INFERENCE

1. INFERENCE Clues (Details/Evidence) + Prior Knowledgeand Experience

2. Prior Knowledge Some prior knowledge is in your head – what you have learned through books or life experience about atopic. Some prior knowledge is in your heart – how you feel about a topic.

3. Details/Evidence The clues are the details/evidence in the story. ACTIVE PARTICIPATION: As a good reader you connect your brain and your heart to the details of the story in order to make meaning from the story.

4. You use inference strategies every time the information is NOT “right there”. Marcy was afraid. Marcy’s spine tingled and sweat beaded on her neck as the footsteps halted outside her bedroom door. In most narratives, the information is NOT “right there”, because, if it was, the narrative would bore the reader.

5. STEPS TO DRAW A VALID INFERENCE Step 1: Identify the details/evidence you have been given. Step 2: Relate the details/evidence to your prior knowledge (including LAL knowledge) and experience. Step 3: Take the details/evidence a step further to draw an inference.