Making Inferences
Introduction:
Students will be introduced to the KIS Strategy to make inferences. This strategy will be modeled for students, and then they will make inferences throughout the reading of a novel. Students will be given a pre-test, an assessment after two-week instruction, and the skill of inferencing will also appear on the major course assessment. Students will be informally assessed throughout the unit.
Group Size:
Small Group, Large Group, Whole Class
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to combine text evidence with prior knowledge to make inferences about a fictional text.
Guiding Question:
What does it mean to make an inference? How do you read between the lines? Why is it important to bring your prior knowledge to a text?
Materials:
PowerPoint Presentation
Inference Graphic Organizers
Class novel
Procedures:
1. Pre-test to determine what students know about making inferences
a. 5-minute journal entry
What does it mean to make an inference?
How do you read between the lines?
Why is it important to bring your prior knowledge to a text?
b. Class discussion to check for prior knowledge and understanding. Collect notebooks at the end of the lesson for assessment purposes.
2. Mini-lesson: making inferences
a. Show PowerPoint presentation.
b. Distribute the inference graphic organizer to students and define what it means to make an inference.
Inference: Authors often give you some information, but not everything, and you have to fill in the blanks. You can use information from the book to draw conclusions. You are like a detective, gathering clues. You use those clues to read between the lines, or make an inference. Inferring allows you to merge your own knowledge together with clues in the text to gain a deeper understanding of a text. We make inferences every day. Give some examples. (i.e., You can walk into the classroom, see a substitute teacher and make an inference that your teacher is out sick.)
c. Introduce the KIS Strategy for making inferences. Have students write this down in their notebooks for future reference. Use SMART board for visual learners and provide notes to students ahead of time, as needed.
Key Words:
Underline key words (text evidence)
Infer:
Predict what information is missing by thinking about the key words
Support:
Explain why your inference is correct based on your own past experiences and knowledge.
d. Model making inferences with the KIS Strategy using examples.
3. Guided Practice:
a. Example:
"Rain lashed against the windows as Jane stomped up and down the room stopping only to check the time on the mantle clock every five minutes. Her book, bought with such enthusiasm the day before, was flung carelessly in the corner beside the abandoned picnic basket.
Jane stamped her feet and began to repeat her earlier tedious complaints against nature. Emily merely smiled to herself and carried on reading the newspaper without as much as a nod of the head".
(
What were Jane’s plans for the day?
What is the author’s opinion of Jane?
b. Share answers as a class to check for understanding.
What were Jane’s plans for the day?
Key words: “abandoned picnic basket”, “rain lashed against the windows.”
Support: People do not have picnics in the rain.
Infer: I can infer that Jane was planning on going on a picnic, but it started to rain so the picnic had to be canceled.
What is the author’s opinion of Jane?
Key words: “stomped her feet”, “tedious complaints.”
Support: Kids throw tantrums and stamp up and down. Tedious means tiring and boring.
Infer: The author thinks Jane is childish and immature.
c. Students continue inference practice with another example. Pair up students and circulate to check for understanding.
"Only those of an imposing stature were chosen to play football by the natural team leaders who emerged every recess. My chore was to sit behind the goal at the river end of the field and retrieve any balls stupid enough to avoid the grasp of Chad Knight or "Major" as he was referred to in whispers by most of the younger students.
Sometimes this meant removing my sneakers and socks - if I happened to be wearing any that day. This particular day the water was higher than usual and as I tried to reach the ball I slipped off the slimy rock on which I perched and plunged into the murky wetness.
While this was bad enough, I stood up just in time to see my left sneaker float down the river and disappear under the bridge.
The roars of laughter and finger pointing were nothing compared to what I would have to endure when I went home without shoes!"
What kind of football player is the narrator?
Is the narrator’s family wealthy?
4. Independent Practice
a. Students can complete the inference graphic organizer by making inferences based on the novel. Check to make sure that students are understanding. This assignment can be repeated with other chapters from the novel.
For younger students: You may choose a picture book. Read with them, pausing at appropriate points to note context clues. You can start by modeling how to make inferences about characters. Write down things the character says and does on a character web. Write the character’s name in the center circle. On lines branching off from the character’s name, write how the character looks, acts, feels and what the character says. Then use the information you have to read between the lines.
For advanced students: Have students use the inferences to identify character traits that describe the main character. Or, have students make an inference about what the author’s belief about a character is.
For struggling students who have difficulty understanding the difference between inferences and predictions: Explain that predictions are about what will happen next in the story, while inferences are things that are already hidden in the story. Encourage them to think more concretely: What does the character say? What does the character do? What do the character’s actions and thoughts tell me about the character?
For ELL learners: Explain the meaning of any key vocabulary or concepts. Make sure that students understand the phrase reading between the lines because it cannot be translated literally.
5. Post Activities:
a. Exit Slip Reflection options:
Which strategy did I use today? Why is this strategy helpful?
Write down all you know about inferences.
What do I have questions about today?
b. Connection to the novel
Once the students are confident with the inference organizer, this assignment can be used throughout the reading of the novel. Each exam will have an inference section, so the graphic organizer can be used as a review activity.
Inferences – Reading Between the Lines
Practice #1
"Rain lashed against the windows as Jane stamped up and down the room stopping only to check the time on the mantle clock every five minutes. Her book, bought with such enthusiasm the day before, was flung carelessly in the corner beside the abandoned picnic basket. Jane stomped her feet and began to repeat her earlier tedious complaints against nature. Emily merely smiled to herself and carried on reading the newspaper without as much as a nod of the head”
Inference Question / Text clues(It says...) / Support
(I know...) / So I infer
What were Jane’s plans for the day?
What is the author’s opinion of Jane?
Practice #2
"Only those of an imposing stature were chosen to play football by the natural team leaders who emerged every recess. My chore was to sit behind the goal at the river end of the field and retrieve any balls stupid enough to avoid the grasp of Chad Knight or "Major" as he was referred to in whispers by most of the younger students.
Sometimes this meant removing my sneakers and socks - if I happened to be wearing any that day. This particular day the water was higher than usual and as I tried to reach the ball I slipped off the slimy rock on which I perched and plunged into the murky wetness.
While this was bad enough, I stood up just in time to see my left sneaker float down the river and disappear under the bridge.
The roars of laughter and finger pointing were nothing compared to what I would have to endure when I went home without shoes!"
Inference Question / Text clues(It says...) / Support
(I know...) / So I infer
What kind of football player is the narrator?
Is the narrator’s family wealthy?
Making Inferences
KKey Words / I
Inference / S
Support