The Reciprocal Teaching Episode comes at a point in the semester just after students have studied about and used principles from learning theory to analyze problems in a seventh grade science classroom.  I use the RT episode to test students' ability to transfer their knowledge about learning theory to this new problem.  In addition, the RT episode is a problem in its own right and further extends students' understanding of the concepts related to learning theory.

First, I start with a brief lecture in which I provide an overview of Reciprocal Teaching.  The purpose of the lecture is simply to describe the RT process and answer students' initial questions. 

Second, immediately following the lecture students engage in an individual writing activity in which they're asked to explain why RT works.

Third, students work in small groups to develop a set of "best" answers.

Last of all, I conduct a large group discussion and debriefing session in which the class tries to synthesize each groups' work.  This last discussion is an opportunity to probe students' explanations and the kinds of connections they have made between their knowledge of learning theory and RT.