The Demon Headmaster - Lesson 3 - PowerPoint

In a comprehensive lesson on developing inference skills, students are introduced to the concept of making educated guesses based on evidence. The lesson begins with simple exercises where students are shown pictures and asked to infer the emotions of the people depicted, the weather, and what the individuals might be doing. For instance, a person smiling in the sunshine on grass leads to the inference that they are happy or relaxed. Students are taught that inferences are more than just assumptions; they must be supported by evidence present in the imagery or text.

Further into the lesson, students are encouraged to infer about characters' feelings and actions from their behavior in various scenarios. For example, a character letting out a deep sigh and flopping forward suggests tiredness, while another taking deep breaths and trying to move as little as possible might indicate sickness. The lesson emphasizes the importance of backing up inferences with evidence, whether drawn from pictures or texts. Activities include inferring from a text where a character's actions, like kicking off boots violently, suggest anger, and another where a character's disbelief at a spelling test result hints at surprise. The lesson also explores the technique of inferring in literature, using examples from "The Demon Headmaster" to deduce characters' traits and the peculiar atmosphere of the school setting.