My grandson LOVES cars and trucks. I mean REALLY loves them. Both fiction and informational picture books that have any vehicles are the books he requests repeatedly. When I first read this book, I was so excited. It’s about trucks and big construction machinery, AND it is rich with inferencing opportunities. Most of the thinking that we do each day is forming inferences which includes predictions and conclusions.
The experience that REALLY taught me how to teach was teaching reading to secondary at-risk students. What was blocking the comprehension of most of these students was a lack of strategies and skills to help them when comprehension broke down. I taught them how the brain forms inferences:
LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE + LINK IT TO WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW = AN INFERENCE!
When reading text, students would practice saying to themselves:
~What does the text say?
~What do I already know about this?
~So…………………… (The prediction, conclusion, or inference forms.)
Since the early 80’s research has confirmed inferencing’s importance to comprehension. Kathryn S. Carr in an article in The Reading Teacher in 1983 mentioned important findings from 1980 that state, “Inferencing is the most important comprehension subskill.” Since then, research continues to affirm her statement, granting inferencing Best Practice status. Successful students know how to form inferences. Strong readers make more inferences and more correct inferences than poor readers. Let’s get our young readers started inferring!