Reading Comprehension Project Making Inferences or Predictions

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Reading Comprehension ProjectMaking
Inferences or Predictions

• Preparing all students to read to succeed!
• By Velda Schneider

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Making Inferences Predictions

• I chose this area because I often witness my
  students having limited background knowledge or I
  see them struggling with ways to activate their
  prior knowledge. It is so important to get
  students actively involved or engaged from the
  beginning and thats why I chose predictions or
  inferences. I wanted to find, and implement more
  ways to help my students get a great start when
  reading text and making connections to their
  prior knowledge. I feel that students can improve
  their comprehension and construct better meaning
  by improving their inferring skills.

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Thoughts on InferencesThe Art of Predicting

• Thinking at a higher level.
• Being able to infer separates good readers from
  struggling readers.
• Its a way to gather information from different
  sources to make connections or conclusions about
  what the text means.
• Its reading between the lines or finding the
  clues to better understand the text. (Oczkus,
  pg.83)
• Its an author showing rather than telling the
  emotions of a character. (R. Caplan from
  Inferring by Lori Oczkus).

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Purpose for Predicting/Inferring

• If a student tries to predict more often, then
  they have a greater chance of being right. (Jeff
  Zwiers, pg. 81)
• Predictions give students motivation and purpose
  for reading what they read.
• To activate prior background knowledge with the
  text to develop a deeper meaning and
  understanding about the text.

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When should a student infer?

• Before Reading (the cover of a book, clues from
  pictures, pre-reading questions, prior knowledge
  for guessing, and clues from the first page)
• During Reading (text, illustrations, text clues,
  experiences/prior knowledge, comparisons, cause
  and effects)
• After Reading (prior knowledge, experiences, text
  clues, comparisons, causes and effects, and
  connections to the text)

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Type of Inferences

• 1. Text-to-Text Inferences (Connects one part of
  a text to another) (There can be
  text-to-other-text connections from authors)
• 2. Text-to-Self/World Inferences (Connects text
  to a students own experiences and knowledge of
  the world around them.)

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Inferences - Best Practices Strategies

• Cause and Effect Timeline
• Venn Diagram
• KWL Chart
• Sticky Symbols and Drawings
• Text Transformation
• Concept Definition Map

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Cause and Effect Timeline

• This is a graphic organizer timeline that asks
  students to not only determine the sequence of
  events in a story or historical account but also
  to establish or infer the causes of those events.
  
• Make one long timeline and on divide the area in
  half and put What happened? or events on top and
  why or causes on the bottom of the organizer.
  Each cause needs to be supported with evidence.

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Venn Diagram

• This is a diagram that requires the learner to
  compare and contrast two items being studied.
• Draw 2 interconnecting circles. Above each circle
  right the topic. Explain the compare and contrast
  and now have students read the story. Fill in the
  diagram and discuss it.

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KWL Chart(Ogle, 1986)

• This is a three column organizer that we can
  write down information on what we KNOW, WANT to
  know, and what we have LEARNED from text.
• Create 3 columns on the board or a worksheet. Ask
  students What they know, and have them fill in
  the first column. Next ask them what they want to
  know and have them fill this in the 2nd column
  and then have students read the text. Lastly,
  have students write what they learned in the
  final column.

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Sticky Symbols and Drawings

• This is an activity where students create symbols
  and drawings on sticky notes that are visual
  reminders of what is in the text.
• Explain concepts or ideas that we are looking for
  in the text. When students dont understand a
  concept or term they can write on their sticky
  note and put it in the book. We share all sticky
  notes and answer the questions on them as a class.

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Text Transformation

• This is transforming a text into a different
  genre.
• This will have to be modeled with examples.
  Transfer the text into another type of writing to
  text. (Example From a poem to a short story)

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Concept Definition Map

• This is a map that students create starting with
  a key concept/idea and branching out from that.
• Students will create concept maps/graphic
  organizers based on one main concept/idea and
  this keeps building as other areas are mapped off
  of the original idea/concept.

