Transcript Inferential Thinking

Inferential Thinking
Inferring is the bedrock of comprehension, not only in
reading. We infer in many realms. Inferring is about
reading faces, reading body language, reading
expressions, and reading tone as well as reading text.
- Strategies That Work
Inference Board Game
Play Julie’s game.
Drawing inferences from text
• Inferring is the process of creating a personal and
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unique meaning from text. It involves combining
information from the text and relevant background
knowledge.
Proficient learners create meaning that is neither
explicitly in the text nor shown in the illustrations.
Inferring may cause the reader to read more slowly to
better understand the content.
Inferences may be more thoroughly developed if the
reader pauses to reflect and consider multiple
interpretations and perspectives.
• When proficient readers infer, they are more able to
remember and reapply what they have read, create new
and revise existing background knowledge.
• When they infer, proficient readers:
• Draw conclusions
• Make reasonable predictions, then test and revise as they read
• Use the combination of background knowledge and explicit
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information from the text to answer questions as they read
Make critical judgments about what they read
• A wide variety of interpretation is appropriate for fiction
and poetry; a narrower range of interpretation is typical
for nonfiction text. Readers should be able to defend
their inferences with a description of relevant , prior
knowledge and specific text they have read.
Predicting and Inferring
• Predicting is a type of “forward inferring”, whereas other
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inferring happens while looking back, or at the present
moment of reading.
Proficient readers make predictions smoothly and
without much thought, then confirm or disconfirm them
based on continued reading.
Although predicting and inferring overlap, inferring is
more difficult because you must be more precise.
Predicting is something you can check your accuracy on
in further reading, but inferring is not as easy to get
feedback on.
- Kendra Wagner
Inferring
Merging background knowledge with clues in the text to come up with an
idea that is not explicitly stated by the author. Reasonable inferences need to
be tied to the text.
Inferring relationships
Setting to plot
Cause and effect
Character's feelings and motives
Inferring the authors’ purpose
Creating interpretations based on text evidence
Using text evidence to surface themes and big
ideas
Inferring the meaning of text features and
visuals
Inferring the answer to a question
Drawing conclusions based on text evidence
Making predictions
Predicting outcomes, upcoming
events and
actions
Using context to figure out the
meaning of
unfamiliar words/concepts
Interpreting the meaning of
language
Figurative language
Idiomatic language
Metaphoric language
Visualizing
Constructing meaning with a
visual image
Inferring creates a picture,
movie, or
slideshow in the mind
Think-Aloud
• Think-aloud is the single most important teaching tactic at our
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disposal.
Children’s difficulties on inference-related items often correlate to
teachers’ lack of clarity about what good inference instruction looks
like.
Teachers read aloud, pausing to make their thinking explicit.
Teachers are clear about how the strategy they’re using helps them
comprehend more than they would have comprehended without the
strategy.
There is no one right way to do think-alouds.
Example:” Today I want to show you how I infer. I’m going to pause as I read
and I’ll share my inferences. Inferences are really important and great readers
make them all the time. An inference is something a reader knows from
reading , but the author doesn’t include it in the book. It helps you understand
the story more deeply and helps make books mean something very personal to
you.”
• “I know you don’t know……but if you
did know, ,what would you say?”
Raise the Level of our Strategy Use
“Am I inferring primarily about things (events in a story, for example),
people (such as the characters) or ideas (the prevailing concepts,
the lessons, and directions for our lives we take away from
reading)?”
• Trust children to pick up on more obvious points in the text, and
take time to think and focus on inferences that go beyond the literal
and obvious.
• Think aloud about reading strategies and ideas that have broad
application, beyond today’s book.
• Use books rich in ideas that inspire think alouds about content that
matters in the world, that causes students to respond with
passionate attention or even action.
(Eve Bunting, Patricia Polacco, Jacqueline Woodson and Cynthia
Rylant)
Conferring
• Conferences are the lifeblood to
comprehension teaching.
• Small group instruction cannot meet the
individual needs, there is no substitute for
one-on-ne conversation
Conferring permits the teacher to help a child focus intensively on a skill
or strategy and through conversation, indicate ways the child might use
the strategy to reach the next level of understanding.
Key Ideas on Conferring
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Asses the child’s progress in applying a skill or strategy independently
Avoid the temptation to confer about a number of different teaching points
Keep the conference focused and purposeful
Provide immediate, focused instruction that respond directly to what the
child has shared
Focus intently on the child
Understands that conference times vary based on the needs of the child
Keep dated records that will help the teacher remember the teaching point
Review conference records later to look for patterns of shared needs
Announce the type of conference for the day so children can anticipate the
type of conference.
References
• Keene, E.O., and Zimmermann, S. (2007)
Mosaic of Thought: The Power of
Comprehension Strategy Instruction.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.