Once a student enters junior high, the teachers’ expectations become more challenging, especially in the English class. It is expected that the child will be able to read and recognize more than just who, what, and where. The why, or the inference skill, is emphasized. A student needs to be able to understand character motivations, and make predictions. These predictions will be important in writing MLA style essays of analysis. But more importantly, the mastery of this skill is one of the first steps in developing young adults, so they will move within society with success.
The inference skill can also be one of the most difficult skills to develop. I have experienced many a child crying because he or she could not understand a character’s reasoning and therefore, could not predict the outcome of an action.
Parents can help develop the inference skill. And it is not as difficult as you might think. I always give my parents a list of four to-do items-
When Watching TV or a Movie
- Ask the child what they think a character will do next or why a character did something
- 1. It does not matter if the guess is wrong
- 2. Children are more interested in shows they select than reading assignments given by a teacher
- 3. The child becomes a participant
- 4. Practice makes perfect
At the Dinner Table or on the Ride Home
- Ask if anything exciting happened to a classmate
- 1. During the JH years, children become secretive about their actions
- 2. Children tend to be more willing to discuss friends, especially if a friend did something he or she did not understand (or something they deem scandalous)
- 3. Simply recounting the tale of the friend will lead to the why question
- 4. Practice makes perfect
When out to Dinner or at the Mall (any public place)
- Everyone likes to people watch, look for an unusual behavior
- 1. Talk about it
- 2. Ask your child why he or she thinks it happened
- 3. It does not matter if the answer is crazy, the inference skill is being developed thorough the conversation
- 4. Practice makes perfect
Encourage journaling or using a diary
- JH kids have much to say, they just don’t always want to say it to their parents
- 1. Writing, especially recounting a day’s activities, requires evaluation
- 2. JH kids tend to run on emotions (the whole hormone thing)
- 3. A diary or journal can be an outlet for these emotions
- 4. Ask your child to end each entry with a why question or prediction, beyond that leave the child to his or her own devices when writing
- 5. Do not snoop
- 6. Practice makes perfect
All of these activities encourage evaluation and prediction, the backbone of inference skills. You can help your child and the child won’t even know it.
