Making inferences as a reader

In the book Catching Readers Before They Fall by Johnson and Keier, the authors' highlight the importance of teaching young readers to infer while reading. Luckily, many children begin school already knowing how to make inferences in everyday life, such as inferring that it is cold out so they will need to wear a coat. As teachers it is our job to transfer the skill of making an inference into reading. 

I believe the below graphic, borrowed from Johnson and Keier, is an excellent visual of what a reader does in order to make inferences.  As a person reads, he or she combines the text from the author with his or her own thoughts. The ending point or conclusion that the person arrives at, is an inference drawn from the story.

Catching Readers Before They Fall. Johnson and Kleier.

As a future teacher, I think of two issues that will be very important in the implementation of inferring in the classroom, 1) practice of inferring on a regular basis, and 2)  using different types of information to make inferences. 

The first thing, practicing inferring, is a huge thing in a classroom. Inferring is not a topic that can be introduced in one day and gone the next. In order for students to become better readers through making inferences, inferring will have to be practiced routinely. 

The second issue is using a variety of texts and information sources to practice making inferences with children. Though one of the primary goals of making inferences, especially in the case demonstrated by Johnson and Kleier, is to increase reading comprehension, I believe making inferences through other mediums can be a great way to help practice making personal meaning of text, art, or other 'stuff'.

 

For example, a couple of weeks ago I used a a visual thinking strategy with a third grade class, using the image pictured below. With simple questions, such as, "what do you see?", each child was able to make meaning of the picture and create his or her own story of what was taking place in the image. I believe this was a simple and captivating way to practice inferring with students. Though no text was involved, the students were able to see how much more meaningful the picture became once they applied their own thoughts and feelings to the image. 

Through practice and through the use of a variety of texts and mediums, students will learn how to create rich inferences that can help them become better readers!