Running head: INTERVENTION PERFORMANCE TASK
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Intervention Peformance Task
I am currently conducting my student teaching at a local middle school, and have been
placed in an 8th grade History class. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced school districts to shift
to a heavily virtual structure, causing teachers and other staff to do the same. Though there are
many challenges to speak of, one that I have observed firsthand has been a general difficulty in
reading comprehension of texts that are assigned for individual work. Unfortunately, students
seem to be falling behind in coursework in part because there is much more autonomy placed
on their overall learning. In fact, it is common for some in my class to choose not to complete
an assignment because they are unable fully comprehend a passage’s prompt or overall focus..
As a result, my Master Teacher and I have made a concerted effort to come alongside
students who are struggling with the skill of reading comprehension. Focusing on the strategy
known as Reciprocal Teaching, we elected to put it into practice in the form of an intervention,
built around a lesson about the United States’ first try at self-governance: The Articles of
Confederation.
Description
Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown 1984) is a reading comprehension strategy that
encourages students to develop the necessary skills to become effective readers by engaging in
a series of tasks. Students use these four comprehension tasks on a common text, in pairs or
small groups, and can apply the strategy to all forms of text.
Palincsar and Brown (1984), found that when Reciprocal Teaching was employed with a
group of students for just 15–20 days, assessments of students' reading comprehension jumped
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dramatically – sometimes as much as 40 percent. In addition, it has also been shown to help
students not only improve their comprehension skills with immediate effect, but also sustain
their comprehension skills when tested a year later (Palincsar & Klenk, 1991). More recently,
Hattie ranked Reciprocal Teaching ranks 9th on his list of 138 practices, as it is a proven teaching
strategy that has a strong effect on student achievement.
Students who engage in and benefit from Reciprocal Teaching not only improve their
reading level, but crucially for the purpose of this intervention, retain more of the material
covered in the text (Reutzel, Smith, & Fawson, 2005). Finally, reciprocal teaching is an effective
teaching technique that can improve the kind of reading comprehension necessary not only for
improved test scores but also for life in the Information Age (Lubliner, 2001). In order to be
successful 21st century learners, students must learn sophisticated reading skills and employ
them in both the workforce and at home. As such, they should be prepared to comprehend and
evaluate a wide variety of complicated texts. Reciprocal Teaching strategies can help them
achieve that goal.
Intervention
As Fisher points out, intervention should always begin with a preassessment, which is an
essential part of evaluating progress. Without a preassessment, it is difficult, if not impossible,
to definitively tell if learning ultimately occurred. When teachers only use post assessments,
such as end-of-unit tests, essays, or projects, they will know who has demonstrated the
expected level of achievement (and who has not), but they won’t know who has learned
because learning is a measure of change over time (p. 136).
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Once a Pre-Assessment is completed, it is possible to move forward in the intervention.
Selected students are separated into groups of 4 to engage in the first step of the process:
prediction. Prior to following through with reading the passage about the Articles of
Confederation, they were prompted to make educated guesses as to what the text and
accompanying worksheet was about. By working through series of sentence frames prior to
reading, they were challenged to make informed decisions using evidence form the text, such
as the author's purpose and text organization.
The next stage of the process was for students to question the text. Citing textual
evidence from multiple sources, they were challenged to ask and answer questions in order to
understand the text better. Examples of these guided questions included: “Who did...; Why
did...; What happened?”
Third, the students were asked to clarify the reading, applying a collection of word
analysis skills to any unfamiliar words. In this stage, it is extremely important to rely on context
to confirm, self-correct, and reread the text when necessary. In addition, they were able to
analyze how parts of the text fit together and clarify by rereading or reading on to figure out
confusing points, words, or phrases.
Finally, each small group of students was given the task of summarizing the reading. In
doing so, they identified main ideas and details, while also comparing and contrasting their
answers to other groups in the class. In doing so, they were also able to integrate and evaluate
information from the text and support their claims with textual evidence.
Results
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I prepared a six-question Google Form that served as a Pre-Assessment for the group,
and measured their prior knowledge of foundations of our nation’s government. For instance,
they were prompted to give short answer questions like “What type of government does the
United States employ?” and “Why do you believe it took five years for the states to agree or
ratify the Articles of Confederation?” Furthermore, students were also posed a series of
situational questions and had to determine if the Articles of Confederation had the authority to
intervene. Each of the six questions counted for one point. In analyzing the data of the preassessment, the average score was 3.3, with a standard deviation of 0.9.
