Inference and Author's Purpose: High School Expository Text
Careful inference, confounds and framing -- the reasoning secondary assessments actually test.
Session summary (SOAP)
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Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Make the student say what the evidence does not support. Screens are always worse for learning is the tempting answer to the first item, and identifying why it over-claims is the actual skill — the study showed one difference on one measure. Work slowly; four items done properly beats sixteen rushed. Twenty minutes covers a handful with real discussion.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
- ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.
Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.
Matching IEP goal
Given a picture or story prompt, Student will explain a topic with a main idea and supporting details in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Sixteen items that ask for careful reasoning rather than recall: a study gave two groups the same article on paper and on screen, both recalled facts equally but the paper group did better on order of events — what does this suggest; insurers charge higher premiums to drivers under twenty-five regardless of an individual record — what assumption underlies that policy. The wrong answers are the over-claims, which is what makes these worth doing.
What to listen for
Watch for conclusions that outrun the evidence. Students who are used to comprehension questions expect the answer to be in the text, and these require noticing what is absent. Notice whether the student can name an assumption as opposed to a fact — the insurance item asks for the belief behind a policy, which is a different kind of reading and a genuinely harder one.
Carrying it home
News stories about research are full of this. Asking what the study actually showed, against what the headline claims, is a two-minute conversation with real transfer.
What's in this activity
- A study gave two groups the same article, one on paper and one on screen. Both recalled facts equally well, but the paper group did better on questions about the ORDER of events. What does this suggest?
- Screens are always worse for learning
- Physical page position may help readers track sequence
- The paper group was more motivated
- The study was too small to mean anything
- Insurers charge higher premiums to drivers under 25 regardless of an individual driver's clean record. What assumption underlies that policy?
- Young drivers own more expensive cars
- Young drivers drive fewer miles
- Age predicts group risk better than a short individual record does
- Older drivers never crash
- A news article reads: 'Officials said the layoffs were unavoidable.' What has the writer done here?
- Stated a verified fact
- Given a personal opinion
- Quoted a law
- Attributed a claim to a source without endorsing it
- After a state lifted a ban, sales rose sharply for two years and then leveled off just above the pre-ban level. What is the most careful conclusion?
- The ban had no effect at all
- Demand spiked and then settled near where it started
- Sales will keep rising indefinitely
- The product became more addictive
- A report says students who ate breakfast scored higher. A critic notes that families who can reliably provide breakfast may differ in other ways too. What is the critic pointing out?
- A math error
- A spelling error
- A confounding variable
- A missing citation
- An article says a drug 'cut the risk by 50 percent,' then notes the risk went from 2 in 1,000 to 1 in 1,000. What does the second sentence do?
- It contradicts the first sentence
- It proves the drug does not work
- It restates the same number
- It puts the relative reduction into absolute terms
- An annual report prints record revenue in bold on page one and reports a net loss in a footnote on page 40. What does the layout suggest about purpose?
- The report is emphasizing favorable information
- The loss was accidental
- Footnotes matter more than headlines
- Revenue and profit are the same thing
- Two counties passed identical ordinances. One saw the targeted behavior drop; the other saw no change. What does this best support?
- The ordinance directly causes the drop
- Local conditions affect whether a policy works
- The second county ignored the law
- The data was fabricated
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Ninth through twelfth, matched to the reasoning secondary assessments test.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all sixteen items play free.
- Is this reading comprehension or critical thinking?
- Both, and they are hard to separate at this level. The language demand is real — noticing that a claim is qualified, or that a conclusion outruns its evidence, is a comprehension skill before it is a reasoning one.
Use this board with your caseload
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