Jackie Byas

Making Inferences
Missouri Pre-Service Teacher Assessment (MoPTA) Lesson Plan Format
What does it mean to make an inference?
Grade: 3rd

Standards/Quality Indicators/Skills
Missouri and national standards, quality indicators, and skills addressed by this
lesson

CCSS. ELA - Literacy. RL3. 3

Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and
explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

The Show-Me Standards Communication Arts

3. reading and evaluating nonfiction works and material (such as biographies,
newspapers, technical manuals)

Learning Objectives/Goals
The lessons objectives and learning outcomes appropriate for meeting curricular
and student needs

The purpose of this lesson is for students to begin to think about what an inference
is. It is important for students to begin to recognize that they actually make
inferences everyday in many situations without even noticing it. This lesson is
geared to helping students realize the process that takes place leading up to
making an inference based on whats in front of them and their background
knowledge. As students become more aware of how they, and other people, make
inferences they will be able to transfer this knowledge into reading and as a result,
contribute to deeper active reading/understanding of text.

Assessment (type[s] of assessment used throughout the lesson)

Assessment(s) before, during and after the lesson

Before: Before we even begin, it would be a good idea to see how much students
actually know about inference from previous grades or any other prior knowledge. A
simple formative assessment of just opening up the question to the class, Does anyone
have an idea of what it means to make an inference?, before the lesson, can give the
teacher a good idea of how to cater the rest of the lesson.
During: Students will practice identifying their inferences during a class read aloud of a
story. When students feel that they have made an inference, they can raise their hands
and explain what evidence in the story made them infer that.
After the lesson: Students will participate in a summative assessment/exit slip activity.
The teacher will create a quiz on the app Socrative, and have the students complete
the quiz independently to see if they can accurately describe what it means to infer.
Lesson Structure and Procedures
Sequence of events of the lesson elements. (The before, during and after the lesson,
e.g., Engagement/Opening, Procedures, Guided Practice, Conclusion)

1. Introduce to the students how we are going to learn a new skill called inferring, that
is going to help us better make sense/understand text as we read. Begin by asking
students the question, Does anyone have an idea of what it means to make an
inference?. See if your students have any background knowledge on inferring from
their previous years of schooling or from their home lives, etc.
2. The teacher will then go into explaining what it means to infer and what inferring
consists of. The teacher will start off by just talking to the students and giving
examples of inferring, then move on to playing the first video, What is an
Inference? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_WH4pQMPJM.
3. When the video is done, the teacher will facilitate discussion and have students talk
about what they just watched. Ask students if they can recall and want to share any
experiences where they have inferred something and the evidence that they used to
come to that conclusion.
4. Teacher will now give the students an example of how you can infer through reading
text with another video example. Play the video, Introduction to Reading Skills:
Making Inferences - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acZzllpIYz4, then go over
this video and how the Hero was able to use his script and his background
knowledge to infer that the bad guys would go to jail. Ask students if this makes sense
before moving on.
5. The teacher will then move on to the read aloud activity. The teacher will read the
book, How to Talk to an Autistic Kid by Daniel Stefanski, with the class. The teacher
will explain how the students are being asked to use their background knowledge and
clues from the text to infer things about the story, characters, etc. The student will
raise their hand when they come up with an inference and well talk about it as a
class.
6. When this activity is done, well recap again what it mean to infer and what inferring
consists of, then the students will participate in a Socrative quiz, just for the teacher
to see if everyone really seems to understand the concept of inferring, as the closing
activity.
7. The teacher will end this lesson by encouraging students to look out for times that
they infer things in their everyday lives or when theyre reading. Encourage students
to keep a journal/list of times they realize theyre inferring or see someone else
inferring. They should write down what was inferred and the evidence and
background knowledge that allowed that inference to take place. This is something
we can share with each other during this unit.

