Teaching Strategies
Co-operative Reading
Students are divided into groups of four, each with a copy of the
reading text. Each student is given an allocated letter. Students then
read
the passage individually, or one person is nominated to read it aloud.
Depending on the letter they have been allocated each student undertakes
one specific task:
- Predicts what the text will be about.
- Asks a question - either a word meaning or something else she doesn't
understand. The rest of the group try to answer.
- Identifies a key word in a passage and explains its importance.
The others offer a key word so that the group comes up with 4-6 key words.
- Retells or summarises the information. The group agrees on this summary.
The group then creates a visual that sums up the text.
Each skill needs to be taught/modelled beforehand. The first few times
this strategy is used it is useful for the teacher to model it with the
whole class. For example, use a text and elicit responses from the confident
students in the class. Then using another section of text allocate the group
roles and use these task cards to remind students of their roles. The
students write their responses on the task sheets and the teacher elicits
responses from different groups in the class, recording on the whiteboard
and talking through issues as they arise.
Question dice
are a useful and enjoyable way of developing students' questioning skills.
Co-operative reading is based on Palincsar
and Brown's research into reciprocal teaching.
See also:
