User:Olivia Santoro
Return to: ETAP 623 Fall 2019 (Zhang) | Reciprocal Teaching in Mathematics | About Me
My Topic/Purpose
Purpose:
The purpose of this course is to explore the idea of reciprocal teaching in mathematics, and the benefits it can have on your students to deepen their thinking process, begin to use protocols without assistance and facilitation, and to learn to speak to their work and the strategies they have chosen. Through this implementation, students will also begin to build their strategy 'tool box,' (as we will discuss in this mini-course) critically reflect on their work, ask themselves questions, and how to monitor their own progress.
This course will teach you to foster the use of 21st Century Skills in your classroom such as collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving. Through the use of reciprocal teaching students will learn the benefit of meaningful discussion with their peers, strengthen their problem solving skills, and to critically analyze their own work. Furthermore, the implementation of reciprocal teaching will allow for a more student centered classroom.. isn't that every teachers goal?!
Objectives:
Users will...
- Develop a full understanding of Reciprocal Teaching.
- Understand how to use a gradual release of responsibility.
- Create a well rounded idea of how to use Reciprocal teaching in the classroom.
- Understand the important of 21st Century skills and how to utilize Reciprocal Teaching to support these.
Needs Analysis for Using Reciprocal Teaching In Mathematics
Intent: While Reciprocal Teaching has been widely explored in Reading and Writing Curriculums there is much less information and resources about Reciprocal Teaching within mathematics and the benefit it can have on students. While working in a focus school, I have helped to develop a strong math supplemental math curriculum to what we are already using (Eureka) to foster students learning through collaboration with their classmates, problem solving, and true analysis of math problems. The intent of this course is to help teachers create an understanding of what Reciprocal Teaching is, the benefits it can have in their classrooms, and to help create activities that can reach all students.
Gathering Information:
In order to better understand the need for this course, I surveyed 35 Pre-K through 12 teachers. Although pre-k and even kindergarten would be a difficult age to utilize this with, I still feel there are imperative aspects of this that early childhood teachers can begin to incorporate in their classrooms. The 35 teachers were asked a total of eight questions, the first 3 being a bit on their background in teaching, and the remainder on reciprocal teaching or other aspects of it.
Summary: A summary of the responses can be found in this Google Survey Summary
Analysis and Revised Intent:
In general, about half of the teachers expressed a decent understanding of the Reciprocal Teaching but only half of those teachers have used it in Mathematics. Teachers were also asked if their lessons were student lead, or strongly teacher facilitated and if they chose the later of the two they were asked why. There were a plethora of reasons why teachers believed they couldn't or didn't use student led discussions in their classrooms, and it was more or less because of time restraints, large gaps in student achievement, and behavioral issues. However, to conclude the survey it seemed that there was an extremely strong interest in learning about Reciprocal Teaching, and how it could be used in Mathematics.
Moreover, after concluding my survey the intent of the course will stay the same. I am more aware of the need to first allow my participants to understand reciprocal teaching at large before I can dig deeper into the benefits it can have when specific to math classrooms and groups. I also, because of the responses received about reasons why teachers don't have a very student centered/student led discussion in their classrooms, I will be sure to include in my course different ways to roll this out, when it can be included, and the difference between homogenous and heterogenous groupings and the benefits each of these can have based on the group students.
Performance Objectives
This course is intended to educate on the importance of incorporating 21st Century skills into the classroom to create responsible and problem-solving learners, and Reciprocal Teaching in Mathematics is just the way to do so. After completing this course, learners will develop a complete full circle understanding they can take with them an incorporate in all subjects when adapted, but more specifically mathematics. Concluding this course, learners will:
- Define Reciprocal Teaching and why it can be used as a very student centered approach.
- Explain the importance of releasing the responsibility of learning onto the students.
- Create and develop lessons and activities to help roll out reciprocal teaching in their classroom.
- Define the major 21st Century skills being touched on with reciprocal teaching, and why each is important to instill in our students.
- Have a plethora of resources to begin carrying reciprocal teaching into their classroom.
Task Analysis
If you would like to visit these units, please visit the introduction of my mini-course and visit the course units section. Course Introduction
Prerequisites: An identified prerequisite skill needed for this mini-course is that the learning must have a good understanding of what a student centered classroom should look like.
| Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Unit 4 ! |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is Reciprocal Teaching | Key 21st Century Skills and their importance in the classroom | Tieing it all together | Using Reciprocal Teaching in the Classroom |
| This course will start out by introducing the importance of a student centered classroom and the benefits of meaningful discussion | Unit 2 will exploring critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving amongst students and how these can contribute to a strong classroom climate | This unit will tie the first two together and show how Reciprocal teaching is one of the strongest ways to incorporate these 21st Century skills into the classroom. | The conclusion of this course will explore the potential roles you could assign your students for reciprocal teaching, materials and resources that may be used, and very open framework for potential ways of rolling out this student centered approach in your classroom. |
Click here for begin my mini course on Reciprocal Teaching in Mathematics
Curriculum Map
