Setting purpose

ERT 
 

(Ideas selected from Guided Reading the Four Blocks Way Chapter 18 Everyone Read To) 

Everyone Read To … is a way of guiding the whole class (or a small group) through the reading of a selection. We use ERT... when we want the students to do the initial reading on their own (or with a partner) but we want to keep them together to provide a lot of guidance and support for that initial reading. The teacher tells students how much to read. They read that segment and then the teacher follows up on whatever purpose was set by asking general questions like:  

• "What is the author telling us?
• "What new things did you learn?"
• "What seems to be the problem in this story?"

Or specific questions like:

• "What did you find out was making the sky so dark?"

Children tell in their own words what they read and then everyone goes on to the next segment. For older children, Everyone Read To. . . is usually silent reading. In ERT. . ., everyone is reading the text for themselves in whatever way is appropriate to find out specific things they will then share with everyone. When there are textbooks that are too difficult for some of the children to read, the teachers often partner up the readers. The two children read quietly together and then tell each other the answer to the set purpose pointing out where the answer is.  

The teacher and children have read the title, author and illustrator and have looked through the book, section, bold face words, text boxes, etc. They are now going to do the first reading of the book and the teacher is going to guide them through each two-page spread or section using ERT…to help them set purposes. 

For the article, “Painting States of Mind” set the purpose for reading:

1. What is meant by “pure visual music?”
2. What changed Kandinsky’s art?

The children read the page to themselves, some silently and others whisper-reading it. The teacher reminds them that this is a “two-hander.” They are reading to find two things and should raise one hand as soon as they find each thing. Again, the children read silently or quietly and quickly raise both hands. It is clear that they enjoy “two-handers.” As they figure out the answer to the question, hands are raised and the teacher calls on children to tell the answer to the set purposes.  
 
 

The teacher leads the class through each section. For each, she reminds them of what they learned from the pictures, text clues, bold face print, charts, etc. and then sets a purpose for that page that seems to be "the natural thing" you would want to read to find out after having pondered these pictures. 

Teachers need to find a good stopping point for the first day. For their after-reading activity, they work on summarizing/concluding. The teacher has the children talk to a partner sitting right next to them and try to retell the important events that have happened so far in the story. She encourages them to use the vocabulary as reminders but not to read this time but to tell what they learned on each page. The teacher listens in on their retellings and then leads the whole group in a quick retelling, using the vocabulary as prompts. 
 

The next day, the teacher continues the ERT…, leading them through each two-page spread and having them read to find out—or figure out—the important events. Children raise their hands as soon as they figure out the answer—two hands for questions with two parts—and then finish reading the pages. As each question is answered, the teacher calls on someone to read aloud the sentences with the important information. Unless the answer is obviously stated, the teacher leads them to explain how they figured it out. 
 
 
 

Big Blocks Variations

ERT... is a wonderful strategy for older children. They love raising their hands as soon as they find the answer and they like explaining how they figured things out. It engages their attention much better than the more common round-robin reading format. Even children who do not read well can often find answers when they know exactly what they are looking for and they learn how you comprehend by hearing their friends think aloud as they explain how you figure out things it doesn’t exactly tell you.