With an emphasis on tests we teach students there is only one packaged answer, at least at the elementary level. We do not teach them that the answer can be deeper than just one sentence or that their answer may differ from ours. Why? Because you cannot measure that on a test. A test requires one bubble filled in or writing that fits into someones rubric. A test requires conformity in our thinking and particularly in our creative problem-solving skills. Tests do not like when we debate or argue various points. Tests urge simplicity in our instruction.
That is not to say that all tests are bad. We often discuss how it is what you do with the information that measures the worth of a test, and yet, tests hinder us from doing exceptional things in the classroom on a daily basis. That urgent need to constantly check for progress through a test experience, stiffles students in their quest to become bigger and better thinkers, and to help create inferences. SO most of our instruction is teaching to the test, math has one answer, when we ask questions they almost always have one answer as well. Teacher bias means a need for student thinking to line up with their own interpretation, so it becomes right versus wrong. After all, how many of us after the correct answer has been given, stop to ask whether there are other correct answers?
So why am I so hung up on inferences? Well, they require that one gathers a lot of information, mixes it up with background knowledge, and then draws a new conclusion. Inference requires confidence in ones own qualities as a thinker, as an independent creator. Tests do not teach confidence. My instruction attempts to, yet I am constantly battling students who think that there is just ONE answer. After all, that is what they have been taught. So if they miss that one true answer, then they must be stupid. It appears that we, by pushing tests on our students, become the creators of our own demise; students who have no confidence in their abilities to learn. And by “We” I mean the system as a whole. In our incessant quest to measure, we are dumbing down our student population, urging them not to think creatively but rather stick to the known, the facts, the things that can be measured. We are making them believe that the world has a right and wrong answer in every scenario, but it doesn’t. No wonder some of our most successful thinkers did not feel the urge to complete college. We have to get past the one answer tests to help our students. We have to get past the constant need for progress measurement. Get back to teaching. Get back to discussion. Get back to creative solutions. It is time to bring the thinking back in education.
Pernille Ripp 
Amen to that.
Reminds me of the old saying – what we find is often limited to where we are willing to look – and if we only look for what is easily counted we run the risk of missing most of what actually counts.
Great post. I definitely agree with the need to ask questions that don't necessarily have a narrow answer. I know the focus of your post was on inferences but as a former math facilitator, I picked up on the your reference to math. Many people think that math is very structured and black and white with only one way to get to an answer. However, math can be so creative if we open up the questions and allow students to explore and try their own invented strategies as well. I encourage any math teacher to read "A Mathematician's Lament" where author, Paul Lockhart argues for the creative thinking that math can elicit.
This week has been all about inferences in my room and the kids finally told me that maybe they just don't believe in their own abilities to come up with right answer. It was what I suspected but still it deeply saddened me. How do we stop kids from believing in themselves, what are we doing to teach that/ Thank you so much fro your comments and book recommendation. I look forward to learning more about this as I explore it all.
I think inferring is a very difficult thing to explain, but it's something we use all the time. Perhaps you can help the kids step out of right vs. wrong answer mode, by encouraging them to think about empathy.My third graders and I talk a lot about how we use the clues on people's faces, in their eyes and their body language to infer what a person is feeling. Granted my kids exist in a mostly test-free world.When we got around to writing a kid-friendly definition of inference, I had one girl who blew us out of the water. She said, "It's like the book has a secret that the author doesn't (can't?) tell us." More often than not the kids are making inferences and they don't even know it. They pop out everywhere, in science, math, read aloud… Right now I am working on noticing their inferences, naming them and celebrating them. Let us know how this journey through inferences continues.
Let me try again. I've had time to think about this post and I truly believe our students reflect what we believe about ourselves. Are teachers truly confident in our teaching/planning/instruction? Probably not but, we can be. We too need to get out of our comfort zones and struggle with how to instruct, how to teach our angels, and how to plan effectively. If teaching is a mission then why half-hearted attempts at doing it? Why not pushback at those who are doing it half-heartedly and make students the number one priority because we truly believe it. Then, students will see and respond, as yours have done, to us and learn for themselves what the world has to offer. Thanks for making me think. Now time to act on the thinking.