In a typical RT session participants in a group of about six members take turns leading a discussion about a text. The group consists of a learning leader (initially an adult and later a child) and learning listeners/critics for each segment of the text.

Everyone reads a segment of the text. The learning leader begins the discussion by asking a question and ends the discussion by summarizing the gist of what has been read. The group rereads and discusses possible problems of interpretation when necessary. In addition to the questions and summary by the learning leader, participants also attempt to clarify the material, and the leader is also responsible for predicting what the subsequent content is likely to be.

In effect, students learn how to carry out discussions of the subject matter using four specific skills—posing questions, summarizing, clarifying and predicting.

Initially, students are not able to do these activities effectively—or at all. It is not uncommon for a child to be unable to pose a question over a segment of material the group has just read or develop a summary. The adult teacher works with the students to develop their ability to perform these skills. Although the adult does describe and explain each skill the more important lesson is in the practice of them. First, the adult take turns as the Learning Leader, and models effective, mature versions of the four skills. In addition, the adult scaffolds the child's attempt to lead the discussion by providing as much direct help as necessary to produce a question, clarify, predict and summarize. The term scaffold is an apt characterization because it suggests that the adult provides support and structure to advance the child's development.

To get a sense of how these sessions go, refer to the handout and read the section labeled "Acquisition of question asking by a weak 7^th grade student.

How would you describe what the adult teacher does and the changes in the students' ability to pose a question?

This excerpt illustrates how students acquire the specific skills in RT. It is quite typical of student performance. Initially they have great difficulty posing questions, summarizing, clarifying and predicting. But, quite rapidly they get significantly better at these skills.

Most importantly, their understanding of the material increases dramatically—and it transfers to other settings and subject areas. In other words, they don't just understand better in this RT setting, they acquire something—their thinking is changed—and they better understand what they read in other subject areas.