"The 4 Roles of Reading framework is a great way to organise my thinking as I read"- Zac Lanman Grade 8 ISB 2009
Welcome to the 4 Roles Framework as used in the International School Beijing Middle School.
As we read we are encouraged to think. Think in a way that enables us to develop understanding of what we read.
To read successfully we must break the language code, we meaningfully create images as we read, we then relate our own experiences to the text and we strive to understand the author’s purpose as he/she created the text. These are in fact the 4 Roles of Reading as adapted and used as the 4 Roles Framework in the Middle School, International School Beijing. As the ISB Middle School students access text as successful readers, they are encouraged to question, think and look for deep connections with the text and develop profound understandings of what they read.
At the International School Beijing, in the Middle School, teachers use this framework to scaffold the learning, to inform the teaching and use of reading skills across the curriculum.
This framework had its genesis from a quest ten years ago to develop a structure to inform the teaching and learning of reading practices in the Middle School. As English Head Of Department I was given the task of finding such a framework. Through an extensive search of literature and research in the USA, England and Australia, I was introduced via the Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) to research of leading academics and practitioners of teaching reading. These included Dr Peter Freebody, Professor in the Faculty of Education and Director of the Centre for Literacy and Language Education Research at Sydney University, Glenda Raison at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia, and Dr Jeffrey Wilhelm Associate Professor at the University of Idaho, USA.
Along with these academic leaders, practicing teachers and literacy consultants across Australia, developed a professional development model that evolved into the following website MY Read. In April 2004, ISB then invited My Read consultants Janette Vervoorn and Rita van Haren to our Middle School for a week to conduct a series of in service workshops with all teachers. From this humble beginning, the 4 Roles Framework has now become “a unifying tool for our teaching approaches and has brought consistency to our reading efforts.” (Dale Cox, MS Principal).
Since that time, there have been extensive on going workshops and support for mainstream teachers, Chinese language teachers and parents as the 4 Roles Framework Some thoughts on the 4 Roles Framework from faculty and students
“The 4 Roles makes everything add up! It gives the students common ground as they investigate the history behind how a formula came to exist under a comfortable and familiar situation.” Duff, 8th Grade Maths teacher
“The structured framework made it easy to do in-depth analysis and achieve a greater understanding of material than what might have been obtained without it. I consider the use of the Four Roles with ICT current events to be an unqualified success!” Bob, ICT teacher
Student Impressions
“The Code Breaker Role really helps me understand the important vocabulary and terms in Science.” – Jeong Min Grade 8 ESOL student
“I enjoy using the Text Analyst Role as it helps me get inside the author’s head to imagine how they think.” Francesca Grade 8 student
“The Text User role helps you see the text from a different perspective.” Vicki Grade 8 student
"Relating the text to my own experiences as Text Participant, helps me better understand what I read." – Stephanie Grade 8
The whole Middle School, as a learning community, continues to embrace the 4 Roles Framework along with the 6 Traits of Writing as a basis for literacy teaching and learning. These provide frameworks to inform the teaching and learning across the curriculum. As research into literacy learning and brain research continues, well developed literacy and thinking frameworks like the 4 Roles Of Reading are essential. Literacy education will continue to have a high profile in meeting the challenges of the 21st Century. The Middle School plays a vital role in this process as learners move from "learning to read" into "reading to learn".
It is important to acknowledge the research done by the people responsible for the development of the My Read website and Dr Jamie McKenzie as they has proven to be the inspiration behind what we have been able to achieve thus far at ISB. I need to also commend the MS teachers at ISB who have so successfully trialled and used the Framework in their classrooms over the last five years.
So to conclude, our successful readers in the Middle School at ISB use the 4 Roles Framework to guide them in the use of their reading and thinking skills and the ISB teachers find it an excellent way to inform their reading teaching and learning program.
I have presented the 4 Roles Framework at several EARCOS Conferences, the Nordic Network Conference in Stockholm, international school in China, to faculty (including Chinese language teachers), parents and running workshops with local Chinese schools here in Beijing. Should anyone be interested in knowing more about what we are doing in the Middle School at ISB, feel free to contact us.
