Members of the MiddleWeb Discussion List and other interested
teachers are joining together to explore the Writing Workshop
and other ideas about supporting young adolescent writers and
readers. Juli Kendall, a reading-writing teacher/coach in Long
Beach, California, is helping moderate the discussion. Juli also
posts a weekly journal entry from her reading/writing classroom.
This year, Juli will focus on her efforts to integrate subject
matter into her reading and writing workshop approach. In her
first journal of the year, she explains
the rationale behind this move and some of her thinking about
how she hopes to accomplish this goal.
Find out more about our project at our Reading/Writing
Workshop homepage. You'll find Juli's background article here. Links to many of the tools created
by Juli and her colleagues are embedded in these journals. Most
often, when you click on them, a PDF file will begin to download.
You'll find a list of the downloads here.
If you'd like to join the daily discussion that parallels Juli's
Journals, find out how here.
"The Far Side" is back! And with it the return of
such famous lines as these from Noah's speech to the animals on
the Ark: "Well, so much for the unicorns. But from now on,
all carnivores will be confined to 'C' deck."
Since 1994, when Gary Larson stopped writing "The Far Side"
cartoons, something's been missing. According to The Miami
Herald, "Crafty cows, restless chickens, talking insects
and dorky scientists are invading bookstores across the nation.
This can mean only one thing: Gary Larson is back."
What has this got to do with reading comprehension strategies?
In order to teach kids how to infer while reading informational
text in science, I'm using cartoons from "The Far Side."
And it's working like a charm. There's nothing like using your
sense of humor to learn!
After reading several articles about the release of a massive
anthology, containing more than 4,000 cartoons from "The
Far Side," I dust off my paperback copy from 1982. Reminiscing
as I turn the pages, I decide to use the cartoons to help teach
how to make inferences. My plan is to use The Far Side material
to get kids to think about inferring, to practice connecting their
prior knowledge to what they are learning, to make "meaning
beyond what is directly stated." Then as we read informational
text in science, I'll link back, connecting to what we learned
about how to infer using "The Far Side." I want them
to become independent in the use of this comprehension strategy
-- able to do it on their own.
As we begin our study of inferring, I ask the kids, "What
do you know about how to infer?" There are lots of responses.
"Inferring is predicting."
"I infer when I don't know what is happening."
"If I want to infer, I think."
"We did that last year, and my teacher taught us."
"It's what you do at the end of the story when the guy disappears and you don't know if he has moved or died."
Then I share my definition for inferring:
Inferring is connecting prior knowledge (what you already know) to text-based information (what you are learning) to create meaning beyond what is directly stated.
Our first "Far Side" cartoon depicts a giant robot mouse
hiding in the shadows and a cat crouching around the corner ready
to pounce. There is lots of conversation in small groups about
what's happening and what this cartoon means. We share our inferences
with each other but we don't always agree.
John: "I infer that the cat tried to eat the mouse before and the mouse got more smarter and built a robot mouse because the mouse had not liked how the cat had been trying to eat him."
Frank: "I infer that the cat looks like he is going to jump and try to get the mouse because you can see that he is getting ready to jump."
Edgar: "I infer that the robot mouse sounds quiet and the cat is ready to get the mouse."
Julio: "I infer that the cat thinks that there's a huge monster because he could hear the footsteps."
Henry: "I infer that the cat is hiding from the mouse because the mouse is big."
The next cartoon shows a small fish being eaten by a medium sized
fish which is being eaten by a large fish which is pursued by
a school of small fish. This provoked many different responses
to the question "What can you infer from this cartoon?"
First we shared our ideas, then each student wrote an inference.
Anthony: "I infer that the fish in the back is trying to save him to be alive because you can tell that the big fish is trying to eat both of them together and the little fish are mad."
Gladys: "I infer that the huge fish is trying to eat the little fishes' friend but the little fish in the back are trying to save his life because maybe he is a shark."
Gary: "I infer that the small fish are going to eat the big fish because they wanted payback."
John: "I infer that this is a food chain that like the biggest fish eats the medium fish which had already eaten the smaller fish. Now all the little fishes friends want to eat the biggest fish because they feel bad for their friend."
The next day we do our third cartoon. It shows two bears
as if viewed through a scope. (I like to think that we are viewing
the bears through a camera lens.) The bear who happens to be "lined
up in the crosshairs" is pointing at the other bear, as if
to say, "Take him," or "It's his fault." Everyone
writes their inference independently, and then we share.
Jacqueline: "I infer that the bears are in a movie because in the old days they showed a "+" (movie countdown) before it was going to start."
Monica: "I infer that he is pointing at the bear because the people was going to shoot him."
Alexis: "I infer that there are hunters because I see a target."
Rosita: "I infer that the bear is pointing at the other bear because he's in trouble and he is blaming it on the other bear."
The last cartoon I use shows a man standing beside a very tall
building and looking down at a broken stool. Above him, a piano
is falling toward the ground. This time I tend to agree with what
the kids infer independently.
Alexis: "I can infer that the man is looking at the chair and not the piano."
Angelica: "I infer that the man plays the piano but if he looks up he is going to get hit with the piano because they dropped it down."
Andrea: "I infer that someone hates the man and he wants to kill him."
Sonia: "I infer that the man is wondering where is the piano because it is not on the floor."
Over several days, we talk, discuss, agree, and disagree about
these cartoons. All the while, we practice how to infer. One question
that arises is "What is a reasonable assumption about the
meaning that is not directly stated?" I find that by having
kids respond using the word "because" their responses
are more focused and reasonable. It helps us to backup our inferences
with evidence.
After just a few days, we have fallen in love with "The Far
Side." But as we discover, there are so many "Far Side"
cartoons, and so little time.
SEE Juli's Curriculum Map for Content Literacy - Unit Two
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