1 | lesson 2 |
submitted by Kathy Wechsler
Objective: Students will learn how to make inferences using a
variety of newspaper cartoons.
Materials: Overheads with a variety of newspaper comic strips.**
Over the next couple of weeks we will look at newspaper cartoons
and decide what inferences we need to make to allow us to perceive the
cartoon as funny. I'll think aloud about the first few cartoons;
all of you will bring in cartoons and some of you will tell about the
inferences you needed to understand why the cartoon was funny. Then
all of you will look at the remaining cartoons on your own and write
down the inferences needed to find the humor in them.
cartoon is called "The Duplex" and is drawn by Glenn
McCoy. The first frame shows a man sitting on the sidewalk
holding a sign in one hand that says "Need Help" and holding
out a cup in his other hand. Another man is walking toward
him. In the next frame the man that had been walking is sitting
down on the sidewalk and he is now holding out the cup. The
original sign/cup holder is still sitting, has turned his sign upside
down, and is looking kind of upset, to say the least.
inferences I need to help me make the cartoon humorous are:
People who sit on the sidewalk holding help signs and cups are usually
asking for money because maybe they don't have a job or a place to
live. Most people do not sit down next to these individuals and
offer to hold the cup up for them because that is not what these
individuals want; they want money. The man that was walking took
the sign literally and was helping, as he saw fit, by holding the
cup. The grimace on the original cup holders face lets me know
that he is unhappy. Turning the help sign over let me know that
this individual may be feeling like giving up!
Guided Practice: All Students bring in favorite cartoons and
are prepared to share what inferences they needed to help find the
cartoon funny with the class. After the sharing of a student's cartoon
is complete, other students will be allowed to share additional
inferences that they noticed. (At least 4-6 students should share
and Reflect: Now let's review. Talk to your partner about
the inferencing we've done so far with these newspaper cartoons.
When the teacher is satisfied that students have had enough time to
share, she asks for students to volunteer their definitions for
inferencing. The teacher writes the definitions given on the
overhead and then asks the class to combine these all into one
succinct definition. This definition then is mounted on a large
sheet of paper to be hung up for daily use.
Practice: Students whose cartoons have not yet been shared with
the class turn them in to the teacher. She then puts them on
overheads. now the students look at the cartoons on their own
and write the needed inferences in a journal. With each new
cartoon students volunteer to share their inferences with the class as
the teacher records them on a separate overhead.
The teacher collects the inferencing journals to ensure that each
student is able to make the needed inferences for each cartoon.
Students that may be struggling can be pulled for 1:1 with the teacher
as time permits.
The idea of using cartoons to teach inferencing came from Kylene Beers
"When Kids Can't Read-What teachers Can Do."
challenge the students to bring in political cartoons that they can't
figure out. Give extra credit if the rest of the class can't
figure the cartoon out as well.
here to link to a daily
political cartoon site with teacher instructional helps.)
2 on Inferencing
submitted by Ellen Phaneuf
their book, Strategies That Work, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
describe the use of short text to teach reading strategies.
One of the lessons they mention teaches the concept of
inferring using the picture book, George and Martha Rise and Shine.
The book has several short stories one of which is titled The
Scary Movie. The story is
about George and Martha going to see a scary movie.
Martha thinks she’ll be scared and is a little afraid to go,
but George tells her scary movies are great.
As it turns out, George is the one who gets scared.
The teacher reads
aloud the text of the story, showing the pictures to the students.
Much inferring takes place by viewing pictures, so point this
out to students. As George
says and does things during the course of the evening, the reader
needs to infer the real meaning of what he’s said and done.
For example, as the two characters are watching the movie,
Martha notices George hiding under his seat.
He tells her he’s looking for his glasses.
Martha comments that he doesn’t wear glasses.
you read the story to the students, ask them what George’s comments
and behavior are really telling the reader.
Point out to them how they used their own background knowledge
about what certain behaviors and comments mean and combined them with
the context of the story in order to correctly infer the meaning of