Unfortunately, just being able to decode text doesn't meant that your students are getting the whole picture. As I teacher, I am constantly evaluating my
Freebody and Luke (1990) believe that effective readers need to use four roles to comprehend a text. These are code breaker, text participants, text user, and text analyst.
The link above provides some practical ways for teachers to implement the Four Resources Model. It will provide you, the teacher, with ideas and activities based on Luke and Freebody’s (1990) work.
HOW TO USE THE FOUR RESOURCES MODEL IN THE EARLY YEARS CLASSROOM
SKILLS BUILT TOGETHER
The four roles – code breaker, text participant, text user and text analyst – are not learnt sequentially. Even from a young age, students should thinking about how texts are used and why they are written. This takes place along phonics instructions, sight words and other early reading strategies. It may not be appropriate to ask students to write an essay comparing and contrasting two text, but it is certainly possible to discuss these features after modeled, shared or guided reading.
USE ‘REAL’ TEXTS
Books for early readers are usually written in a way that is not conducive to natural reading. Use quality literature over many reading sessions, rather than awkwardly written texts. Texts may include a repetitive refrain to assist early readers. Your phonics and sight word program can come from these texts (code breaker). ‘Real’ texts also include everyday texts, such as recipes, advertisements, take away menu and newspapers. These provide a rich source of discussion.
WHOLE-PART-WHOLE
The whole-part-whole strategy is routine that can be used to introduce students to reading ‘real’ texts.
Whole: Before the first reading, the teacher will activate prior knowledge by discussing what is on the front cover and have students relate their text-to-self connections. Predictions are made about what the story might be about and what indicates this on the cover. The teacher will model reading the story. Some students may pick up on repetitive refrains.
Part: The story may be read multiple times, with the students familiarity with the text increasing. The text will be deconstructed to enable students to explore the Four Resources Model roles. Some examples of text deconstructions activities include:
Select a sound included in the text. Make a list of the words that have that sound in the book. What other words can you think of that have that sound? Words can be sorted into a chart that has the focus sound at the beginning, middle, and end. (Code breaker)
Use new vocabulary encountered in the text in a new way. (Text participant)
Retell the story using puppets or as a skit. (Text user)
Whole: Students come back to the initial text and read it along with the teacher. The students and teacher could then write a new take on the text as a joint construction. The students share the ideas and the teacher writes it. They could write a new story from a different point of view, with different character, a different setting or alternate ending (Text analyst).
SHARED READING
In shared reading, the text is available for all students to read. This could take the form of a big book or multiple copies of the text for students. The teacher will have students activate prior knowledge and make predictions using the front cover. The teacher, with limited interruptions to facilitate comprehension of the whole text, will read the book through once.
On subsequent readings, the teacher will read the book and focus on literary devices (characters, plot, setting), linguistic features (grammar and vocabulary) and codes (graphophonic knowledge, spelling and punctuation). Some strategies include:
Cloze activates – Individual words are hidden using post it notes. Students predict the word. Peel off individual letter to narrow down the possibilities.
Questioning – Which word had an “aw” sound (code breaker)? What did the gingerbread man runaway (text participant)? Why did the author write this newspaper article (text user)? How would the text be different if it took place in the country (text analyst)?
Character diary – Write the diary of the main character at a particular point in the story.