Chapter 7: Using Book Study to Support Multigenre Ensembles in Teacher Preparation

“And now, we have identified that this image is an infographic, right? What is the impact of the image? What stands out? What influences you?” We catch Pauline in guided reflection with our preservice teachers (PSTs) using the Four I Multimodal Strategy (FIMS), a set of interpretive steps that developed from our research into consuming and producing multimodal texts with both preservice and in-service ELA teachers. We co-teach a methods course for second and third year students that focuses on technology and arts-based pedagogies. Our students include future ELA, mathematics, history, and science teachers and therefore our work is uniquely interdisciplinary. Pauline’s teacher talk is a reflective snapshot on the infographic in Figure 7.1 that we use to introduce our Book Study assignment, to prepare our PSTs for the books to come. Infographics, as a combination of images and text that communicate a great deal of information, are also excellent examples of visual texts, of multigenre ensembles that require a redefinition of literacy.