LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Alison Shoaf
Miss. Juart, Guy K. Stump Elementary School
October 23rd, 2014
October 14th, 2014

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON: Inference Task Cards/ Comprehension Lesson Plan

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
The students in fourth grade are constantly focusing on comprehension strategies, and inferences can
be a very tough one. Inferences are one of the many strategies that lay the foundation for
comprehension. Miss Juart suggested I make a review for inferences because this is a topic that is hit
heavily on the SOL and something that her class, as well as the other fourth grade classes, have been
struggling with. This directly correlates with SOL 4.5, which states students will read and
demonstrate comprehension of texts by drawing conclusions/making inferences about text.
Through the use of inference cards, where each card has a passage on it, and then the child must
answer the question at the end and give supporting details from the text plus explain their background
knowledge used to answer the question. Since this is a tough topic, we will do a few together and use a
graphic organizer to start. The graphic organizer will have the three categories: What I Know
(background knowledge), Words from the text, and Inference. Through the use of this graphic
organizer, students will develop confidence to answer the cards on their own with supporting details.
Through my lesson, the students will develop stronger inference skills, such has supporting their
inference with words from the text and their background knowledge, and become more confident in
their ability to do so on their own. They will also be able to understand that through making an
inference they are building on their comprehension.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand
Know
Students will understand
Details/examples from their
that making inferences is a
reading to support their
valuable part of building
inference
the foundation of
comprehension.

Do

Read a passage and make an

accurate inference
Use supporting details to
correctly support your
inference.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Students will define what an inference is before starting the task cards. Students will have individual
task cards and a recording sheet where they can record their answers and I can check their
understanding once the lesson is complete. I will also walk around during my lesson and take
anecdotal notes on their progress and accuracy.
E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)
4.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional texts, narrative nonfiction texts, and
poetry.
h) Draw conclusions/make inferences about text.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Inference game (me)

G. PROCEDURE
Preparation of the Learning Environment:
No preparation is needed before engaging students in my lesson.
Engage
I will begin my lesson by asking if anyone in the class knows what an inference is. I will
then ask if anyone knows how you can support your inference once it is made.
Implementation of the Lesson
Once we have reviewed what an inference is I will explain what we will be doing by
showing the task cards and explaining what we will be doing and how we will be recording
our responses on the recording sheet and the graphic organizer. We will then do the first four
inference cards together, reading them aloud, and then asking for an inference and
supporting details, as we record on our graphic organizer. I will then allow them to find a
partner and try the next few on their own, which we will check as a class in the closure part
of my lesson.
Closure
I will save 8 minutes at the end of my lesson for my closure activity, which will be having
the students share their answers so we can ensure that everyone is on the right track with
making and supporting inferences.
H. DIFFERENTIATION
Since I will be teaching this lesson to three different classes, I have included a variety of
inference cards from simple to complex. I am unsure what each class will be like since they are
not all my home classroom and want them to be challenged but still get enjoyment and learn
from my lesson. If the students do really not understand the tasks cards I will allow them to work
as a team rather than individually.
I.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
I could run out of time for my closing assessment at the end, in order to avoid
this I will pay close attention to the clock and ask Miss. Juart for her ideas on
how long I should leave for each activity.
Students could become off task while doing the task cards, if this happens I will
give the students a warning and if I have to talk to them again I will take the
students to the back table that are causing a problem and have them work
silently.
There could be a fire drill or another safety drill since it is the beginning of
school, if this occurs I will follow the steps in order to have the children leave
the building safely and continue my lesson when we are instructed to return.

Lesson Implementation Reflection

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to guide
your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.
I was able to teach this lesson three times for three different classes. The first time, I followed my
lesson plan exactly but it did not go as smoothly as I expected. I underestimated how my fourth
graders would understand my expectations and the understanding of what an inference is. I also
decided to make a larger version of the graphic organizer they were working on, on the board so
that I could record our answers for them to write down, to ensure everyone was on the right track.
II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did

they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?
Inferences are a very hard subject, from my assessment; I can conclude that the students have
improved in their understanding, especially when comparing the few we did aloud and the answers
they gave on their papers with supporting details. The students are still not a hundred percent in
their understanding and ability to do inferences but they have made improvement and that will
continue with practice.
III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
In order to incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better way, I could use the large
graphic organizer on the board with all three classes, rather than just the last two classes. The
students need concrete examples because they are still in the concrete operational stage of Piagets
theory.
IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?
From my data I would continue practicing with inferences, there are various ways to practice the
students understanding, such these task cards, or in any text they are currently reading.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
I have learned that even though the children say they understand your verbal directions they still
may need to see the activity once to be sure of their understanding.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
I have learned that everything is not always going to go according to plan, you may have students
not understand and have to stop the activity and do a quick demonstration in order to make sure students are
getting the most of the of the activity that they are doing. I have also learned to be more explicit in my
expectations and directions to students, in order to experience the best results in your lesson and from your
students.