Instructional Strategies
Teacher approach to helping students achieve the learning objectives and meet their
needs

The teacher will be the one helping the students to understand the concept of
inferring. The teacher will facilitate discussion on the topic of inferring and guide
students in the right direction about what inferring is and what it consists of. The
teacher will provide necessary materials for students to learn about inferring, like
instructional videos. The teacher will also model what it looks like to infer while
reading to the students. The teacher will then go on to allow the students to try
inferring together through the read aloud, while also providing feedback to the
students and extended help if needed.
Learning Activities
Opportunities provided for students to develop knowledge and skills of the learning
objectives

Students will be watching informational videos relating to inferring. One video helps
them see what inferring is and how they already do it, while the other video allows
them to recognize how the process of inferring takes place. These visuals helps the
students see how they will be able to transfer these skills over to when reading.
Students will also be participating in observing when they make inferences while
reading and what evidence from the text allows them to make those inferences, during
our class read aloud.

Resources and Materials

List of materials used in the planning of and during the instruction of the lesson

Videos
What is an Inference? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_WH4pQMPJM
Introduction to Reading Skills: Making Inferences - https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=acZzllpIYz4

Reading Material
How to Talk to an Autistic Kid by Daniel Stefanski

Technology
iPads for assessment

Technology
Instructional and/or assistive technology incorporated into the lesson to enhance
instruction and student learning

iPads for assessment:

Teacher will administer summative assessment through the app Socrative. The
app allows teachers to design and administer quizzes to their students in
multiple formats (short answer, multiple choice, true/false, etc). The teacher
will be able to keep track of if students have accurately grasped the concept of
inference.

Computer/Projector
I found these really helpful video that helps students see how the process of
inferring works. If I were to play the videos for the class I would need a
computer and a projector.

Differentiated/Accommodations/Modifications/Increase in Rigor
To help meet the needs of all learners, learning differences, cultural and language
differences, etc.
 During our read aloud, if students are having trouble making inferences or
remembering what an inference is, I could keep the definition up on the board as a
reference. I could also ask them questions that spark inferences.
What is happening right now?
What clues in the stories can you put together to make an inference?
etc.

I dont know if Ill have any students with disabilities, but if a student is hard of
hearing, I could make sure that the student have a copy of the text that they can
follow along with, so they can be able to keep up with the class.

Classroom Management
Strategies consistent with the learning needs of the lesson that also meet student
behavior needs to help keep students on task and actively engaged

The class has been working on being respectful listeners all year. Since we will be doing
a whole class read aloud, and students will be asked to state their inferences as we
read, the teacher will remind the students of the class norms. Students are expected
to raise their hands and wait to be called on before stating their inference. Students
are expected to pay attention and listen to their peers ideas.

Extensions
Activities for early finishers that extend students understanding of and thinking
about the learning objectives by applying their new knowledge in a different way

For this lesson, it is mainly whole group driven. There will not be any students who
have finished early since we will all be working together.
The only time I could think of having students finishing early would be during the
quiz. If that is the case, student could silently read a book of their choice and take
notes of their inferences while reading, they can even be challenged further and see
if they can identify if characters in their stories are making inferences within the
story. This will help students practice identifying inferences and help them see how
their active reading is helping them comprehend/make sense of the text.

Follow-up to Todays Lesson

Quick activity for review or building on todays learning that will deepen student
understanding and interconnect concepts (may be incorporated tomorrow or
throughout the unit)

In todays lesson, we learned that we infer all the time, even when were not reading.
Students will be encouraged to keep a inferring journal. Students will try to stay
aware of when they make inferences in their daily life. They will write down their
inference and the evidence that caused them to make that inference. As this unit
goes on, we will continue to share our inferences with each other. This will provide
students good practice with recognizing their inferences and realizing that inferring
helps them make sense of situations.
Additional Information
Any area or lesson component that may not have been covered by this format that
you think is vital to include in this lesson

I didnt really describe the book that I choose for this activity in this lesson, but this
book is a very serious book that I felt would be a good story to read. This book is one
that is about real life situations. How to Talk to an Autistic Kid is a Non-Fiction book
written by Daniel Stefanski. Daniel Stefanski is a teen who discovered he had Autism
when he was 9. He writes about his perspective having Autism and tries to get other
kids/people to understand how to interact with him. He explains how he behaves
differently sometimes but his intentions are good.
I chose this book because there are so many opportunities in this book to make
inferences based on what the text says and background knowledge with the kids. Many
kids may not totally understand what Autism is, but have classmates who fall on the
spectrum. So they might have that background knowledge to infer things about Autism
and pair that knowledge with clues from the text. We might want to go into a deeper
conversation about the story as well, as it could relate to the students lives, on top of
talking about inferences.

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