Inferring

We started a new reading unit this week on the comprehension strategy of inferring. After introducing the idea of what it is and how it helps good readers, Tracy selected a student and put a word on his back. The class could see the word but the chosen student could not. Tracy invited the class to give the chosen child hints so he could try to infer what the word might be. Nicholas got the first word on his back, "mad." The students gave several hints to Nicholas including situations that would make him mad, the synonym "happy," and Shawn even showed Nic his best mad face (on the right)! After several hints, Nic guessed the word. Tracy discussed with the children that it is the same way that good readers infer when they are reading. They have a word or words in the book. They take their own schema (background knowledge) which were represented by the "hints" and put those two together to come to a new understanding. In this case the understanding is the word!

Tan got the second word, "sad." He, of course, couldn't see the word and had to guess the word on his back from the hints that were given by the rest of the class. Once again the students gave him several situations that might make him sad. Jacob did a great imitation of crying and another student gave him a synonym.

 Tan soon guessed the word. Once again Tracy went through the explanation of how the students had used the hints to figure out the word.

The students thoroughly enjoyed this lesson on inferring and seemed to get the idea that the author might not always give them all the information, but instead might just give them hints so they could figure out what had happened. We'll see how the rest of the week goes with this new and complex comprehension strategy.