Five questions guided a case study exploring the relationship between oral narrative and discussion in middle school literature study: (a) Relative to similar classrooms in a large-scale study, how can overall literature instruction be characterized? (b) Relative to similar classrooms in a large-scale study, how well do students achieve in the focal classroom? (c) What, if any, are the links between oral narrative and discussion? (d) If discussion and narrative co-occur, what sorts of oral narratives do narrators tell in discussions? and (e) If discussion and narrative co-occur, how can we characterize the overlap in terms of interaction? In the frequent conversational narrative discussions, where oral narrative and discussion discourse overlapped, teacher and students used various kinds of oral narrative genres to prime, sustain, ratify, and amplify discussion.

Background/Context This paper theorizes and describes a program-wide pedagogical design for teacher preparation that addresses central problems related to supporting beginning teacher candidates in designing engaging classroom interactions in and across diverse contexts. Focus of Study In particular, we aimed to support the development of dialogically-organized classroom interactions over time through a pedagogy informed by Multiliteracies. Our pedagogy involved a Web 2.0-mediated process of Video-Based Response and Revision (VBRR), developed and implemented over two years with secondary English teacher candidates at Michigan State University engaged in fifth-year internships in local secondary schools. Project Design Four times over the course of their year-long internships, teacher candidates recorded video of their teaching, posted clips and other related materials to an online social network, commented on each others’ practices, and reflected on how they might implement the feedback they received from their peers and instructors. In addition, they created an end-of-year “digital reflection” drawing on all of these materials. Conclusions/ Recommendations Based upon analysis of teacher candidates’ moves within the structure of the pedagogical design, we present pedagogical and programmatic considerations for teacher educators interested in designing learning environments that make beginning teacher practices visible in networked spaces, that invite collaborative responses to those practices, and that create opportunities for transformed practices.

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Attention to visual rhetoric can help teachers evaluate online discussion forums and use them in ways that promote better dialogue among students.