The+4+Resources+Model

=The 4 Resources Model (and then some) =

Code breaker
 * visual codes
 * page layout
 * line
 * colour
 * frames
 * viewpoint
 * position (of the viewer and of characters/objects)
 * illustrative media used
 * genre

text participant

text user

text analyser

... aesthetic transformer ...

Literacy is about access, apprenticeship into institutions and resources, discourses and texts. Literacy needs a range of practices. The 4 resources model presents possible practices which work with students to develop their skills in linguistics and cultural textual practices through adopting the defined roles in analysing the text.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Some of the things to consider when looking at picture books are that
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">the verbal and visual elements often contradict
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">meaning is constructed from the juxtaposition of the text
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">the distinction between popular and high culture is blurred
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">there are blurred boundaries between genre categories
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">blurred relationship between the author, narrator, illustrator, reader
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">multiple pathways
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">literary traditions / conventions subverted
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">intertextuality often explicit, metatextual (Derouet, 2010)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Direct quote below is from Jennifer Asha,//Teaching with Visual Texts,// retrieved from [], 19th October, 2010 (COPYRIGHT 2009 Australian Literacy Educators' Association) :

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"The facets of visual literacy Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">With the aim of describing the skills of a visually literate reader I have incorporated the principles of the Four Resources Model with the explicit teaching of visual grammar. By attempting to understand how visual texts are read and comprehended my teaching of visual literacy is guided. No single category stands alone and they shouldn't be viewed as a hierarchical list. However the importance of metalanguage is notable in each of the four elements that follow. " code  Breaking the visual code   using the language of the visuals, the   metalanguage specific to visual images.

Making meaning from visual texts recognising visual elements in texts, naming and describing aspects of the visual text using metalanguage.

Visual Text User using knowledge of visual elements to create new visual and verbal texts.

Visual Text Analyst recognising the purpose behind visual choices, recognising that visual images are created by an  illustrator with a purpose to generate a response from the viewer in order to serve certain interests.

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