Inference: Students Don’t Know What They Don’t Know!

Help them ask Who, What, When, Where & Why Using the Story Grammar Marker^®

Children often “don’t know” what they “don’t know!” Using the Story Grammar Marker^® manipulative, parents, teachers and specialists can give children the ability to ASK AND ANSWER “Wh” questions such as: Who, What, When, Where and Why. Development of these abilities improves children’s oral language, writing, critical thinking and comprehension. It also especially can help children in social situations and conversations.

In this video Maryellen demonstrates how the Story Grammar Marker^® can be used to scaffold “Wh” questions. The Character is the “Who.” The setting is the “Where/When.” The Planned Attempts are the “What.” The Critical Thinking Triangle™ elements of the SGM^® (kick-off, feeling, plan) are the “Why.”

In literature, television, movies, plays and in real life often we are left to infer the “Why:” motivations, feelings and plans of characters and people. Using the SGM^® provides an organizational structure for children (and even adults) to “hang on to” while telling or listening to a story and observing or participating in a social situation. The SGM^® is a tool for “inference,” thus helping children comprehend and express what they “don’t know.”