Inferring

1
Inferring

• A strategy that helps us read between the lines
  or see beneath the surface

2
When Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little
Prince, showed this masterpiece to the grownups
and asked them whether this drawing frightened
them,
they answered Frightened. Why should anyone
be frightened by a hat?
3
So if its not a hat, what is it?
Yes, when we look beneath the surface of the hat,
we see what the author intended us to see -- a
boa constrictor digesting an elephant!
4
Can you now see the elephant?
It is seeing beneath the surface or reading
between the lines that makes reading more
interesting
5
Predicting/Inferring

• Reading strategies to help construct meaning

6
Making an inference
Process of combining
current text information
ones own experiences

• to create meaning not directly stated in text

7
In other words
Inference
8
Types of Inferences

• Text-to-text
• Connecting one part of a text to another,
• i.e., remembering what was read earlier to
  connect to current reading

9

• Text-to-self/World
• Connecting text information to our own
  experiences and knowledge of the world,
• i.e., applying what we read and learn to past or
  present situations, problems, and contexts in the
  world

10

• Text-to-other-texts
• Connecting text information to another text by
  the same author or a similar topic written by
  someone else

11
Lets practice

• Use text clues and background knowledge to read
  between the lines to predict what will happen
  next in the following short story text

12
Caught White Handed

• What do you predict from this title?
• Why?
• Read on

13

• For twenty-five years, our hero had managed to
  avoid being caught. He would saunter into the
  room, casually open the box, and take out the
  elixir. In an instant, the deed was done. If he
  heard the queen coming, he would duck behind the
  door and act as if he were searching for a hidden
  item.

14
Think aloud

• Hmm, the hero has been doing whatever this is
  for 25 years without being caught. Is he really
  a hero, I wonder? An elixir, I think I know
  what that is, but maybe Ill find out for sure if
  I read on. And can we infer from the queen that
  the hero is a prince? Regardless, I predict hes
  going to get caught.

15

• He was proud of his good ears and quick
  reflexes. Even so, he wondered if his luck would
  run out. She was kind, yet very strict with
  those who broke the rules of conduct in the
  castle.

16
Think aloud

• I am even more sure now that the hero is going
  to get caught. However, Im wondering how
  serious his offence can be. Hes been doing it
  for 25 years without getting caught so it doesnt
  seem like his bad deed has had much of an effect
  on other people in the castle whatever that
  is.

17

• What evidence are we basing our predictions on?
• From what weve just read, do we need to confirm
  or adjust our thinking?
• What in the world is an elixir?
• Lets read on

18

• Then on a fateful night in May, he walked past
  the queen into the kitchen. She was asleep on
  her throne, snoring louder than a dragon with a
  chest cold. Easy, he thought, just another
  evening.

19
Think aloud

• So now we know that the queen cant really be
  a queen because queens dont sleep next to the
  kitchen! We also know that fateful means hes
  about to get caught.

20

• Then, just as he lifted the bottle high and put
  his mouth to the opening, he realized that the
  snoring had ceased for more than ten secondsbut
  it was too late. She came around the corner and
  gasped. She was flabbergasted.

21

• What have you inferred so far?
• What details support your inference?
• Now, lets clarify our understanding

22

• How long have you been drinking milk out of the
  bottle like that? his mother exclaimed with
  shock, bracing herself against the kitchen door
  and fighting a smile.
• He muttered, Quite a long time, to avoid
  telling her More than two decades, or, Since
  before color TV.
• Source Zwiers, 1999.

23

• So an elixir is ?
• And the queen was whom?
• And the castle was what?
• And the purpose of the figurative language was?

24
Resources

• Tovani, Chris, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?
• Beers, Kylene, When Kids Cant Read What Teachers
  Can Do
• Zwiers, Jeff, Building Reading Comprehension
  Habits in Grades 6-12
• Strong, Silver, Perini Tuculescu, Reading for
  Academic Success