Chapter 5

This chapter really allowed me to view other ways in which readers of all levels read. I was always the kid that sat in the class who saw something a little different than most people but never really understood why. Through inference as explained in this chapter many different reasons for events or even actual events can be different for every reader. The passage regarding the popcorn story and how the students viewed it gave a very clear view into how inferences are made in different ways depending on what you have focused on in the passage. I also found it very interesting how the students focused in on details, such as the price of the movie, and made inferences based on experience. This defined for me what the true definition of an inference is: A conclusion based on some facts of the piece of literature and a lot of information based on what the readers experiences have been.
Also in this chapter I found (after trying it myself with a student I tutor outside of school) the comic strip strategy very useful when helping a student see how they make inferences. For those who have not read this book the comic strip strategy is utilized simply by choosing a comic or cartoon out of a newspaper, cutting it out and having the student verbalize the hidden humor. For example, if there is a muscular man about to sit in a tiny chair we infer that the chair will break because he is larger than the chair. Because this is such an obvious fact to the reader we also infer that he should know what the outcome will be and therefore laugh at him when he sits down anyways. I did not realize how many small inferences we make based on the tiniest details. Many strategies, other than the comic strip strategy, such as It Says- I Say can be useful in showing the process of inferring too. To me this is one of the most important parts of comprehending any piece of literature and is also the most invisible making this part visible is crucial to students success.