Summary
Inferring is something you do every day, whether or not you realize it: You combine clues you come across in the world with what you already know to form ideas. In a text, drawing inferences is about reading between the lines. Authors don’t state everything explicitly—that would get boring! Instead, they imply information through hints and suggestions, and rely on readers to infer the meaning. Making inferences is important when reading all kinds of texts, but especially in fantasy and sci-fi novels: Those stories use clues to set up differences between our world and the story’s world—for example, in Lois Lowry’s <i>The Giver.</i> Poetry often requires inferring too, since a lot is implied in the verses, like in Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb.” Inferring is also key while reading informational texts, like news articles, since they tend to assume readers have prior knowledge about the topic. Can you infer how much you’ll learn from this video? Press “play” to confirm it!
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
A few questions to talk through after watching Making Inferences:
- What is one new thing you learned about making inferences?
- Can you explain it to a partner in your own words?
- Where might you see this in the real world?
- What is one question you still have?
Quick work-a-long
Try it:
- Write one sentence explaining making inferences.
- Draw or give one example of your own.