Reading Comprehension
Project
Making Inferences or
Predictions
“Preparing all students to read to succeed!”
By Velda Schneider
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 that’s 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.
Thoughts on Inferences
“The Art of Predicting”
• Thinking at a higher level.
• Being able to infer separates good readers from
struggling readers.
• It’s a way to gather information from different sources
to make connections or conclusions about what the text
means.
• It’s “reading between the lines” or finding the clues to
better understand the text. (Oczkus, pg.83)
• It’s an author “showing rather than telling” the
emotions of a character. (R. Caplan from Inferring by
Lori Oczkus).
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.
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)
Type of Inferences
• 1. Text-to-Text Inferences (Connects one part
of a text to another) (There can be text-toother-text connections from authors)
• 2. Text-to-Self/World Inferences (Connects text
to a student’s own experiences and knowledge
of the world around them.)
Inferences - Best Practices
Strategies
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Cause and Effect Timeline
Venn Diagram
KWL Chart
Sticky Symbols and Drawings
Text Transformation
Concept Definition Map
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.
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.
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.
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 don’t 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.
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)
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.
Inferences – New Strategies
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Character Report Card
Cloze Connections
Dialogue Comic Strip
Inference Advertisements
Prediction Basketball
Prediction Chart
Prediction Signals
Show and Not Tell
T+B=I Inference Machines
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
T+B=I Inference Machines
• This is a visual organizer that is somewhat like an
assembly line of the brain.
• T=Text information; B=Background knowledge;
I=Inference 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.
Conclusions on Inferring
• In conclusion, inferring/predicting is a crucial step
in the reading and comprehension process. If
students can’t 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 can’t
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.
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