Inferring is one difficult task for my students to perform as they do not know how to listen to their inner voice. I use both strategies in my daily instruction, especially in my small group reading intervention to improve my students’ comprehension skills. The strategy I utilize the most is inferring; this is also the hardest “it involves merging background knowledge with text clues to come up with an idea that is not explicitly stated in the text “(Harvey & Goudvis, 2007 p. 131). In my reading intervention groups, I encourage my students to make inferences about the character’s feelings and traits. For example, last week we read a book about a 14-year-old Indian girl who invented a washing machine that didn’t need electricity to do the laundry without taking too much time. After reading the book with the students, I then encouraged them to express what they thought this character was like as a person. I distributed sticky notes to the students and asked them to look for sentences in the text that helped them understand Remya, the main character, as a person. Some of the words my students came up with were inquisitive because “Remya was always trying new things and doing experiments,” Another adjective my students brainstormed was persistent because “even though her parents and friends discouraged her, Remyan didn’t give up.” Finally, my students suggested Remya was creative and original as “she invented a new washing machine that did not need electricity to do the laundry efficiently. “ While my students were able to brainstorm these adjectives about a character of a story, they struggled throughout the activity as they do not possess the adequate vocabulary to talk about characters or people in general. Thus, I had to scaffold this activity by creating a chart headed: Quote/Illustration and Inference. Also, I provided my students with an anchor chart with several traits so students can refer to it as they are describing or making inferences about characters.

Another way I utilize Inferring in my daily instruction is by finding or inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words. While reading together, I encourage students to look for words they do not know and infer the meaning. In order to do this activity I utilize a chart headed: Word/Clue/Sentence/Inferred Meaning, which is located in Strategies that Work. This is a methodical way to teach context clues and inferring to students as it organizes the thinking process of students while defining words through context clues. Some words my students have learned through this strategy are: bolt, display, invent, competition, donate, structure, invention, and others. Although these are “easy” words for most fifth graders, my students read at a 3^rd grade level; which is why they have reading intervention in small groups. 

Chapter eight of Strategies that Work provides rationales and lessons for utilizing “Questioning” techniques for students when reading a text. Students tend to have numerous questions while reading, but sometimes these questions are not relevant to the text so it does not enable them to comprehend the text. Last week, I was reading a short text to the entire class during core. The text was about two boys who had taken a science test. While the teacher thought one of the students had cheated on the test, the other student, who accused his classmate of cheating, admitted that he had lied because he was upset. As my co teacher and I took turns in reading to the students, I modeled questions that crossed my mind. For instance, I asked myself: “Why did Fernando accuse John of cheating?” “Did John really cheat on the science test?” “I wonder how Fernando feels after telling the truth.” Some of these questions were answered right in the text, and others were not because I had to make inferences. I modeled this process to the students and talked about the importance of knowing we can answer the question directly from the text or use the information in the text to make an inference.  Students then had their chance to read another text and jot down questions as they read their text independently. As my co teacher and I walked through the classroom we realized this is strategy we should implement more because our students have difficulty distinguishing questions that relevant to the text and questions that are not relevant.

Harvey, S. & Goudvis A. (2007) Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2^nd Ed). Porstmouth: NH. Stenhouse Publishers.