller who said the swan
was once a duck. In an attempt to become a goose, the swan stretched its neck and exceeded
its own hopes and became a swan.”
Clarifying
First Cycle/Paragraph:
“Was the vendor telling the truth or a story? It was a story because the vendor told the story
to emphasize the swan‟s beauty drawing attention from the fact that it was not a tasty bird
like a duck to eat.”
Predicting
First Cycle/Paragraph:
“I predict the story will continue to focus on what happened to the Chinese woman and her
swan.”

Model of completing reciprocal teaching note taking sheet:
Name: Colin Richards________________________________ Date: December 18, 2010____
Novel
Parts
Part 1
Questioner Summarizer Clarifier Predictor
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
- Who is the old woman?
All that can be
determined by the first
paragraph is that this
person is a woman
bought in Shanghai a
swan from a seller who
told a story about the
swan she purchased.
- What does “vendor”
mean? A “vendor” is a
person who sells goods.
- When did the old
woman buy the swan?
She bought it “many
years ago” �a long
time ago.
- Where is Shanghai?
Shanghai is in China.
- How much is “a foolish
sum?” “A foolish sum”
would be more money
than it is worth.
An old Chinese
woman bought a
swan for too much
money from a
seller who said the
swan was once a
duck. In an
attempt to become
a goose, the swan
stretched its neck
and exceeded its
own hopes and
became a swan.
Was the vendor
telling the truth or
a story? It was a
story because the
vendor told the
story to emphasize
the swan’s beauty
drawing attention
from the fact that
it was not a tasty
bird like a duck to
eat.
I predict the story
will continue to
focus on what
happened to the
Chinese woman
and her swan.

Model of completing a reciprocal teaching worksheet:
Reciprocal Teaching Worksheet*
Name: Colin Richards_____________________________ Date: December 18, 2010
1. List 3 good questions to ask about the material you read today.
a. What does “vendor”mean?
b. Where is Shanghai?
c. How much is “a foolish sum?”
2. Main heading of section read today:
“Feathers from a Thousand Li Away”
3. Introduction:
a. The Joy Luck Club begins with the memory of an old woman
about a vendor who told her a tale about a swan she bought
in Shanghai.
b. The tale emphasized the beauty of the bird rather than its
taste.
4. Subheading (if any):
________________________________________________________
5. Main points:
a. An old woman was once in Shanghai.
b. In Shanghai, she bought a swan from a vendor.
c. The old woman paid too more than the swan was worth.
d. The vendor made up a story about the swan once being a
duck who attempted to be a goose by stretching its neck.
e. The story drew the woman’s attention toward the swan’s
beauty and away from the fact that it was not a tasty bird
like a duck or goose to eat.

(*Adapted from sample in Lederer, J. M. (2000). Reciprocal teaching of social studies in inclusive
elementary classrooms. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33, 91-106.)