What Does It Not Say? Everything!

Honestly, what does it not say? Have you ever asked your students or friends this question? Yes, papers, reports, charts, articles, etc always share a lot of information, but never mention the things that are relevant. This happens in real-life situations, as well as lesson in a classroom. It is important for students to understand that there is other information relevant to the topic that may not be directly stated in a text or assignment. I think that this section on inference is important for students to recognize because they need to recognize this early in their reading and studying. I still have problems with this at a college level because I recognize all the facts, without seeing the missing information. A good lesson for this would be in politics. Incorporating this inference mini-lesson around a political debate would be interesting for students and teachers. By having students ask themselves the three questions (say, mean, matter), they will have a deeper understanding of the information presented to them.

The next important thing that I noticed in this reading was the way that layers are used. I thought this part was interesting because I am contemplating doing a lesson on idea maps. Using this lesson, students will pick a character from To Kill a Mockingbird and examine specific characteristics and qualities of them and create an idea map for this specific character. I thought this was similar to Gallagher’s layering section or even the domino effect. One characteristic leads to another, which leads to another, which then leads to the rest of them. Teaching it like this would be interesting to the students I think they would enjoy it. Maybe I will try that next week in my lesson!