TEXTS FOR RESPONSE

Texts for response can be teacher-selected or negotiated with students. They can be selected from a variety of written, spoken and visual texts such as short stories, illustrated picture books, comics and graphic novels, poetry, short films and photography.

When selecting texts for response it is important to consider texts that elicit ideas and spark discussion. Texts for response:

• offer multiple layers of meaning

• provide opportunities for different interpretations

• have well-crafted plots and compelling characters

• use interesting and rich language

• present themes and issues that resonate with students

USING ILLUSTRATED TEXTS FOR RESPONSE

Illustrated picture books, wordless books, graphic and multimodal texts offer multiple points of entry and encourage readers to make inferences and use prior textual and personal knowledge as part of the meaning-making process.

Illustrated texts ask readers to make meaning across multiple systems of meaning (modes) and include:

• visual images (photography, illustrations)

• written text

• use of typography

• use of elements of graphic design

• peritextual and intraiconic texts

• peritext: images and textual elements which surround, or are secondary to, the main body of a published work, such as an introduction, footnotes, front cover, etc. WordSense Dictionary https://www.wordsense.eu/peritext/

• intraiconic: words contained in the illustrations as signs, labels, etc. Frank Serafini. 2014. Exploring Wordless Picture Books. The Reading Teacher, 68(1), 24–26

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