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The Inference Strategy

Developed by Nanette Fritschmann, Ph.D.

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Presented by

Sue Woodruff

KUCRL SIM Professional Developer

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? X ? = INFERENCE

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PURPOSE OF STRATEGY

As they answer questions about what they read…

  • Read the question first
  • Decide on what type of question it is
  • Read passage looking for clues to help answer correctly
  • Answer the question

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To make students become active with the text by…

As they read…

  • Improve level of questioning
  • Create questions of varying types
  • Look for clues to answer questions
  • Answer the questions

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The Inference Strategy

helping older students learn how to make inferences about they have read and answer questions

is about

level of student skills (Stage 1)

pretest

by determining

through a

Use INFER steps to answer questions (Stages 2 & 3)

practice & feedback (Stages 4-6)

mastery

(Stage 7)

generalization

(Stage 8)

by teaching students how to

through multiple opportunities for

by determining

by ensuring student use through

introduction

factual questions

big picture questions

prediction questions

clarifying questions

verbal practice

controlled practice

advanced practice

through describing and modeling

including

posttest

through a

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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE?

Let’s think about Self-Questioning

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Learning Strategies Curriculum

ACQUISITION

STORAGE

EXPRESSION

  • Word Identification
  • Word Mapping
  • Visual Imagery
  • Self-Questioning
  • Fundamentals of Paraphrasing & Summarizing
  • Paraphrasing
  • Inference
  • LINCS Vocabulary
  • Paired Associates
  • First Letter Mnemonics
  • Note Taking Strategy
  • Fundamentals of Sentence Writing
  • Proficiency in Sentence Writing
  • Paragraph Writing
  • EDIT Strategy
  • Fundamentals of Theme Writing
  • Proficiency in Theme Writing
  • Essay Test Taking
  • Test Taking
  • Word Identification
  • Word Mapping
  • Visual Imagery
  • Self-Questioning
  • Fundamentals of Paraphrasing & Summarizing
  • Paraphrasing
  • Inference

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Strategy Overview

INTRODUCTION

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS

    • Stage 1: Pretest
    • Stage 2 and 3: Describe and Model
      • Lesson 1: Introduction to the Inference Strategy
      • Lesson 2: Factual Questions
      • Lesson 3: Big Picture Questions
      • Lesson 4: Factual Questions
      • Lesson 5: Clarifying Questions
    • Stage 4: Verbal Practice
    • Stage 5: Controlled Practice
    • Stage 6: Advanced Practice
    • Stage 7: Posttest
    • Stage 8: Generalization

APPENDIX A: Evaluation Guidelines

APPENDIX B: Instructional Materials

APPENDIX C: Answer Keys

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Guided Practice

Cooperative Practice

Individual Practice

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Stage 1: Pretest

  • Use a passage of about 400 words at student’s grade level.
  • Students read the passage and give 3 responses:

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  • Mastery is 80%.

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  • Type of questions
  • Clues that helped them answer the questions
  • Answer to the questions

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Stages 2 & 3: Describe and Model

Lesson 1 – Introduction to Inference

Strategy

Lesson 2 – Factual Questions

Lesson 3 – Big Picture Questions

Lesson 4 – Predicting Questions

Lesson 5 – Clarifying Questions

Think and Search Questions

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What are we talking about?

What does ‘to infer’ mean?

To guess the best answer based on the information you already know

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Cue Card #1 Enhanced

(In your packet)

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Types of Questions

2 Basic Kinds

Cue Card #3

Where answer is in the passage

Where answer is NOT in the passage

FACTUAL

QUESTIONS

THINK & SEEK

QUESTIONS

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3 Types of Think & Seek Questions

  • Think & Seek Questions
    • Big Picture Questions
    • Predicting Questions
    • Clarifying Questions

Cue Card #5

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Stage 2: Describe and Model

Lesson 1 – Introduction to the Inference Strategy

Lesson 2 – Factual Questions

Lesson 3 – Big Picture Questions

Lesson 4 – Predicting Questions

Lesson 5 – Clarifying Questions

Think and Seek Questions

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Factual Questions

• Require finding a fact in the information that you have read.

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• The answer is right there in the passage.

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Cue Card #6

Page 107 of Manual

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Example Factual Questions

  • What color is the boy’s hair?
  • What is the name of the girl’s best friend?
  • How many years have the people lived in their house?
  • Where is the train going?
  • Who is on the boat with the lady?
  • When did the man arrive?
  • Which dog bit the child?

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Cue Card #7

Page 108 of Manual

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Key Words for �Factual Questions

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

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  • Watch “For The Birds”
  • Think of a FACTUAL question based on video
  • Share your question with your partner.
  • Discuss with larger group.