Jim Fidler
Teacher Grade 8 Humanities
Middle School International School Beijing jfidler@isb.bj.edu.cn
Welcome to the 4 Roles Framework as used in the International School Beijing Middle School.
As we read we are encouraged to think. Think in a way that enables us to develop understanding of what we read.
To read successfully we must break the language code, we meaningfully create images as we read, we then relate our own experiences to the text and we strive to understand the author’s purpose as he/she created the text. These are in fact the 4 Roles of Reading as adapted and used as the 4 Roles Framework in the Middle School, International School Beijing. As the ISB Middle School students access text as successful readers, they are encouraged to question, think and look for deep connections with the text and develop profound understandings of what they read.
At the International School Beijing, in the Middle School, teachers use this framework to scaffold the learning, to inform the teaching and use of reading skills across the curriculum.
This framework had its genesis from a quest ten years ago to develop a structure to inform the teaching and learning of reading practices in the Middle School. As English Head Of Department I was given the task of finding such a framework. Through an extensive search of literature and research in the USA, England and Australia, I was introduced via the Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) to research of leading academics and practitioners of teaching reading. These included Dr Peter Freebody, Professor in the Faculty of Education and Director of the Centre for Literacy and Language Education Research at Sydney University, Glenda Raison at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia, and Dr Jeffrey Wilhelm Associate Professor at the University of Idaho, USA.
Along with these academic leaders, practicing teachers and literacy consultants across Australia, developed a professional development model that evolved into the following website MY Read . In April 2004, ISB then invited My Read consultants Janette Vervoorn and Rita van Haren to our Middle School for a week to conduct a series of in service workshops with all teachers. From this humble beginning, the 4 Roles Framework has now become “a unifying tool for our teaching approaches and has brought consistency to our reading efforts.” (Dale Cox, MS Principal).
Since that time, there have been extensive on going workshops and support for mainstream teachers, Chinese language teachers and parents as the 4 Roles Framework
Some thoughts on the 4 Roles Framework from faculty and students
“The 4 Roles makes everything add up! It gives the students common ground as they investigate the history behind how a formula came to exist under a comfortable and familiar situation.” Duff, 8th Grade Maths teacher
“The structured framework made it easy to do in-depth analysis and achieve a greater understanding of material than what might have been obtained without it. I consider the use of the Four Roles with ICT current events to be an unqualified success!” Bob, ICT teacher
Student Impressions
“The Code Breaker Role really helps me understand the important vocabulary and terms in Science.” – Jeong Min Grade 8 ESOL student
“I enjoy using the Text Analyst Role as it helps me get inside the author’s head to imagine how they think.” Francesca Grade 8 student
“The Text User role helps you see the text from a different perspective.” Vicki Grade 8 student
"Relating the text to my own experiences as Text Participant, helps me better understand what I read." – Stephanie Grade 8
The whole Middle School, as a learning community, continues to embrace the 4 Roles Framework along with the 6 Traits of Writing as a basis for literacy teaching and learning. These provide frameworks to inform the teaching and learning across the curriculum. As research into literacy learning and brain research continues, well developed literacy and thinking frameworks like the 4 Roles Of Reading are essential. Literacy education will continue to have a high profile in meeting the challenges of the 21st Century. The Middle School plays a vital role in this process as learners move from "learning to read" into "reading to learn".
It is important to acknowledge the research done by the people responsible for the development of the My Read website and Dr Jamie McKenzie as they has proven to be the inspiration behind what we have been able to achieve thus far at ISB. I need to also commend the MS teachers at ISB who have so successfully trialled and used the Framework in their classrooms over the last five years.
So to conclude, our successful readers in the Middle School at ISB use the 4 Roles Framework to guide them in the use of their reading and thinking skills and the ISB teachers find it an excellent way to inform their reading teaching and learning program.
I have presented the 4 Roles Framework at several EARCOS Conferences, the Nordic Network Conference in Stockholm, international school in China, to faculty (including Chinese language teachers), parents and running workshops with local Chinese schools here in Beijing. Should anyone be interested in knowing more about what we are doing in the Middle School at ISB, feel free to contact us.
Jim Fidler
Teacher Grade 8 Humanities
Middle School International School Beijing
jfidler@isb.bj.edu.cn