Inference Detectives

Curiosity is a powerful drive. It's this essential "school-fuel" that motivates students to learn or accomplish something new for the reward of simply having mastered it.  It's this same curiosity that becomes an essential component in developing successful readers. 

Research has shown that one of the most important strategies we can teach young readers is inferential thinking. Inference strategies are typically structured around missing information or confusing situations, so they naturally raise curiosity. Inferential thinking is critical to understanding text, particularly so as texts and topics become increasingly complex throughout a student's academic career (and perhaps life, in general). What starts as learning about basic inferences in text such as character thoughts and feelings, evolves into more complex inferences about the author's purpose or message. Strong inference-making skills allow for a deeper understanding of the text by grasping the subtle underlying meanings and associations in it. As such, it's important for students to be offered frequent opportunities to practice and transfer these skills to a variety of texts or topic. 

During one particular class, we used thoughtfully-structured mystery stories to help further develop this important strategy.  The quest was to figure out: What is actually happening in this story that the author isn't explicitly telling us?  How can I use text clues + my own schema (background knowledge) to determine what the author is trying to show or say?

Let's now cut-to-scene: Law & Order background music, lights off, flashlights in hand. FBI Director Valzania distributes confidential case files to her special agents, assigning them the task of using their inference-making skills to solve a series of mysteries. The room is brimming with curiosity and a strong motivation to collaborate with partners in drawing inferences about their cases. It's not often that we get a behind-the-scenes look at the FBI's investigative workings. Here's a special sneak peek.

ascd.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2018.
<http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/112027/chapters/Section-1@-Why-Inference¢.aspx>.

ascd.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2018.
<http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/112027/chapters/Section-1@-Why-Inference¢.aspx>.

literarydevices.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2018.
<https://literarydevices.net/inference/>.