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Steps for Teaching �(p. 23-31)

  • Teach it. Use Cue Cards 1,3,6-8
  • Demonstrate it using Student Materials passage titled “Tornado Watch” from Lesson 2 (Pgs. 4 - 5)
  • Have students independently complete Passages 2, 3, and 4 from Lesson 2 as needed (Pgs. 6 – 11)

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Stage 2: Describe and Model

Lesson 1 – Introduction to the Inference Strategy

Lesson 2 – Factual Questions

Lesson 3 – Big Picture Questions

Lesson 4 – Predicting Questions

Lesson 5 – Clarifying Questions

Think and Seek Questions

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Big Picture Questions

  • Require you to figure out the main idea or big message or theme of the passage.
  • May ask for the purpose of the writer.
  • May ask for summary information
      • setting
      • tone

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Cue Card #9

Page 110 of Manual

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Example Big Picture Questions

  • What is the main idea of this passage?
  • What is the author’s main message?
  • What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
  • What is the theme of this passage?
  • What was the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
  • What is the setting of this story?
  • What is the tone of this passage?
  • Which of these statements summarizes what this passage is about?

Cue Card #10

Page 111 of Manual

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Key Big Picture Question Words

Main Idea

  • DEFINITION: The big idea in a paragraph or passage.
  • EXAMPLE: This passage is about how people lived during the Renaissance.

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Purpose

  • DEFINITION: The author’s reason for writing the passage.
  • EXAMPLE: The author wants to convince the reader to exercise each day.

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Persuade

Inform

Entertain

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Key Big Picture Question Words

Summary

  • DEFINITION: A short statement that tells about a long passage.
  • EXAMPLE: The passage is a story about a man who breaks his arm and learns a lesson.

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Message

  • DEFINITION: The author’s communication in writing to the reader. What the author wants the reader to know or understand.
  • EXAMPLE: The author wants us to understand that people should not say mean things about other people.

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Key Big Picture Question Words�(continued)

Theme

  • DEFINITION: Another word for “message” or what the author wants the reader to know.
  • EXAMPLE: The theme of this passage is that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

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Setting

  • DEFINITION: The place in which the story is located.
  • EXAMPLE: This takes place in the African jungle.

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Key Big Picture Question Words�(continued)

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Tone

  • DEFINITION: The feeling of the passage. The emotions the author is expressing through the use of certain words like adjectives and adverbs.
  • EXAMPLE: This passage is an angry passage. The author shows that anger through the ways Peter acts by throwing things and yelling.

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Cue Card #11A & 11B

Page 112 – 113 of Manual

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Tone in Excerpts from Literature

How do we help kids find big picture inferences in text?

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And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.

from The School by Donald Barthelme

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Tone in Excerpts from Literature

How do we help kids find big picture inferences in text?

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There was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none. A clammy and intensely cold mist, it made its slow way through the air in ripples that visibly followed and overspread one another, as the waves of an unwholesome sea might do. It was dense enough to shut out everything from the light of the coach-lamps but these its own workings, and a few yards of road; and the reek of the labouring horses steamed into it, as if they had made it all. from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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Turn to your Neighbor

This time think of a Big Picture question.

With your partner, also tell us how you thought of your question.

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Steps for Teaching �(p. 32-42)

  • Teach it. Use Cue Cards 3,5, 8-12
  • Demonstrate it using Student Materials passage titled “Secret Message” from Lesson 3 (Pgs. 12 - 13)
  • Have students independently complete Passages 2, 3, and 4 from Lesson 3 as needed (Pgs. 14 – 19)

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Stage 2: Describe and Model

Lesson 1 – Introduction to the Inference Strategy

Lesson 2 – Factual Questions

Lesson 3 – Big Picture Questions

Lesson 4 – Predicting Questions

Lesson 5 – Clarifying Questions

Think and Seek Questions

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Predicting Questions

  • Require you to make a guess or forecast about what will happen in the future.

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  • Require you to base your forecast on information you have read.

Cue Card #13

Page 115 of Manual

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Example Predicting Questions�

  • What do you think will happen next?
  • What is the most likely event to happen next?
  • What will the main character do next?
  • What will happen to the boy in the future?
  • Where will the boy hide?
  • Who will help her?
  • When will she be found?
  • Which of his friends will stay over night?
  • If you were to finish this story, how would it end?

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Cue Card #14

Page 116 of Manual

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Key Words for �Predicting Questions

Next

Future

Happen

Will

Down the road

End

Ending

Effect

Conclusion

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Cue Card #15

Page 117 of Manual

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HERE IS WHAT YOU KNOW…

The Last Photo in the Camera

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WHAT DO YOU INFER?

