Making Inferences Reading between the lines

1. Making InferencesReading between the lines

3. 0 Authors vs. Readers • Authors Imply, Readers Infer. • Authors make implications that readers have to infer. • What do I mean by these statements? • Good Readers are Detectives who are always looking out for clues to help them better understand stories and pictures.

4. SPECULATING/MAKING INFERENCES An INFERENCE is an idea that is suggested by the facts or details in a passage

5. MAKING INFERENCES • Read this very brief passage, followed by a multiple-choice question • Pete’s words PROBABLY indicate that • A. Pete doesn’t like Jennifer. • B. Pete doesn’t like to stay with a baby-sitter. • C. Pete doesn’t like bananas. • D. Pete doesn’t like to eat alone.

6. Authors do not explain everythingin a story. • Readers use story clues. • They use details about what they’ve read to make an inference. • Readers use their own personal experience. • They make “text to self” connections. • Readers use prior knowledge. • They make “text to text” connections. The combination of these strategies allow readers • to make a inferences (reasonable guesses) about characters and events.

7. What kind of person is Jake? • Jake stood on the riverbank. He cast his fishing rod into the deep water. He had been trying to catch a fish for many hours. Alex and Zach laughed as they watched Jake throw the line into the water one more time.

8. How do you think Alex and Zach feel about Jake’s efforts to catch a fish? • Jake stood on the riverbank. He cast his fishing rod into the deep water. He had been trying to catch a fish for many hours. Alex and Zach laughed as they watched Jake throw the line into the water one more time.

9. How do you think Jim feels? • The bus driver pulled out of the station. Jim’s heart beat fast. He had never traveled alone. He waved good-bye to his grandparents. “The bus will be in Tucson in two hours,” Jim told himself. He checked his watch. Jim pictured his father waiting for the bus in Tucson. “Two hours will be over in no time,” Jim said.

10. What personal experience or prior knowledge helped you figure out how Jim feels? • The bus driver pulled out of the station. Jim’s heart beat fast. He had never traveled alone. He waved good-bye to his grandparents. “The bus will be in Tucson in two hours,” Jim told himself. He checked his watch. Jim pictured his father waiting for the bus in Tucson. “Two hours will be over in no time,” Jim said.

11. Three strategies (connections) you can use to make INFERENCES: • Story Clues • Personal Experience • Text to Self • Prior Knowledge • Text to Text

12. What inference can we make about this woman? • The woman waited nervously in line. When the counter was empty, she carefully unloaded her items from her cart. Lines creased her forehead as if to show the calculations ringing up in her head. Finally, the cashier began ringing up the items as the woman clutched her purse.

13. SAMPLE: “Pull a Passage” • The author didn’t say that this woman was embarrassed or that she didn’t have any money to pay for her groceries. • But I know that the woman is nervous and secretly hoping that she has enough money to pay for the groceries she is placing on the conveyor belt. • Because the clues from the text included, “When the counter was empty, she carefully unloaded her items,” “Lines creased her forehead as if to show the calculations ringing up in her head.” and “the woman clutched her purse”. • My own experience that helped me infer was the time when I witnessed someone at the grocery store not have enough money to purchase their groceries. I remember feeling helpless and nervous for them. I wanted to help them. I also remember reading Esperanza Rising, a novel that focuses on the protagonist’s fight to overcome many obstacles including her financial struggles. Esperanza probably felt just like this woman, helpless and hoping for a miracle.