Description: Anticipation Guides prepare students to read by activating their prior knowledge and asking them what they think about certain ideas. The strategy inspires lively discussions that not only prepare students to read but allows them to see how their ideas and beliefs compare with those of their classmates, the author, and society at large. Anticipation Guides may also be used to prepare students with limited prior knowledge to read texts. They challenge students’ preconceived notions about a subject; understanding of that subject.
Before creating an anticipation guide, decide whether you want students to identify, evaluate or determine.
Step-by-Step
- Select a major concept or topic from the up-coming reading selection. Create five to seven statements related to the topic. Statements should challenge or support students’ preconceived ideas related to the topic in the materials to be read.
- Give a copy of the statements to each student.
- NOTE: The statements can be created in two ways. One way is to place a blank line in front of the statement, allowing the student to check only those he/she agrees with. The second way is to have “agree” and “disagree” blanks in front of each statement.
- Direct students to complete the anticipation guide prior to reading the selection. Let students discuss the statements and why they responded as they did.
- Have students read the selection upon which the statements are based.
- After reading allow students to review their responses and discuss whether or not their ideas have changed as a result of the reading.
- Lead students into an understanding that it is common for their ideas to change after reading and discussing the selection.
Extensions
- Consider the following possible response options:
- Strongly Disagree…Strongly Agree (with statements)
- Likely…Unlikely or Certain…Impossible (probability as it relates to an event or person)
- True…False or Agree…Disagree
- Check the names of all to whom this would apply (when evaluating a range of people, countries, or organizations according to certain criteria).
- When constructing statements for the anticipation guide, have some that are not implicitly stated. This can lead to a later discussion of answers that were found on the lines, between the lines, and beyond the lines.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson226/anticipation.pdf