MTTC 103 Elementary Practice

How can a teacher effectively model inferences during reading?

1. By thinking aloud

2. By providing a graphic

3. By drawing a plot pyramid

4. By conducting a word investigation

The correct answer is: By thinking aloud

Modeling inferences during reading is an essential strategy that helps students understand how to draw conclusions based on textual clues and their own knowledge. Thinking aloud serves as a powerful method for demonstrating this cognitive process; it allows the teacher to verbalize their thought process as they interact with the text. Through this approach, students can observe how to pause, ask questions, make predictions, and connect ideas, which are all fundamental aspects of making inferences. By hearing a teacher articulate their reasoning, students gain insight into the invisible mental steps involved in reading comprehension. This modeling helps create a clear framework for students to replicate these strategies in their own reading practice, enhancing their ability to make inferences independently. While providing a graphic, drawing a plot pyramid, and conducting a word investigation can support reading instruction, they do not directly demonstrate the thought process of inference-making in the same interactive manner that thinking aloud does. These strategies may aid in organizing information or exploring vocabulary but do not as effectively illustrate how to synthesize and interpret information drawn from the text.