Abstract
Open-ended tasks have the potential to provide a framework that allows literacy learners to learn and apply skills in contexts that reflect the contemporary world in which they live. Children learn better when classrooms are connected to the 'real world in which children live their lives' (Green and Campbell, 2006, p. 238). Authentic, open-ended tasks allow teachers to replicate the 'child's world' in which literacies are learnt. Open-ended tasks provide a framework for planning for literacy learning while allowing skills development to take place as children engage in authentic tasks. The model we present illustrates one way in which explicit teaching of skills can take place within authentic contexts for learning.