Making Inferences

1. Making Inferences Inferencing and Higher Order Thinking

2. This is how inferencing is done!!!! • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYlVBhwfvL4

3. Inferencing Evidence + schema = Inferencing

4. What is Inferencing? • Be sure your students know what inference is (and what it isn't)Inference is using facts, observations, and logic or reasoning to come to an assumption or conclusion. It is not stating the obvious (stating the obvious: that girl is wearing a fancy dress and carrying a bouquet of flowers. Inference: that girl is a flower girl in a wedding). It is not prediction, though the two are definitely related. Remind your students that inference asks "What conclusions can you draw about what is happening now?" Prediction asks, "What will happen next?“ • http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2012/02/tips-for-teaching-inference.html

5. Research suggests that, in order to begood at inferencing, students need to: • be active readers who want to make sense of the text. • monitor their comprehension and use fix-up strategies/ • have a rich vocabulary • have a wide background knowledge • share the same cultural background at that assumed by the text • Adapted from Effective Teaching of Inference Skills for reading, by Anne Kispal and the National Foundation for Educational Research.

6. Strategies to Support Inferencing: • Layer resources so that students are slowly building their background knowledge within the classroom and through primary resources.

7. Strategies to Support Inferencing: • Layer resources so that students are slowly building their background knowledge within the classroom and through primary resources. • Modeling, Think- Alouds, Backmapping Provide the inference and have kids pull out the evidence that supports it.

8. Strategies to Support Inferencing: • Layer resources so that students are slowly building their background knowledge within the classroom and through primary resources. • Modeling, Think- Alouds, Backmapping • Scaffolding questions to build towards those more difficult, critical analysis skills. Provide the inference and have kids pull out the evidence that supports it.

9. Strategies to Support Inferencing: • Layer resources so that students are slowly building their background knowledge within the classroom and through primary resources. • Modeling, Think- Alouds, Backmapping • Scaffolding questions to build towards those more difficult, critical analysis skills. - Provide organizers for students to build their inferences step-by-step. Provide the inference and have kids pull out the evidence that supports it.

10. 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.

11. Inferencing vs. Observation • Observations collect evidence. • Inferences are BASED on observations and evidence. • Deconstruct Sherlock – let’s watch the video again . . . • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYlVBhwfvL4

12. Watch the Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK7pfLlsUQM • What do you think the movie is about? • Why do you think that?

14. Content Areas • ELA – “Inferencing” • Social Studies – Contextualization, Bias • Science – Most of what gets done • Using evidence to draw conclusions • Tech Ed – Looking at directions and diagrams • Art – Pictures….

15. Inferencing Question Stems • See handout. • Write an inferencing question for the text you brought.