Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal teaching is a strategy in which the students become the teacher in small group reading sessions.  Students guide the discussion while summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and making predictions about the material.  My class did this type of activity with primary documents that influenced American government.  Each group read a certain document and determined the effect it had on our government.  The students discussed each one and did a great job first describing it and then analyzing its influence.  Students talked about the information and asked each other questions.  I heard great explanations coming from students to other students.  The groups seemed to embrace this activity.