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Inferences New Strategies

• Character Report Card
• Cloze Connections
• Dialogue Comic Strip
• Inference Advertisements
• Prediction Basketball
• Prediction Chart
• Prediction Signals
• Show and Not Tell
• TBI Inference Machines

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Character Report Card

• This is an activity in which the students get to
  grade the characters in a book or chapter on
  certain traits or qualities.
• Choose a story and decide which characters to
  evaluate. Brainstorm a list of traits. Write down
  the characters and the lists. Generate a grading
  system and have students grade each character
  based on the traits and how they feel about that
  character. Students can agree/disagree in pairs
  or groups as they come to a consensus on each
  character.

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Cloze Connections(adapted from Dewitz, Carr
Patberg, 1987)

• This is a simple way to show how we connect
  background knowledge with text information to
  make inferences.
• Need to find a text in electronic form. Find
  words or phrases that students can take out and
  change with their own words. Have students
  underline in the text what context clues they
  found to help them make inferences to what the
  meaning was.

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Dialogue Comic Strip

• Students will create dialogues or infer
  conversations between two objects or people.
• Students will modify or create three important
  conversations from the text into dialogue
  bubbles. Students will try to create dialogues
  between two objects or people based on what they
  understand in the text and then they will share
  these dialogues with a partner.

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Inference Advertisements

• This is using magazine articles to have students
  guess how the advertisers are influencing them to
  buy their products.
• Show a picture of an advertisement with only a
  few lines of texts and ask the students to
  infer/guess what they think it means. Make a
  chart with descriptions about the advertisment to
  make sure it is understood.

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Prediction Basketball

• This is a fun activity to get students actively
  involved in inferring.
• Have students read a section of text and then
  write down a prediction on a piece of paper and
  throw it to the front of the room or basket. Next
  open up the predictions and put them up on the
  board or share them with the class.

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Prediction Chart

• This is a way for students to find good evidence
  for making predictions.
• Give the students a prediction chart and give
  them a title of a movie then have them make a
  prediction. Next ask students what they
  predicted. Put the answers on the board. Next
  watch the first five minutes of the movie. Check
  to see if the predictions are correct and go over
  them in class.

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Prediction Signals

• Work with prediction words that are used as
  signal words.
• Teach a minilesson on signal words. When you
  encounter a signal word put it on a sticky note.
  Have them make a prediction based on this sticky
  note. Go over them as a class.

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Show and Not Tell

• It a way to get student to learn how to infer by
  giving them visual examples.
• Bring something unfamiliar to class, show the
  object and have students infer what they think it
  is and how it works. Have students share with a
  partner and with the class. Show things that
  would give clues as to what the item is without
  actually explaining what it is.

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TBI Inference Machines

• This is a visual organizer that is somewhat like
  an assembly line of the brain.
• TText information BBackground knowledge
  IInference Machine.
• Make a visual organizer with one main concept or
  idea and then put text information and background
  knowledge predictions off of that and show what
  is inferred as a final point on the inference
  machine/chart.

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Conclusions on Inferring

• In conclusion, inferring/predicting is a crucial
  step in the reading and comprehension process. If
  students cant infer then they are not getting at
  the deeper meaning of the text. They need to be
  able to do this so that they are thinking at a
  higher level opening doors in their learning
  process. If I cant help students make inferences
  then they are not activating their prior
  knowledge and they are not making the connections
  that they need for deeper understanding and
  meaning of text.

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Citing Source Information

• The information in this powerpoint was supported
  through the following sources
• Inferring Chapter 4 by Lori Oczkus
• Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades
  K-12 A Toolkit of Classroom Activities by Jeff
  Zwiers
• Teaching Reading in the Content Areas, If not
  me, then Who? by Rachel Billmeyer and Mary Lee
  Barton