Anticipation Guide

Contributed by Lisa Holton

RATIONALE

 Many studies have pointed out the efficacy of activating students’prior knowledge before they read in order to enhance comprehension (Tierney, 2005, p262-265). Anticipation Guides do just that; they are set of statements that are a blend of prior knowledge and the concepts about to be covered. Anticipation guides "utilize prediction by activating students’ prior knowledge and capitalize on controversy as a motivation device to get students involved in the material to be read" (Tierney, 2005, p 262-265). They “also [serve] as springboards for modifying strongly held misconceptions about the topic,” according to Alvermann (2007, p174-181) quoting Dufflemeyer, Baum, and Merkely (1987). These guides are flexible enough to work pre-reading and pre-post reading because they encourage the scaffolding of information.  In addition to being flexible, anticipation guides are versatile enough to be used across the curriculum and can be adapted to nearly any format or purpose.

PROCEDURE

PLANNING: According to Alvermann (2007), there are suggested steps to creating an anticipation guide.

1.       Teachers need to reflect on the important concepts within the text/unit that they are about to present and learn students' knowledge level about that topic.

2.       After identifying the key elements, draft statements that are a blend of both student knowledge (currently held) as well as new information from the concepts. Look for underlying ideas.

3.       Anticipate ideas that may be counterintuitive or controversial. For example, if you are about to begin a text on urban America, a possible statement might include “People in “poor” urban areas are trapped in their situation and can’t change it.”  This is a blend of student perspective (they have undoubtedly seen images on TV or movies of a lower-SES environment if they are not personally familiar) but it also provides flexibility for discussion because it addresses possible misconceptions.

4.       Create statements that include student prior knowledge. 5-8 is the recommended number. Tierney (2005) suggests that “statements must be within students’ previous knowledge and, therefore, must be on the experience-based level of comprehension, but the statements must also be on a higher level of generality in order to be an effective teaching and learning strategy.

5.       Write directions for students which include how to complete the sheet and what kind of thinking should be used to answer the questions.

·         There are many formats for anticipation guides. Choose the one that is best suited for your purposes and class. Some options include:

o   Student Agree/Disagree

o   Student Agree/Disagree and Author Agree/Disagree

o   Given a problem, will the solution be an Increase/Decrease, better/worse

o   Students need to write why they made that selection

INSTRUCTION:

After creating the guide, prepare your students by giving a brief introduction to the topic. Explain the expectations of the anticipation guide (this will vary depending on your purpose and class make up). Allow students to work; small group time for discussion is recommended both before and after reading.  Work

After students have made their initial thoughts known and discussion has taken place, allow them to work with the text in a way that supports your purpose. In some cases, students will fill out another part of the guide with the author’s purpose or may take notes on how their views changed and cite what part of the text made that change happen.

WRAP UP:

When the text portion is finished, a wrap up discussion is highly recommended to reinforce the ideas in the text or to clear up any lingering misconceptions. Use the guide for a post-reading activity to compare their thoughts after reading the selection putting emphasis on the reasons for their positions as these are connections which will enrich their text-to-self experience.

Resources:

Alvermann, Donna, et. al.  (2007). Content Area Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's Diverse Classrooms (5^th ed).  Boston: Pearson.

Tierney, R. J. & Readence, J. E. (2005). Reading Strategies and Practices (6^th ed.). Boston: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.

PROCEDURES ADDED BY OTHERS

I love the idea of anticipation guides for my world studies classes, which is an idea I never knew of before taking this class.

As students read the novel, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck in class, my ideas for the use of an antipation guide are as follows:

A.  Opinion statements would be written out on a worksheet for students to agree or disagree with.  The statements would be issues that are dealt with in the book.  For example, "Do you think it is appropriate to steal from another person if you felt that it would save the life of yourself or your family?".  Students would answer these questions by personally agreeing or disagreeing with each statement before reading the appropriate pages of the book.

B.  When students have completed the pre-reading part of the anticipation guide, they would read the appropriate section of the book and answer the same questions as if they were Kino and Juana.  For example, in the anticipation guide question posted above, the book explicitly states that Kino would never steal from another man, despite the consequences it might mean for himself or his family.  Therefore, students would "disagree" with this statement from Kino's perspective on the worksheet.

C.  When the pre and during reading sections of the anticiupation guide have been completed by students, a class discussion can take place about Kino and Juana's culture, their own current culture, and the integrity of certain characters within the book.

(Contributed by Joel G.)

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Anticipation Guides are a great literacy strategy for a Math classroom, too.  Anticipation Guides can be used to show real-world examples of math and have students make their own algorithms (processes for solving problems) before they learn the "teacher's way".  Algorithms learned through real-world examples and before a student learns the "teacher way" of solving a new concept have been shown to improve student retention of new math concepts.

Here is an "abridged" example of a math Anticipation Guide that would use real-world examples (students would previously be taught the meaning of "Better Buy"):

Directions: Read the following statements and write "A" if you agree and "D" if you disagree.  Explain why you chose your answer (the math process you used to choose your answer, etc.).

___  Buying 2 candy bars for $2.50 is a Better Buy than buying 3 candy bars for $3.00

Explain why:

___  Buying 8 gallons of gas for $30 is a Better Buy than buying 5 gallons of gas for $20

Explain why:

___  Buying milk for $4.00 per gallon is a Better Buy than buying milk for $2.00 per liter.

Explain why:

___  Buying 10 gallons of gas for $3.57 per gallon is a Better Buy than buying 5 gallons of gas for $3.75 per gallon.  (this is a "trick" question meant to measure how closely the student is reading the problem)

Explain why:

After calculating the Better Buy on other problems with unit-rates and measurement converstions, students should revisit their answers and explanations and change any of them that they disagree with.

** Contributed by Matthew Streit

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