Making an Inference
Mary Barrett
Mayo High School
Rochester, MN 55904
These materials may be duplicated for nonprofit, educational use.
DEFINITIONS
LITERAL
If something is literal, you can point to it in the text. You don't need to draw a conclusion or make an inference. The information is right there.
INFERENCE
Inference means that you understand something that the author did not directly say. You can find clues in the author's words. The clues help you to make an inference. It is an educated guess, but you are only looking for things implied in the text.
ANALYSIS
Analysis means that you look at each part of what the author wrote. You are trying to find out why each detail is important to the ideas of the author. You use your judgment to help you complete the meaning the author started. You also make inferences as part of this judgment. You are going beyond the text in analysis.
Making an Inference © 2
These materials may be reproduced for no—profit student use.
Inference Worksheet
The young girl is standing on the corner. She is wearing a bright red jacket and bright red snow pants. She has a scarf tied around her face. She is wearing striped mittens. She looks to the left down the street. She stamps her feet. She puts her backpack on the ground. She looks to the left down the street again.
List the things you know that the author did not say directly. Tell the clues that helped you make the inferences.
INFERENCE CLUES
Inference Worksheet
INFERENCE CLUES
Inference Worksheet
INFERENCE CLUES
It is winter. She is wearing a jacket, snow pants and mittens.
She is going to school. OR the library. She is standing on the corner with a backpack.
She is waiting for the bus. She is looking to the left and standing still.
The bus is late. She looks to the left two times.
She is angry. OR She is cold. She stamps her feet.
It is morning and probably dark. If she is going to school, it is early, and it is
dark in the winter mornings.
When Kids Can’t Read by Kylene Beers 5
©2003 Heinemann – Portsmouth, NH – ISBN 0-86709-519-9
Chapter 5 – Learning to Make an Inference - Pages 61 to 72
Examples of Question Types
1. Literal Question:
What color is the girl's jacket?
2. Inferential Question:
What is the girl waiting for?
3. Critical/Evaluative Question:
Is the girl dressed warmly enough?
When Kids Can’t Read by Kylene Beers 5
©2003 Heinemann – Portsmouth, NH – ISBN 0-86709-519-9
Chapter 5 – Learning to Make an Inference - Pages 61 to 72
When Kids Can’t Read by Kylene Beers
©2003 Heinemann – Portsmouth, NH – ISBN 0-86709-519-9
Chapter 5 – Learning to Make an Inference
Pages 61 to 72
Definition:
An inference is the ability to connect what is in the text with what is in the mind to create an educated guess.
Here is a sample paragraph. Read it; then write in the margin what you think is happening in this text:
He put down $10.00 at the window. The woman behind the window gave him $4.00. The person next to him gave him $3.00, but he gave it back to her. So, when they went inside, she bought him a large bag of popcorn.
If you could figure out this paragraph, you made all of the following types of inferences:
Ö figured out to whom the pronouns referred
Ö gave explanations for events
Ö decided where this was taking place
Ö decided why the characters were doing what they were doing
Ö figured what the relationship was between the characters
Ö used your own knowledge about the world to provide details
Types of Inferences
Skilled readers ...
1. recognize the antecedents for pronouns
2. figure out the meaning of unknown words from context clues
3. figure out the grammatical function of an unknown word
4. understand intonation of characters’ words
5. identify characters’ beliefs, personalities, and motivations
6. understand characters’ relationships to one another
7. provide details about the setting
8. provide explanations for events or ideas that are presented in the text
9. offer details for events or their own explanations of the events presented in the text
10. understand the author’s view of the world
11. recognize the author’s biases
12. relate what is happening in the text to their own knowledge of the world
13. offer conclusions from facts presented in the text
How can we help students make inferences?
1. Post a list of the types of inferences that good readers make. Refer to the list whenever you are making inferences.
2. Model the strategy of making inferences. Read aloud a short passage, and think aloud your inferences. Have students decide what type of inferences you are making (see list above). Kylene Beers recommends doing this at least once each day and says that such books as Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald Sobol and Five-Minute Mysteries and Even More Five-Minute Mysteries Even More Five-Minute Mysteries by Ken Weber are excellent sources.
3. Teach kids that authors provide clues to help you make inferences.
EXTERNAL TEXT – what the author says IMPLIES something
INTERNAL TEXT – what the reader understands as he INFERS something
Look at this sentence: Sam ate the food on her plate without slowing down between bites.
The literal text tells us that somebody named Sam ate all the food that was on the plate.
The author IMPLIED that Sam is a female by using the pronoun her.
The reader INFERRED that she was hungry since the author stated that she didn’t slow down.
What if the next sentence read, “Her bus would be arriving in about two minutes.”
The reader would change the inference from, “Sam is really hungry” to “Sam is in a hurry so she doesn’t miss her bus.”
4. Read ahead in the text and make notes of all the inferences that students will have to make. Make an overhead of a paragraph from the text and then perform SYNTAX SURGERY. In other words, as you make inferences, write them on the page and draw arrows to indicate where you related pronouns to nouns, used the context to figure out a word, or added details to events described in the text.
5. Cut out cartoons from the newspaper and put them on an overhead transparency. Read the cartoon aloud and think aloud your inferences. It is our inferences that make the cartoon funny. At first, Beers has kids bring in cartoons to share. Eventually Kylene Beers gives kids extra credit if they bring in cartoons that they CAN’T figure out. This allows Beers to discuss how an inference does not work.
