Peer Reading
Research shows that when applied to reading, Reciprocal Learning can
play a major role in helping students read and summarize difficult passages
(Hashey & Connors, 2003). This application of the strategy is
called Peer Reading, and it is especially useful in helping students overcome
the reading challenges typically associated with textbooks and
dense nonfiction writing: too many details, difficulty in separating the
essential from the nonessential information, or no sense of the overall
structure of the text.
Peer Reading involves seven steps:
1. Select a reading and break it up into manageable sections.
2. For each section, create a question or a set of questions that will
require a pair of students (Reader A and Reader B) to summarize the section.
For example, 4th grade teacher Paul Costas developed this set of
questions for a reading called “Surviving Everest.”
∘ Section 1 Questions (for Reader A)
What factors make Mount Everest so dangerous to climb?
How do climbers survive with so little oxygen?
∘ Section 2 Question (for Reader B)
What are the effects of the jet stream on climbers who reach the
top of Mount Everest?