Introducing Strategy #7

1. Introducing Strategy #7 Making Inferences (guessing the meaning using the clues) - Elkhart Community Schools

2. Inferring is guessing the hidden information Elkhart Community Schools

3. For example: Elkhart Community Schools

4. A blue house is made of blue bricks. A yellow house is made of yellow bricks. A red house is made of red bricks. An orange house is made of orange bricks. What is a green house be made of? Elkhart Community Schools

5. Answer: GLASS!! Elkhart Community Schools

6. YOU can infer through ~ Questioning Ask a question about what you are reading to get an answer. Elkhart Community Schools

7. YOU can Inferthrough~ Making Connections Connect YOUR background information, ideas, and experiences with the text. Elkhart Community Schools

8. Inferring through ~ Background Knowledge You must use YOUR memory/experience to infer. Elkhart Community Schools

9. Inferring through ~ Background Knowledge Word Clues + Experience =Inference Elkhart Community Schools

10. YOU can infer through ~ Imagination/Visualization “When you read, you use all your senses. You see things in your ‘mind’s eye’ and hear the sounds you connect to that about which you are reading.” ~ Guided Reading the Four Blocks Way Elkhart Community Schools

11. Read this and try and vizualize the situation… Elkhart Community Schools

12. When she sliced the onion, her eyes started to water and she had to stop. Elkhart Community Schools

13. Elkhart Community Schools

14. Strategy #7 Making Inferences & Drawing Conclusions Elkhart Community Schools

15. Teacher Modeling Step 1 – The teacher explains the strategy (reading between the lines) using short scenarios, riddles, or charades that require students to add up clues and make a conclusion. Step 2 – The teacher demonstrates how to apply the strategy successfully. Step 3 – The teacher thinks aloud to model the mental processes he/she uses when he/she reads. Elkhart Community Schools

16. The Think Aloud • Do several think alouds for this strategy. • Use picture books for students of all ages. • Students are only observers at this stage. • Demonstrate the use of sticky notes to code connections, questions, predictions, conclusions, judgments, etc. • Allow students to discuss what they observed following the think aloud. Elkhart Community Schools

17. Guided Practice • Use a variety of “lifted text” from different types of books giving everyone a copy or using the overhead. • Use whole group to small group model. • Use short text such as magazine and newspaper articles and poetry. • Encourage students to code their inferences with sticky notes or highlighting. • Use concept maps, two-column notes, and margin writing to record thinking. • Engage students in conversation about their inferences with the text with partners or whole group. Elkhart Community Schools

18. Guided Practice • Guide students’ thinking before reading by using anticipation guides or prediction guides. • Show students how to do a chapter tour or preview of nonfiction text to help them make predictions about the chapter. • Point out connections between inference and the other strategies they’ve learned. • Text sets can be used to have students reflect on inferences and compare them with different books within the set. • Use a book that can create an “anchor” experience for the class. Elkhart Community Schools

19. Independent Practice • The teacher gives the students text that is easy to read on their own. • Students may practice their strategy alone, in pairs, or in small groups such as book clubs or literature circles. • Students can discuss and compare their inferences with other students. • The teacher confers with the students and gives them feedback. Elkhart Community Schools

20. Independent Application Assessing Application of Inference Keene’s Major Point Interview Anecdotal Records Journal Responses Other Written Responses Elkhart Community Schools

21. Inference Using Different Types of Text Fiction and Poetry: Allows a variety of interpretation Nonfiction/Content Area Text: Permits a narrow range of interpretation Best for drawing conclusions, predictions, questioning, and determining importance Elkhart Community Schools

22. More Inferences... • Explanation Based Inferences: The event being read • about is explained by a causal chain or network of previous • events. These are sometimes called causal antecedent • inferences. • Goal Inferences: The reader infers that an agent has a • motive that explains an intentional action. • Elaborative Inferences: These are properties of • entities, facts, and other associations that are not explained • by causal mechanisms. Elkhart Community Schools

23. More Inferences... • Predictive Inferences: The reader forecasts what • events will causally unfold after the current event that is • being read. These are sometimes called causal consequences • or forward references. • Process Inferences: These inferences specify the • detailed steps, manner, or dynamic characteristics of an • event as it unfolds. Elkhart Community Schools