Instructional Focus Lesson

Drawing Conclusions:  Day 1

You draw conclusions all the time.  Not always the right ones, but that’s a different issue!  You have probably heard the expression “why don’t you put two and two together?”  That means taking bits of information and coming up with a conclusion based upon what you’ve read, heard, or seen.  For example, imagine you see a man nearly 6’6’’ tall in an airport.  All you know is that he is tall.  What if you saw this man with 10 –15 other tall men, all of them carrying logo gym bags and wearing basketball shoes. What conclusion would you probably draw?  Taking into account all those details, you’d conclude that the men could be part of a basketball team.  (Reader’s Handbook – A Student Guide for Reading and Learning)

A conclusion is never a wild guess.  Learning how to draw conclusions will help you answer drawing conclusion questions correctly on the ITBS.  A conclusion is a decision or an opinion based upon facts you have read, seen, or heard.  Make sure that the facts in the selection support whatever conclusion you draw.  Add 2 + 2= your conclusion.  Just like in math problems, you can check your answer.  Go back to the passage and make sure you have understood the details correctly and your conclusion makes sense.  Use common sense. You do have it, you know!

When you take ITBS tests, drawing conclusions is talked about differently because the test creators are sneaky.  To do well on the tests, you need to understand how the reading test is set up to trick you.

You might come across a question about a reading prompt, the BORING selection you HAVE TO READ all the way through, which asks any of the following questions:

To do well on the reading test, you need to know that these questions are simply asking you to find the conclusion.

Think about Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Use the hand strategy to figure out what’s happening.  Then, use that information and the 2 + 2 strategy to draw a conclusion. 

The next step in drawing conclusions is to look at what actually happened…the results of the hand strategy.  Now, use that information to add 2 + 2 to come up with a conclusion.  COMBINE THE HAND and 2 + 2  strategy. 

Read the question below.  What conclusion can you draw from the story?

Drawing conclusions correctly is best illustrated by answer “b.”

 

Now, let’s read a prompt that’s more like the real reading test prompts you’ll see on the ITBS.   Use the HAND STRATEGY on scratch paper or in your head.  NOW, add 2+2 to draw conclusions.

     

We’re going to talk about drawing conclusions for seven days.  On the 5th day, you’ll take an assessment like the one we just worked through.  This assessment will prove whether you understand how to draw conclusions or not.  You will need to get three of the four answers correct to prove you get the concept of drawing conclusions.

 

We’ll be coming back to drawing conclusions for two days before you actually take the ITBS reading test.

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