I taught the Inference Strategy to a small group of 6 students in a Resource setting. All students are in Special Education and all but one are ESOL students. All of the students were working well below grade level in all content areas. The average reading for this group of learners is 2nd grade. Given their ability level, I had to move through this strategy at a much slower pace to ensure retention. The strategy was taught daily for 30 minutes over the course of 4 months.
Following the manual with consistency was easy and went well. The passages were often a struggle because of the ability level of my students as well as their lack of background knowledge. Although, exposure to higher level passages was critical in creating confidence in their capabilities with passages that were above their instructional reading level. Generalization occurred every other week on passages that were on 3rd and 4th grade levels to build their confidence and ensure their ability to demonstrate their level of mastery on the strategy. We went through Passage 1 together as class, Passage 2 with a group, Passage 3 with a partner, and Passage 4 on their own. I used Passage 4 to determine their level of mastery and understanding. Since, the students that I taught were working below grade level, I read the passage and the questions. This provided them with the opportunity to learn the strategy without the stress of the inability to read the passage.
Coaching was key in the development of my own confidence in teaching this strategy. Darlene provided feedback on ways that I could improve my delivery and instruction of the material. She was able to assist with ways that I could effectively deliver the instruction and overcome their learning deficits. I was concerned that my students would struggle with generalization and she was able to assist with locating material in other content areas and gave suggestions of ways that I could encourage them to generalize.