Craft Lesson #1: Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
Resource and/or other Materials:
Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask by Xavier Garza
Discussion:
Many times important facts in a story are not directly stated for the reader. It is left up to the reader to make inferences from the text about important ideas. Inferences are ideas that are implied or hinted in the text but not directly stated. After the reader has made inferences then it is possible to make predictions and draw conclusions.
How To Teach It:
Sometimes when we read a story some important facts are not directly stated in the text. You as readers need to read the text carefully and be able to make what is called inferences. Inferences will be able to help you make predictions about the story and draw conclusions. I am going to read The Man in the Silver Mask and I want you to listen carefully and tell me about any important facts that you have found from the story, that is inferred, and what conclusions you can draw from that.
“As the man in the Silver Mask makes his way down to the ring, he stops for a minute right by where Papa Lupe and I are sitting. His eyes look right at me. Then the Man in the Silver Mask smiles as me as if he knows me!” p. 28
“The I notice the strange way that my Tio Vicente and Papa Lupe smile at each other. For a minute, I wonder if they know something about The Man in the Silver Mask that I don’t know…” p. 35
Garza has used many sentences in the story that give you hints about his Tio Vicente being The Man in the Silver Mask, but it is never directly stated. It is left up to you as readers to make inferences and draw that conclusion.
Today during writing workshop try to leave something to your readers' imagination. Don’t state everything directly; let the readers be able to make some inferences for themselves.
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2 comments:
This craft lesson is a great idea. Children at a young age need to be able to make predictions and draw inferences from stories to become better at comprehending stories.
I like your craft lesson. I think somtimes children have a hard time making inferences. I liked how you picked out some lines from the text for them to think about. However, you let them draw their own inferences and conclusions.
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