Anticipation Guide

READING Strategy fi Anticipation Guides

Reading component  Comprehension
Related Standard(s) of Learning

Overview of the strategy
Anticipation Guides can be used to activate and assess students’ prior knowledge, to establish a purpose
for reading, and to motivate students by stimulating their interest. They promote active reading and
critical thinking.

Strategy procedure
1.  Identify the major concepts that you want students to learn from a reading.2.  Determine ways these concepts might support or challenge the students’ beliefs.
3.  Create four to six statements about the topic for which students may have prior beliefs or experiences.
Address important points, major concepts, controversial ideas, and misconceptions. Do not include simple,
literal statements that can be easily answered.
4.  Share the guide with the students. Have the students react to each statement, formulating a response to it and
preparing to defend their opinions.
5.  Discuss each statement with the class. Ask how many agreed or disagreed with each statement. Have students
representing opposing viewpoints explain their reactions.
6.  Have students read the selected text in order to find supporting or contradictory evidence for their responses.
Students may confirm their original responses, revise original responses if necessary, and decide if any
additional information may be required.
8.  Discuss with the class what was learned from the reading.

Variations of the Strategy
1.  Make a human continuum: line students up according to a Likert rating scale (i.e., strongly agree, agree,
neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree). Have them justify their responses to each statement.
2.  Rewrite any statement that was not true to make it correct.