I like how the concept of an inference was discussed in the beginning of the chapter because the term can seem vague. An inference, as the text describes it, is when the reader connects the text with what is in his or her mind to create an educated guess. I think that overall the concept of making an inference can seem complicated, especially to dependent readers, but when it is broken down all types of students can make them.
If a student is struggling an inference can be made like, "Look for the pronouns and figure out what to connect them to," this can help a student understand something basic about the plot of the story. If a student is having issues with inferring why something is happening on their own a teacher may ask the student to, "figure out explanations for these events." Because reading takes effort and thought, the reader may just be reading the words and not thinking about the text to his or her self.
Dependent readers don't infer because they expect the text to tell them everything. The author provides some information and readers bring information to the table as well. It is important for teachers to explain this concept to struggling readers even though it is something that independent readers do effortlessly. I liked the comment that the author made when she wrote, "readers infer and authors imply." I also liked the idea of 'Syntax Surgery' on an overhead because it is an effective way to encourage active participation in a classroom as well as modeling inferring and thinking aloud.
I agree, I also liked how the topic of inference was discussed. I never really but much thought into how I infer about things that I read. Ive always just assumed it came from prior experiences in what the text talks about. Our text book shows us that there is a lot more things at hand. Pronouns, Context Clues, intonation, and so much more. Ive loved reading about things that I do that i don't even realize I do.
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