Inferencing: It Says- I Say
Question It Says I Say And So
Why did she break She is not a baby Baby chairs are small. The chair breaks
Baby Bear's Chair? but sits in the baby chair. She is too big and because she is too heavy.
weights too much for the chair. (Beers, 2003, p. 167)
What is the estimated Estimate: 0-4 stays the same .49 estimated is .50 .50 x 9 = $4.50
amount needed to buy 5-9 round up
9 pencils at $.49 each? each: multiply multiply the two numbers
Background
Inferencing requires higher level thinking and it is a challenging skill for many readers. Even fluent readers often need support to master infereing. Students must learn to use the text as proof of their answer. Also, they need to organize their thoughts and make connections to their prior knowlege. It Says- I Say is a graphic organizer incorporating their schema with evidence from the text to produce inferences.
Differentiation and Implementation
At first students must learn to use textual evidence by citing what the story states. For some students they will need additional support with finding answers directly in the text. It may take multiple lessons to model how to locate what "It Says". Once students have mastered finding proof from the text, then they can compare this information to their schema.
In addition, students can post blogs, write journal responses, create double entry journal with their findings to the questions. As students fully understand this strategy, they can generate their own questions for peers to complete.
Content Areas:
All subjects can benefit by having students reference the text (textual evidence) for answering questions. Teaching students to use what the text says to justify their answer is imparative in all areas.
Language Arts/Social Studies: Create questions, have students provide answers from the text, and then explain their reasoning.
Math/Science: Create questions, have students supply the formula and explain their justification for their calculations.
Art/Health/PE/Music: Generate questions, allow students to use information you provide and their own knowledge to create explanations.
How To
Question
Inference questions require comprehension of the text and knowledge from the reader (author and me). Students must think about these questions in a different way. First they read and write the question.
It Says
Next, students find the clues from the story that help answer the question. They write their finding directly from the text under this heading and can include the page number.
I Say
Then, students use their own personal experiences and knowledge about the reading. They think about what they know about the question and record it under the I Say heading.
And So
Finally, links are made between what the text stated and what students know themselves. Inferences can be made using the facts from the book and information from their mind.
Rubric
Video
Resources
Slide share explaining inferencing with skill:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/linnej-1324855-it-says-so/
Inference Question Stems:
Beers, K. G. (2002) When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do: A Guide for Teachers 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers Inc US. (p. 271-273)
Websites with samples:
http://www.readingrockets.org/pdfs/inference-graphic-organizer.pdf