In my observation of the reading comprehension activity, I found that students were
initially shy about interacting with another and engaging in a collaborative assignment. In fact, I
had to gently urge each of the four small groups to work together in order to glean the most
from the assignment. Fortunately, each group eventually warmed up to the idea of turning on
their microphones and working with their partners. As they moved through the four stages of
the intervention strategy, it became evident that they were intentional and thoughtful in the
way they were dissecting the passage and, ultimately, answering corresponding questions. At
the conclusion of the activity, students were required to enter two new facts they learned from
the reading in the Zoom Chat, serving as an exit ticket. I was pleased to see that all students
were able to participate, and no one seemed to opt out.
At our next class meeting, two days later, I provided the group another assessment to
be filled out again. It included similar questions as the pre-assessment, and the students were
able to give correct answers with much more regularity. Although the situational questions still
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tripped up a few in the group, there was tangible growth in the larger group. In analyzing the
data of the post-assessment, the average score was 4.5, with a standard deviation of 0.8.
Quantification
Using Hattie’s formula (Fisher, 138), the Reciprocal Teaching intervention strategy was
shown to have a 0.6 effect on this occasion. Moving forward, I believe it’s important to
continue to introduce situational questions in relation to the Articles of Confederation and later
iterations of American government. If the goal is move students toward higher level thinking,
they must not only be able to recount facts and features of each government structure, but also
to analyze a proposed situation and determine if the government setup of the time had the
authority to intervene. I also feel that an increased emphasis needs to be placed on
foundational reading comprehension practices in our class, especially as we continue on in a
virtual format.
Reflection
Overall, I very much enjoyed the experience of designing an intervention in order to
help my students be more successful on the Articles of Confederation assignment and beyond.
It challenged me in ways I didn’t expect, such as creating relevant pre/post-assessments, and
also in some I did, not least of which having to do with data analysis.
I absolutely plan to infuse visible literacy into my classes in the future to reinforce
surface, and later on, deep learning of class curriculum. The former takes place during the
acquisition of skills and understanding of concepts, while the latter consists of consolidation
through connections, relationships, and schema to organize skills and concepts. I hope to create
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a classroom culture that not only places more responsibility on the learner, but also encourages
them to question, investigate, and organize to propel their learning. Strategies that can help in
that regard are Concept Mapping (.60), Class Discussions (.82), and Metacognitive Strategies
(.69).
In addition, brain-based learning strategies will also have a prominent place in my
classroom. I will keep the topic of neuroplasticity at the forefront, acknowledging that learning
constantly changes the structure and function of the brain. Wilson & Conyers (2013) observe
that it can also engage students, especially when combined with explicit instruction on the use
of cognitive and metacognitive strategies that guide students to learn how to learn. The human
brain is dynamic, not fixed. Jensen & McConchie note strategies such as practice tests, flash
cards, learning stations, and partner quizzing as effective strategies to reinforce new learnings
(91).
With that said, I will be an educator with a growth mindset and challenge my students
to follow suit. All students can learn, and it’s important to remind them of that every single day
we have the pleasure of walking alongside them.
Works Cited
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning for literacy, grades K-12: Implementing
the practices that work best to accelerate student learning.
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Jensen, E., & McConchie, L. (2020). Brain-Based Learning: Teaching the Way Students Really
Learn (3rd ed.).
Lubliner, S. (2001). A practical guide to reciprocal teaching. Bothell, WA: Wright Group/McGraw
Hill.
Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and
comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175.
Palincsar, A. S., & Klenk, L. (1991). Dialogues promoting reading comprehension. In B. Means, C.
Chelemer, & M. S. Knapp (Eds.), Teaching advanced skills to at-risk students (pp. 112-40). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Reutzel, D. R., Smith, J. A., & Fawson, P. C. (2005). An evaluation of two approaches for teaching
reading comprehension strategies in the primary years using science information texts. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 20(3), 276–305.
Wilson, D. L., & Conyers, M. A. (2013). Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind,
Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice