Do Now

Based on the
picture, what
happens next?
Write a detailed 2
sentence response

Making Inferences

Activating Your Schema

Your schema is
what you already
know about a
topic
Think about a
schema as a file
folder in your
mind

Activating Your Schema

When you start to
read a text, you
need to open up
the file folder
about the topic
This is called
activating your
schema

Activate Your Schema!

Suppose that you
are about to read
a text about
skiing
To activate your
schema, think:
What do I already
know about this
topic?

How Do Good Readers Make

Inferences?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

They use:
Word/text clues
Picture clues
Define unknown words
Look for emotion (feelings)
Use what they already know
Look for explanations for events
ASK themselves questions!

Authors vs. Readers

Authors Imply, Readers Infer.
Authors make implications that readers
have to infer.
Good Readers are Detectives who are
always looking out for clues to help them
better understand stories.

Your background
knowledge is important!
Your background
knowledge is very
important
When you dont
have a schema
for a topic, you
will not be able to
make good
inferences

Building Your Schema

This is why it is so
important to learn all
that you can from
what you read
The more you read,
the more background
knowledge you have
This will help you to
learn even more from
future texts