Literacy Across the Curriculum

1. Literacy Across the Curriculum What Works to Improve Reading Skills Developing Inferring and Predicting Skills

2. Standards Essential Questions: • Why is inferring an essential literacy skill? • When and in what context would you use inference in your content area? • How is inference used in the world of work?

3. Standards Essential Questions: • Why is inferring an essential literacy skill? • (Record your thoughts in the textbox and hit send—1 minute).

4. Learning and Teaching Inference • How did you learn to infer and how do you teach your students to infer now? (Write your responses in the text box and hit send—2 minutes).

5. Definition of Infer in⋅fer: --verb (used with object)  1. to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence: They inferred his displeasure from his cool tone of voice. 2. (of facts, circumstances, statements, etc.) to indicate or involve as a conclusion; lead to. 3. to guess; speculate; surmise. 4. to hint; imply; suggest. –verb (used without object) 5. to draw a conclusion, as by reasoning. Origin: 1520–30; < L inferre, equiv. to in- in- 2 + ferre to bring, carry, bear 1 infer. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved December 06, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infer

6. Questioning the Author The teacher’s role during questioning the author discussions is to model how a proficient reader uses strategies to make sense of confusing or difficult text. As the discussion about what the author is trying to communicate unfolds, the teacher affirms key points offered by students, sometimes paraphrasing them and encourages students to examine the text for clarification. (Literacy Across the Curriculum, pg. 118)

7. Questioning the Author Questioning the Author • “What does the author seem to think is most important?” • “What is the author’s message?” • “How does this connect with what the author has told us before?” • “Does the author assume we already know something here?” • “Does the author tell us why?” • “Did the author explain this clearly?”

8. Questioning the Author—1st Round 1.1[*] It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven! (In the textbox, write a brief response to this question: What does the author think is important?—3 minutes).

9. Questioning the Author—2nd Round While the problem of humanization has always, from an axiological point of view, been humankind’s central problem, it now takes on the character of an inescapable concern. Concern for humanization leads at once to the recognition of dehumanization, not only as an ontological possibility but as an historical reality. And as an individual perceives the extent of dehumanization, he or she may ask if humanization is a viable possibility. Within history, in concrete, objective contests, both humanization and dehumanization are possibilities for a person as an uncompleted being conscious of their incompletion. (In the textbox, write your own question to this text and a brief response to your question—3 minutes).

10. Standards Questioning the Author • How did questioning the author help you infer? • (Write your response in the textbox and hit send—2 minutes).

11. Strategic Questioning “At the heart of comprehension, however, is how students think their way through a text while reading, and the quality of that thinking depends, in part, on the type of questions teachers ask (Alvermann et al., 2004; Hoyt, 2002; Miller, 2002, Vacca & Vacca, 2005). The truth is that not all questions are created equal” (From “Crafting questions that address comprehension strategies in content reading”—Fordham, 2006).

12. Strategic Questioning • Types of questions: • Essential • Probing • Clarification • Hypothetical • Strategic—”focus on ways to make meaning…they help us while passing through unfamiliar territory by prompting us to think deliberately: What do I do next? How can I best approach this next step, this next challenge, this next frustration? What thinking tool is most apt to help me here” (Fordham, 2006).

13. Strategic Questioning “The focus of instruction should not be on the print, but on how readers interact with the print” (McLaughlin and Allen 2002, quoted in Fordham, 2006).

14. Tools for Thinking • Activating background knowledge • Previewing material • Predicting • Making connections • Questioning the text • Inferring • Visualizing • Clarifying • Self-monitoring • Summarizing • Evaluating

15. Embedded Questioning Read either the selection from Anthem or Pedagogy of the Oppressed (in the materials) as though you were planning to use it in a classroom lesson. Think of three or four questions you could ask that would encourage your students to read strategically (Adapted from Fordham, 2006). (Write all of your questions in the text box and then hit send—4 minutes).

16. Standards Embedded Questioning • How did embedded questioning help you strategically think through the text and can you see how it could help your students? • (I will call on schools, so be prepared to respond verbally).

17. Standards Essential Questions: • When and in what context would you use inference in your content area?

18. Comparison Matrix: Color • Characteristics • Color • Size • Shape • Composition • Infer similarities and differences (In your handouts fill in the row marked “color” for each fruit. When I ask you if you have a particular color you will indicate by raising your hand—30 seconds).

19. Comparison Matrix: Color (In the text box, infer similarities and differences and hit send—1 minute).

20. Comparison Matrix: Size • Characteristics • Color • Size • Shape • Composition • Infer similarities and differences (In your handouts fill in the row marked “size” for each fruit. When I ask you if you have a particular shape you will indicate by raising your hand—30 seconds).

21. Comparison Matrix: Size (In the text box, infer similarities and differences and hit send—1 minute).

22. Comparison Matrix • Select 3 “things” to be compared in your content area (e.g. phases of reading, types of government, mathematical theorems, etc.) • Select 3 or 4 characteristics (e.g. phases of reading: before, during, after) • Draw conclusions (Write your responses in the blank Comparison Matrix and be prepared to report out verbally—4 minutes).

23. Comparison Matrix • Similarities and differences • Forces thinking beyond the page • Can be adjusted in size • “Summary” goes beyond some graphic organizers • Independent, long-term strategy

24. Standards Essential Questions: • How can a comparison matrix help students infer in your content area? • (Write a brief response in the textbox and hit send—2 minutes).

25. Standards Essential Questions: • How is inference used in the world of work?

26. Point-of-View Study Guide • Preview questions (page 11 in your handouts) • Read article (page 12 in your handouts) • Prepare for interviews. • (This is difficult to do in a webinar, so we will have a brief discussion about these next two strategies).

27. Point-of-View Study Guide • Think beyond “my opinion” • Think beyond facts • Requires teacher preparation • Can be student-written • Provides focus • Can develop into various forms of debate and discussion

28. RAFT • Role • Audience • Format • Topic

29. Standards Essential Questions: • How does a point-of-view study guide and RAFT scaffold inference skills in the world of work? • (Type your response in the textbox and hit send—2 minutes).

30. Standards Essential Questions: • Why is inferring an essential literacy skill? • When and in what context would you use inference in your content area? • How is inference used in the world of work?

31. Next Steps Exit Slip: Identify one strategy from this session you think will be most useful to your students’ inferring skills in your content area and briefly describe why. Learning Journal: Reflect on the successes and challenges of using questioning the author, comparison matrix, point of view study guide, and RAFT jigsaw in your classrooms to build inferring skills.