Understanding
Inference
Presented by Angela Maiers
Angelamaiers.com

A Closer Look At:

INFERRING

Prediction:
Right or Wrong,
our “guess” will be confirmed

Inference:
Logical and Justifiable,
Able to ‘make a case’
– not a guess

What Makes Most Sense

The clues are telling me that…
When I see this, it makes me think that…
I am noticing…
This makes me conclude that…
When the author said________, I thought…
This clue is important because…
This makes me wonder if…
When I read this, I am reminded of…
I think the author want me to…
When I read this, I think…
I believe this means______ because______
_
This part lead me to believe that…

Turn & Talk!

Combine Clues
Draw From Experience
Logical Conclusion
+
=
Content
Schema
Inference

What’s Going Here?

Describe the Situation

What is going on?
A red-faced child with tears in her eyes sits on the sidewalk in front of the house. She is wearing a helmet. A small bike with broken chain is lying on the grass in front of her. Next to it is an unzipped backpack. Some of the contents from the backpack are lying on the sidewalk.

I SEE I THINK I INFER

Text Clue I THINK I INFER

“Uhm…Houston…?”

PROBLEM # 1
Ignoring
Information
Guessing
Jumping to Conclusions
Ignoring Author’s Signals

He pulled his reindeer coat around his shoulders. He was glad to have his sealskin boots and his heavy trousers to guard him against the stinging wind. He snapped the whip and the dogsled took off with a jolt.

PROBLEM # 2
Issues with
Schema
Lack of Schema
Fragmented Schema
Inaccurate Schema

Problem Two: Issues With Schema
A young man and his father were driving home from school. Their car was
involved in a serious crash. The young man, who had been badly injured in a car accident was rushed to a nearby hospital’s emergency room. Accordingly, the hospital’s brain surgeon is paged. Upon seeing the patient, the surgeon exclaims, “My God, my God, I can not operate on this patient! He is my son!!”

Misinformed Schema

Author
S
C
H
E
M
A
&

PROBLEM # 3
Identifying
Task
What Should the Reader Do?
35 Types of Ifferences
Multiple Genre & Text

YOU TRY IT!!!!!
He put down $10.00 at the window. The woman behind the window gave $4.00. The person next to him gave $3.00, but he gave it back to her. So, when they went inside, she bought him a large bag of popcorn.

Problem Three-Task Awareness:
What Are We Asking Readers to Do?
Theme
Feelings/Emotion
Traits
Location/Setting
Conflict Problem
Motivation
Attitudes
Intention
Author Purpose
Genre
Bias
Outcomes
Causations
Pt. of View
View Point
Mood
Tone
Relationship
Data Analysis
Agent/Instrument

INFERRING
What will you say now?