Inferring and reading

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Reading Teachers Chatboard

Inferring and reading

by Eri-cat

Oct 20, 2012

I know what inferring is and how to teach it, but I want to know what it really has to do with reading. I know we all make inferences all the time in life. When we're reading, we make inferences too, automatically. It's a natural response. How can we teach something that already comes naturally? And why do we need to teach this?

I don't really think it has to do with what "good readers do" because I read, and have never stopped to make an inference, nor would I know where to stop and make one if I were a child. It would just happen naturally if I understood what I was reading. If I didn't understand what I was reading, I certainly wouldn't be able to know where to make an inference. What would be the point? What I would need to do, however, is to figure out why I don't understand it. Is my mind wandering? Did I just read a paragraph 3 times and not remember a single word I read? Did I not understand some words, which made some of the text difficult to understand, but I could ...See More

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Tyler Blackthorn On 10/20/12, Eri-cat wrote: > I know what inferring is and how to teach it, but I want to > know what it really has to do with reading. I know we all > make inferences all the time in life. When we're reading, > we make inferences too, automatically. It's a natural > response. How can we teach something that already comes > natura...See MoreOn 10/20/12, Eri-cat wrote: > I know what inferring is and how to teach it, but I want to > know what it really has to do with reading. I know we all > make inferences all the time in life. When we're reading, > we make inferences too, automatically. It's a natural > response. How can we teach something that already comes > naturally? And why do we need to teach this? > > I don't really think it has to do with what "good readers > do" because I read, and have never stopped to make an > inference, nor would I know where to stop and make one if I > were a child. It would just happen naturally if I > understood what I was reading. If I didn't understand what > I was reading, I certainly wouldn't be able to know where > to make an inference. What would be the point? What I would > need to do, however, is to figure out why I don't > understand it. Is my mind wandering? Did I just read a > paragraph 3 times and not remember a single word I read? > Did I not understand some words, which made some of the > text difficult to understand, but I could get the gist of > it? > > I don't see how inferring is related to good readers. What > I truly think the skill is for is for students to be able > to answer a question that a worksheet or test asks. That's > all. Any ideas?

Inference is one of dozens of "skills" taught in a skill-based reading program. Other non-useful skills include homophones, hard-and-soft-g, and phonics after second grade. A huge publishing industry has broken reading down to a group of skills. They sell tools to us so we can teach these skills. When we do this, we are really teaching ABOUT reading, and actually doing little to develop readers.

The way to boost reading levels is to create readers. If every student in my class decided to choose reading as a free time activity, I have created readers.

Last year I taught no skills at all, but had a rigorous reading program where every one of my fourth graders read 3,000 words a day or more. I had a four part reading program: Instruction, Silent Reading, At Home Reading, and Storytime. All but two SPED students exceeded on the state reading test

Oct 21, 2012

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Sara On 10/20/12, Eri-cat wrote:

What do you infer about human nature from reading Lord of the Flies? What's the message of the book? Do you see a book as a straight plot and that's it? Most often books are more than the plot and what else they are - you infer. Does Lord of the Flies ever say outright that people left on their own are really l...See MoreOn 10/20/12, Eri-cat wrote:

What do you infer about human nature from reading Lord of the Flies? What's the message of the book? Do you see a book as a straight plot and that's it? Most often books are more than the plot and what else they are - you infer. Does Lord of the Flies ever say outright that people left on their own are really like animals? If it did, it would only need one page to say that.

But it's a book of many pages and you're inferring throughout. When one person says "I see Piggy as a very brave person who had the courage to be himself" and the next says "I see Piggy as a wimp who got what was coming to him" - those two people are inferring something different. Their inferences are differences. When you analyze a book, you're doing that on the basis of what you've inferred.

How can you be teaching inferring if you don't see what it has to do with reading??

Inferring does NOT come naturally to everybody - some kids don't think at a reflective level. Some adults don't think at a reflective level. My husband leaves a party and has no idea that anyone at the party was upset that night or had had too much to drink or was flirting with him. He does not infer anything. It's either directly said or - it doesn't exist.

His Lit teacher never taught him to infer...

And even those who are gifted at something naturally still have something to learn even in the area of their gift.

Unless you're asking questions like "Then what happened" almost any question about a book asks one to infer. The 'why' questions about a book rely on inference for their answers.

Why was Simon like that in the book? What does he represent? Why was Alice so curious about the White Rabbit? Are all little girls like that or was Alice special? Why did Dorothy want to leave Kansas? Did she hate Kansas or was she just bored by it? Infer the answer from the book. Where are Dorothy's parents anyway? Let's infer what that did to Dorothy's childhood.

>> > I don't see how inferring is related to good readers. What > I truly think the skill is for is for students to be able > to answer a question that a worksheet or test asks. That's > all. Any ideas?

Oct 26, 2012

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Nicole/MO THINKING IN-DEPTH

Many students have trouble "thinking while they read." The strategy of inferring requires the reader to think more in- depthly about characters, plot events, etc. If the main character is dressed in dirty, tattered clothes and sleeps on a park bench every night, then the reader can infer that the character is homeless. In...See More