shutterstock_5090872One of the best strategies to improve reading comprehension is reciprocal teaching, a teaching strategy involving discussion as well as using reading strategies (summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting) to improve comprehension of text.

Studies have shown that reciprocal teaching greatly influences student comprehension skills. They also found that students became readers that are more independent, better summarizers, predictors, and critical thinkers. As an additional benefit, students who participated in reciprocal teaching groups displayed fewer behavior problems.

One of the best ways to use reciprocal teaching is to practice a questioning strategy in which the reader reads the text, processes the meaning, makes connections to prior knowledge, and finally generates a question about the text.

Learning Objectives of the Questioning Strategy

  • Identify the different types of questions appropriate for the lesson
  • Formulate different types of focused questions
  • Work in cooperative groups to practice reading comprehension strategies
  • Synthesize information in order to respond to a variety of questions
  • Interpret text and demonstrate higher level thinking skills in creating various types of questions
  • Enhance comprehension through questioning
  • Apply questioning strategies in many curricular areas

Take a few minutes to click the link above and watch some of the great videos on this technique, and don’t forget to share your great ideas in the comments, below!


RTI Strategies for Secondary TeachersFor more information on differentiation and Response to Intervention, see Susan Fitzell’s book, RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers.

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