Here are a few ways to use PowerPoint type programs to improve students’ inference reading.
* Show students a Flickr or Google picture with the question words next to it. The question of When will probably be an inference question since they will have to figure out the season, the time of day, etc. Do for several pictures until everyone can answer the inference questions for a passage.
* Students write inference questions about a short displayed passage (a paragraph). They can start with using synonyms for the words already in the passage. The boy goes to the store. Where did the youth go?
* Students go up to the Smartboard and circle the critical words in the projected passage question and then circle the corresponding words in the passage.
*Students see two side by side newspaper articles about the same topic. They circle the words that show the author’s bias – red for the left side article and green for the right side article.
How do you improve students’ inference reading with PowerPoint type programs?
© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007
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