What is Inferring
Inferring refers to what we figure out based on an experience or prior knowledge. Helping students understand when information is not directly state but implied, will improve their skills in drawing conclusions or making inferences. (Reading Rockets Inc., 2015)
As readers, students much approach a text as a detective. They need to search for hidden meanings and clues that will foreshadow what is coming up in the text. For some students, this is a fun and exciting process while for other students it is a very real struggle.
According to an article by Maura Deptula, there are two important precursors to teacher students who struggle with this concept and to help enhance the strategy for those that enjoy it. These two keys are automaticity and background knowledge.
Automaticity
This concept refers to the student ability to read with easy and accuracy. This ease allows students to focus on the meaning behind the text instead of focusing on the words themselves. By building fluency, students have a better chance at achieving automaticity. Without fluency, students are much too busy just decoding the words and cannot focus on any underlying meaning.
Background Knowledge
Students cannot make inference about text unless they have appropriate background knowledge about what they are reading. By building the context of the reading material and asking thought provoking pre-reading questions, students can build accurate and appropriate background knowledge to make inferences about the text.
(Deptula, 2013)
Using Inferring in the classroom
Deptula (2013) also prevents several activities to introduce inferring to your classroom.
Tie it to writing
By having students incorporate bullet number three into your classroom, students are encouraged to use writing skills with their reading strategy. This simple reading exercise satisfies College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard number seven:
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation
Refer to the video below that gives you specific guidelines for inferring throughout a story. This teacher offers 4 rules and then provides excellent supporting explanations for each of the rules. This sources is concise and accurate and makes a great springboard for learning the basics of inferring while reading.
Inferring refers to what we figure out based on an experience or prior knowledge. Helping students understand when information is not directly state but implied, will improve their skills in drawing conclusions or making inferences. (Reading Rockets Inc., 2015)
As readers, students much approach a text as a detective. They need to search for hidden meanings and clues that will foreshadow what is coming up in the text. For some students, this is a fun and exciting process while for other students it is a very real struggle.
According to an article by Maura Deptula, there are two important precursors to teacher students who struggle with this concept and to help enhance the strategy for those that enjoy it. These two keys are automaticity and background knowledge.
Automaticity
This concept refers to the student ability to read with easy and accuracy. This ease allows students to focus on the meaning behind the text instead of focusing on the words themselves. By building fluency, students have a better chance at achieving automaticity. Without fluency, students are much too busy just decoding the words and cannot focus on any underlying meaning.
Background Knowledge
Students cannot make inference about text unless they have appropriate background knowledge about what they are reading. By building the context of the reading material and asking thought provoking pre-reading questions, students can build accurate and appropriate background knowledge to make inferences about the text.
(Deptula, 2013)
Using Inferring in the classroom
Deptula (2013) also prevents several activities to introduce inferring to your classroom.
- Challenge your students to be sleuths. Give them a riddle and have them brainstorm possible answers. Explore how they reached different conclusions about what the correct answer might be and probe them on their analysis process.
- Assign groups of students different perspectives to take as they read. For example, one group can focus on the historical period of a story, another on the social aspects of a story, a third can focus on the events that preceded the story, and a final group can develop ideas around what the future holds.
- Ask students to write about their inferences. A simple exercise of having them jot down a note about finding hidden meaning in text can help them focus more and recognize when the author is conveying meaning beyond the words. (A simple worksheet with the following sentences works well: I think ____________. What led me to think this was __________. )
- Ask students to infer the meaning of complex vocabulary words presented in sentences. For example: She found the data counter-intuitive because the many times she had tested herself her results had been quite different.
Tie it to writing
By having students incorporate bullet number three into your classroom, students are encouraged to use writing skills with their reading strategy. This simple reading exercise satisfies College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard number seven:
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation
Refer to the video below that gives you specific guidelines for inferring throughout a story. This teacher offers 4 rules and then provides excellent supporting explanations for each of the rules. This sources is concise and accurate and makes a great springboard for learning the basics of inferring while reading.
This fun and interactive student skit gives a simple perspective of inferring. These students give excellent definitions, text examples, as well as visuals to help relate inferring and how it works. It is a great resource to show middle aged students to get them involved in their learning of inferring while keeping them engaged.
References:
Deptula, M. (2013, September 3). Teaching Inference as a Reading Strategy: The What, the How, and the Why. Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.scilearn.com/blog/teaching-inference-as-a-reading-strategy
Reading Rockets Inc.. (2015). Inferring. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inferring
Kurland, D. (2000). Inference: Reading Ideas as Well as Words. Retrieved from http://www.criticalreading.com/inference_reading.htm
Deptula, M. (2013, September 3). Teaching Inference as a Reading Strategy: The What, the How, and the Why. Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.scilearn.com/blog/teaching-inference-as-a-reading-strategy
Reading Rockets Inc.. (2015). Inferring. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inferring
Kurland, D. (2000). Inference: Reading Ideas as Well as Words. Retrieved from http://www.criticalreading.com/inference_reading.htm