Teaching approaches: reproducible 6.6
Reciprocal reading observation guide
Date Teacher
Duration of lesson
Lesson goal
The teacher observing will discuss with the teacher, prior to the observation, and summarise the main goal of the lesson below.
Introduction
At this stage the teacher should introduce the text to the students and share the learning goal for the lesson. Text content is what the text is about, text type is the type of text (narrative, report etc.). Learning goals and success criteria should be written on paper with the students so that they can be referred to as the lesson develops. Learning goals start “We are learning to …” Success criteria indicate: “We will be successful if we can …”
• The text content is introduced to the students.
• The text type is introduced to the students.
• The lear ning goal is written for the students.
• The success criteria are written for the students.
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
• The students are aware of the purpose of the lesson prior to reading. Yes/No
Body of the lesson
At this stage, students begin reciprocal reading. The text is divided into sections to be read and discussed. The students have specific roles – these roles should be written on card and students should be following them. As the lesson progresses, the roles within the group change. At first, the teacher is leading the roles and participating to ensure that the level of discussion and interaction with text is high.
• Reciprocal reading roles are written on card for students to follow.
• The students are able to ask for clarification of unknown words.
• The students are able to ask for clarification of unknown concepts.
• The students are able to ask questions from the text.
• The students are able to predict.
• The students are able to give reasons for their predictions.
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Teaching approaches: reproducible 6.6
• The students are able to summarise. Yes/No
• The teacher provides support when necessary. Yes/No
• The teacher provides support when necessary. Yes/No
• The teacher actively encourages a high level of discussion as the session progresses.
Lesson conclusion
Yes/No
• The teacher recaps the learning goal. Yes/No
• The teacher recaps the learning goal. Yes/No
• The teacher refers the students to the success criteria of the lesson. Yes/No
• The teacher checks new learning of each student to determine areas of future need.
Follow-up tasks
Yes/No
• The purpose of the follow-up task is clear to all students. Yes/No
• The purpose of the follow-up task relates to the learning goal set for the lesson.
Summary observations
Features of the lesson that worked particularly well
Yes/No
An area for future support
Suggestion for a personal professional development goal that arose from the observations