6. Show students signs or bumper stickers. Have kids write out their inferences (internal text) based on the clues the author provided (external text).
Syntax Surgery
Beers, page 70
He put down $10.00 at the window. The woman behind the window gave $4.00. The person next to him gave him $3.00, but he gave it back to her. So when they went inside, she bought him a large bag of popcorn.
Bumper Stickers
Beers, page 71
A mom put this sign on her teenaged son’s door:
Enter at your own risk.
An unknown bacteria is said to be growing in this room
In the football team’s locker room:
I am your coach, not your mother.
At the vet’s office:
Puddles are for jumping over, not walking through.
Bumper sticker on a highway patrolman’s car:
Don’t slow down on my account.
But if you don’t, it will probably hurt your account.
Bumper sticker on a teenager’s car:
A floorboard? There’s carpet on the floorboard?
At the library:
Check it out – really!
Try write one of your own:
Practice Making Inferences
Read each of these conversations and then answer the questions.
1. A: Look at the long line! Do you think we’ll get in?
B: I think so. Some of these people already have tickets.
A. How much are the tickets?
B. Only $4.50 for the first show. I’ll pay.
A. Thanks. I’ll buy some popcorn.
What are these people talking about?
Where are they?
Which words helped you guess?
2. A: Well, what do you think?
B. The color is perfect on you.
A. What about the style?
B. It’s a very popular style.
A. How does it look on me?
B. It looks great on you. It looks great on everybody.
What are these people talking about?
Where are they?
Which words helped you guess?
3. A. Did you understand everything today?
B. No. I’m so confused.
A. So am I.
B. She doesn’t explain things very well. She goes too fast!
A. I know. And now we’re going to have a test!
What are these people talking about?
Where are they?
Which words helped you guess?
4. A. I can’t believe this is my last day here!
B. You’re leaving us today?
A. Yes. I’m so nervous about this.
B. I’m sure it will be fine.
A. I don’t know. It will be so different.
B. I thought you wanted a change.
A. Yes, I did. I wanted more pay. But now I’m not sure it was the right thing to do.
B. Stop worrying. Everything will be fine.
What inferences can you make from this conversation?
INFERENCE CLUE
Conversation Piece
What happened in this story? As you read this short story, write any inferences you make as you figure things out. You can try “Syntax Surgery” and draw arrows to the clues you connected to make your inference.
“No!”
“Yes!”
“You didn’t!”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Just now.”
“Where?”
“Bedroom.”
“Dead?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You know.”
“I don’t!”
“You do.”
“Unfaithful?”
“Yes.”
“With whom?”
“With you.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
“She didn’t ...”
“She did.”
“We didn’t ....”
“You did.”
“You knew?”
“I knew.”
Conversation Piece, p. 2
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
“What now?”
“Guess.”
“Police?”
“Later.”
“Why later?”
“Guess again.”
“Tell me!”
“Look.”
“Oh no!”
“Oh, yes.”
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“Please!”
“Don’t beg.”
“Forgive me!”
“Too late.”
“Good God!”
“Goodbye.”
“Operator?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The police.”
from: Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher, p. 5-6, Stenhouse Publishers, ISBN 1 57110 384 8
Say Something Strategy
Beers, page 105
Dependent readers don’t distinguish between decoding and reading. To them, reading means pushing your eyes across the words, continuing on whether you understand or not. Say Something is a strategy that was first published by Harste, Short, and Burke in 1998. The strategy interrupts a student’s reading of the text and asks the student to think about what she or he has just read.
Here is how it works:
1. Students get in pairs or groups of 3
2. The first student begins to read aloud one portion of the text.
3. The student reading aloud pauses to “say something” about what was read. That students should:
a. make a prediction
b. ask a question
c. clarify something that is confusing
d. comment on what is happening
e. connect the text to something the student knows
4. The reading partner responds to what the first reader says.
5. They then switch roles, and a new person reads aloud.
6. When reader 2 stops to “say something,” the process begins to loop.
Prompts for Say Something
Beers, Page 108
Make a PredictionÖ I predict that ...
Ö I bet that ...
Ö I think that ...
Ö Since this happened (fill in detail), then I bet the next thing that is going to happen is ...
Ö Reading this part makes me think that this (fill in detail) is about to happen ...
Ö I wonder if .... / Ask a Question
Ö Why did ...
Ö What’s this part about ...
Ö How is this (fill in detail) like this (fill in detail) ...
Ö What would happen if ...
Ö Why ...
Ö Who is ..
Ö What does this section (fill in detail) mean ...
Ö Do you think that ...
Ö I don’t get this part here ...
Clarify Something
Ö Oh, I get it ...
Ö Now I understand ...
Ö This makes sense now ...
Ö No, I think it means ...
Ö I agree with you. This means ...
Ö At first I thought (fill in detail), but now I think ...
Ö This part is really saying ... / Make a Comment
Ö This is good because ...
Ö This is hard because ...
Ö This is confusing because ...
Ö I like the part where ...
Ö I don’t like this part because ...
Ö My favorite part so far is ...
Ö I think that ...
Make a Connection
Ö This reminds me of ...
Ö This part is like ...
Ö This character (fill in name) is like (fill in name) because ....
Ö This is similar to ...
Ö The differences are ...
Ö I also (name something in the text that has happened to you) ...
Ö I never (name something in the text tat has never happened to you) ...
Ö This character makes me think of ...
Ö This setting reminds me of ...
Making an Inference © 20