Complete Lesson Plan for 
Reciprocal Teaching

SOL:  Science  5.5  The student will investigate and understand that organisms are made of cells and have distinguishing characteristics.   Key concepts include  * parts of a cell;  *5 kingdoms of living things; *vascular and non vascular plants; and *vertebrates and invertebrates
 

Step 1:
Activate prior knowledge, predictions, tell why reasoning is important

Teacher:  Today, we are going to learn about animals.  I am sure
that each of you can name an animal and tell a characteristic of
that animal.  (Wait for student responses)  Now, I want you to
look at the diagram on page _____ of your textbook.  What is the
diagram of?

Student:  It is a diagram that shows the relationships between
different groups in the animal kingdom.

Teacher:  Right.  Now I want you to look through the rest of the
chapter.  What subheadings or titles do you see?  Remember, that
sometimes subheadings and titles by be in bold or italicized.

Student responses may include: sponges, cnidarians, flatworms

Teacher: That is right.  Now I want to let you in on a secret.
This selection in your book has a lot of terms and definitions.  It
is very important that you know how to pronounce the words and
remember the meanings of the words in order to help you
understand what the author wants you to learn from the chapter.
Before we begin to read, I am going to help you pronounce and
find important words and their meanings in the chapter.  I am
going to model how to sound out the words, pretending that I do
not already know how to say the word, and I don't know the
meanings of some words.

Step 2:
Think aloud to model the reasoning process that should be used

Teacher: I am going to pretend that I do not know a word in our
reading selection.  I am going to model and talk aloud my thoughts
about how I am going to solve my "unknown" word.  The first word
I come to is "invertebrate."  I do not know how to say this word.
My teacher told me that when I was having problems sounding out
a word to re-read the sentence and see if there are any clues in
the text to help.  The sentence says, "About 97% of all other
animal species are invertebrates."  I know that 97% of all other
animals are this word, but I still can not say the word.  I better
go back and re-read the sentence one more time to see if there
are any more clues to help me.

Step 3:
Think aloud how to use the reasoning process to repair comprehension

Teacher:  Now, I think I know how to say the word.  I am going
to sound the word out.  In-ver-te-brate. Now, I can pronounce
the word but I am not sure what the word means.  So I am going
to skip down to the next sentence and see if I can find the
definition.  Oh, the definition says, "Animals that don't have a
backbone."  It also gives me some examples like: sponges,
jellyfish, worms, insects, and clams. So the definition says that
invertebrates are animals without backbones and some examples
are sponges, jellyfish, worms, insects, and clams. That makes
sense to me!

Step 4:
Check to see how students are interpreting the information they are given

Teacher:  Now, how would you figure out a hard word in a
sentence that you did not know?

Student responses may include reading on in the text, re-reading
the selection, or sounding out the word.

**Repeat the previous steps using another word in the text
selection.**

Step 5:
Review the title and the pictures with students and ask for student predictions

Teacher:  Now we are going to read the selection about "Animal
Classification."  Look at the pictures on page ___.  Then read the
title again.  What does it say?

Student:  Animal Classification.

Teacher:  That is right, now in your own words can you tell me
what you think that this selection is going to be about.  (Making
predictions)

Write student responses on the board or overhead.

Teacher: Now, remember that this passage may have some
difficult terms, so when you come to one, try the way I just
taught you figuring out the meaning or pronouncing the word.

Step 6:
Read aloud a small portion on the text selection with students or
individually

Step 7:
Ask questions about content, invite students to share answers and
questions during reading

Teacher:  I have a question for the class.  What are some ways
scientists classify animals?

Student responses may include: vertebrates, invertebrates, radial
symmetry.

Teacher:  What are invertebrates?  Continue asking questions to
check students' reading comprehension.

Teacher:  Great answers, does anyone have a question about the
reading that I may be able to answer?

Step 8:
Summarize what was read by identifying the gist of selection and
how to summarize

Teacher:  I can summarize the selection we just read in class, by
saying that scientists classify animals in three ways:
invertebrates, vertebrates, and radial symmetry.  I knew that the
selection was going to to talk about classifying animals because of
the subheading, "Animal Classification."  I also knew the three
main ways of classification because the terms were in bold print.
I also knew the definitions of the words from reading in the text
selection.  Does anyone have anything to add to my summary on
this selection?

Step 9:
Check on the reasoning process to see if it worked in helping figure out difficult terms

Teacher:  Is there a difficult or unclear meaning in this
paragraph?

If a student does point out a difficult word, review how to solve
the problem and model the strategy or technique again for the
student.

Step 10:
Ask students to make predictions about the selection by reading
subheadings

Select a student to take the teacher's role in this strategy.