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Turn to your Neighbor

  • Remember video again.
  • Think about what you know.
  • Make up a PREDICTION QUESTON based on FTB.
  • Share your question with your partner.
  • Discuss with larger group.

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Steps for Teaching �(p. 43-50)

  • Teach it. Use Cue Cards 1,5,8,13-15
  • Demonstrate it using Student Materials passage titled “Packing Problems” from Lesson 4 (Pgs. 20-21)
  • Have students independently complete Passages 2, 3, and 4 from Lesson 4 as needed (Pgs. 22 – 27)

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Stage 2: Describe and Model

Lesson 1 – Introduction to the Inference Strategy

Lesson 2 – Factual Questions

Lesson 3 – Big Picture Questions

Lesson 4 – Predicting Questions

Lesson 5 – Clarifying Questions

Think and Seek Questions

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Clarifying Questions

Require you to make sense of something

      • Explain something
      • Give a cause
      • Give a reason
      • Explain feelings
      • Compare something
      • Contrast something

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Cue Card #16

Page 118 of Manual

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�Example Clarifying Questions�

  • What do you think the author meant when she used the word “satisfied” in Paragraph 1?
  • What was Jason trying to do when he hid the money?
  • How do you think Paula was feeling when she went to the store?
  • What caused Mrs. Jones to give away the puppy?
  • What do you think the reason was for his angry behavior?
  • How does Jim’s behavior compare to Pedro’s behavior?
  • How does the parade contrast with previous parades?

Cue Card #17

Page 119 of Manual

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Key Words in Clarifying Questions

  • Means
  • Meant
  • Cause
  • Reason
  • Compare
  • Contrast
  • Same
  • Different
  • Feeling

No Cue Card for this slide

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Think – Pair - Share

This last time think of Clarifying Question.

With your partner, also tell us how you thought of your question.

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Steps for Teaching �(p. 51-58)

  • Teach it. Use Cue Cards 1,5,8,16-18
  • Demonstrate it using Student Materials passage titled “Safety First” from Lesson 5 (Pgs. 28-29)
  • Have students independently complete Passages 2, 3, and 4 for Lesson 5 as needed (Pgs. 30 – 35)

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The Inference Strategy

an approach to difficult, high level reading comprehension tasks

different types of questions

Is about

by analyzing

Factual

(F)

Think & Seek

that can be

or

Big Picture

(B)

Prediction

(P)

Clarifying

(C)

can

be

Why is it important to understand different question types?

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Stages 3-6: Practice

  • Stage 4 – Verbal Practice
  • Stage 5 – Controlled Practice : Passages at their reading level

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  • Stage 6 – Advanced Practice
  • Guided Practice (Whole class together - optional)
  • Cooperative Practice (Paired or small group - optional)
  • Individual Practice (Required for mastery)

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Stage 7: Posttest

  • Use a passage of about 400 words at student’s grade level.
  • Students read the passage and give 3 responses:

​

​

​

  • Mastery is 80%.

​

  • Type of questions
  • Clues that helped them answer the questions
  • Answer to the questions

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Stage 8: Generalization

  • Celebrate
  • Set goals
  • Prompt
  • Remind
  • Reflect
  • Require
  • Reward
  • Have FUN!

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Clarify Scoring

3 points per question…

1 pt Identifying correct type of question

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1 pt Identifying clues in text

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1 pt Correct answer

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Characteristics of a Good Answer

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  • Is a complete statement
      • subject
      • verb
  • Is related to information in the passage
  • Answers the question

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Stage 8: �Generalization �Orally as a Class��OPTION A

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Stage 8: Generalization� Orally in Pairs��OPTION B

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Stage 8: (OPTION C)�Generalization Written Individually

Dot #1

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Think and Search Question: _________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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Clues/Supporting Details: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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Answer: ___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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INFER & High-Stakes Testing

Grade 10 OGT Reading Passages

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The Osama bin Laden Obituary

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The Inference Strategy

an approach to difficult, high level reading comprehension tasks

different types of questions

clues in the reading to answer questions

Is about

by analyzing

by utilizing

Factual

(F)

Think & Seek

that can be

or

the assignment

myself

or

asked by

asked by

Big Picture

(B)

Prediction

(P)

Clarifying

(C)

can

be

Why is it important to understand different question types?

How do you go about inferring meaning in a passage?

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Great Resource!!!

And it’s FREE!

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Great Resource!!!

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Thank you!

For more info:

Sue Woodruff

SIM Professional Development Leader

swoodruf@comcast.net