Text Evidence and Inference

Michael woke up with a start. Someone was banging at the front door. Heavy footsteps clomped over the bare boards of the hallway. A shouting of voices. Jacko's familiar growl, then the front door slammed shut. Michael shivered and pulled the thin blanket closer around his shoulders. Through the cracked glass of the curtainless window, the sky looked gray and dirty. A groan from the other mattress told him that Toby was awake as well. Which words help describe the setting?

• "A shouting of voices."

• "...cracked glass of the curtainless window..."

• "Michael woke up with a start."

• "...Toby was awake as well."

As the teacher lectured the class about how important it was to pay attention, Brian found himself staring out the window again. Suddenly, a little boy came up to the window and peeked in. The boy blew a bubble with his gum and it exploded all over his face and the window. Brian began laughing so hard he fell out of his seat. The rest of the class silently stared at him as the teacher walked to his desk.
What can you infer about how the teacher will react?

• She will ignore him and pretend she doesn't see.

• She will laugh at him because he's on the ground.

• She will help him up and give him a piece of gum.

• She will scold Brian for not paying attention in class.

Many breeds of dogs are used for work. In many cultures dogs are used to herd sheep. The dogs keep the flock from being attacked by animals such as wolves. They also keep sheep from wandering off. Sheepdogs are known for their loyalty and gentleness. Based on your reading of the text, you can INFER that:

• Sheepdogs are not very smart dogs.

• Sheepdogs are gentle and loyal.

• There are many breeds of dogs.

• Wolves are afraid of sheepdogs.

In real life, people who can back up an opinion about a text with Textual Evidence are taken more seriously than people who can only give a reason of “just because".

• True

• False

What is an inference?

•  An inference is something that you think is true based based on information that you have.

• An inference is directly written in the text

To make an inference, we use evidence from the text, and our prior knowledge. 

• True

• False

_{Inferring uses these skills?}
• making an assumption based on subtle verbal and nonverbal clues
• judging or concluding that something is true
• analyzing facts and coming to a logical outcome based on
the evidence
• drawing conclusions (reading between the lines)
• realizing “Oh, now I get it!”

• True

• False

Rosario was enjoying her vacation in the California sun. She was lying on araft in the ocean. This was perfect, Rosario thought. There was no noise—no childrenscreaming, no horns honking—and there were no papers to grade. All she couldhear was the crashing of the waves onto the beach. Rosario sighed and lookedaround her at the beauty of the ocean. Then she saw something long and graycoming toward her on an approaching wave. She thought, “This could only be onething!” and started yelling for help. She paddled back to shore as quickly as she could.She made it to the shore in one piece , but she realized that many people were laughing at her.
We can infer that the "thing" was not a...

• shark

• surfer

• swimmer

_____ is a reasonable guess based on textual evidence and what you already know.

• Analyze

• Inference

• Cite

• Explicitly

What are the important Key Ideas and details for Informational Text?

• Cite several pieces of evidence from a text.

• Make inferences based on the text

• Determine the central idea (main idea) of a text.

• Analyze it by citing text evidence or summarizing

• All of the above