Strategy #7: Anticipation Guides
GENERAL SUMMARY:
Pre-reading is an important step in comprehension. It helps the students prepare their minds for what they are about to learn and it helps them understand the big idea of what they will be reading. The students make predictions and express their opinions about what they believe before they read the text. This helps spark and interest to read in the students. I enjoy teaching anticipation because the students are able to see how their thoughts change after they read the text. Students become active readers and are more aware of the content and ideas being presented. Anticipation guides are very easy to modify the fit the content of the class and the needs of the students. Anticipation guides can even be used before watching videos, listening to a guest speaker, going on a field trip etc. Anticipation guides can be used before almost any activity! Pre-reading activities such as anticipation guides are great for students who lack motivation or who struggle with comprehension. They are also great for ESL students because they can build on their prior knowledge and build confidence in their reading. It also helps them focus on the main points in the lesson, instead of struggling over minor details.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT ANTICIPATION GUIDES:
Step-by-step guide from 50 Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy:
1: Begin by reviewing the material to be covered in the day's lesson and identify the most important content. The material or information source might include a textbook, a novel, lecture notes, a DVD, websites. guest speakers or field trip.
2: Convert important information and concepts into short statements. These statements should be written in a way that will grab students' attention, challenge, preconceived and naive notions or arouse curiosity. They do not all have to be factually correct statements, either. In fact, we recommend a combination of statements that can be confirmed by the information sources and those that cannot.
3: Present the statements to the students. The most common and simplest approach is to write the statements on the board and ask students to copy them. Statements can also be given as a handout, projected on the overhead or from a computer, or even read aloud to students.
4: Give students a response option. For instance, it might be most appropriate to respond either "true" or "false" to the statements. For other statements, "yes" or "no" or "agree or "disagree" may work best.
5: Ask students to look at each statement using the required response options. Remember, this is done before students are provided the information source.
6: After individual students initially respond to the statements, have them find a partner and share their responses. This is a critical step because it allows alternative points of view to be expressed, further builds and activates relevant prior knowledge, and heightens anticipation.
7: Gather responses from students. Volunteers can be asked to share whether they agreed or disagreed with statements. Be sure not to give away answers at this point. Remember, the more eager the students are to find out whether their anticipations are verifiable, the better.
8: Tell students that as they read, listen, or view, they should try to determine whether their initial responses about each statement are supported by the material presented or if they need to be changed. If supported, then the students' after-reading and learning response will be the as their before response. If not supported, their after-reading and learning response will be different than their before response. In either case they should write a brief explanation for their after-reading and learning response based on relevant content from the information source or sources they encounter during the lesson.
9: Present the information sources. As material is covered, stop periodically and have students discuss with their partners whether they now have relevant information to corroborate or reject their initial anticipations.
10: Finally, ask for volunteers to share both their before and after reading and learning responses along with explanations. During sharing, any lingering misconceptions about the anticipation guide statements can be clarified.
Below is a great reading video about anticipation guides. It's a bit long, but worth it.
Pre-reading is an important step in comprehension. It helps the students prepare their minds for what they are about to learn and it helps them understand the big idea of what they will be reading. The students make predictions and express their opinions about what they believe before they read the text. This helps spark and interest to read in the students. I enjoy teaching anticipation because the students are able to see how their thoughts change after they read the text. Students become active readers and are more aware of the content and ideas being presented. Anticipation guides are very easy to modify the fit the content of the class and the needs of the students. Anticipation guides can even be used before watching videos, listening to a guest speaker, going on a field trip etc. Anticipation guides can be used before almost any activity! Pre-reading activities such as anticipation guides are great for students who lack motivation or who struggle with comprehension. They are also great for ESL students because they can build on their prior knowledge and build confidence in their reading. It also helps them focus on the main points in the lesson, instead of struggling over minor details.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT ANTICIPATION GUIDES:
Step-by-step guide from 50 Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy:
1: Begin by reviewing the material to be covered in the day's lesson and identify the most important content. The material or information source might include a textbook, a novel, lecture notes, a DVD, websites. guest speakers or field trip.
2: Convert important information and concepts into short statements. These statements should be written in a way that will grab students' attention, challenge, preconceived and naive notions or arouse curiosity. They do not all have to be factually correct statements, either. In fact, we recommend a combination of statements that can be confirmed by the information sources and those that cannot.
3: Present the statements to the students. The most common and simplest approach is to write the statements on the board and ask students to copy them. Statements can also be given as a handout, projected on the overhead or from a computer, or even read aloud to students.
4: Give students a response option. For instance, it might be most appropriate to respond either "true" or "false" to the statements. For other statements, "yes" or "no" or "agree or "disagree" may work best.
5: Ask students to look at each statement using the required response options. Remember, this is done before students are provided the information source.
6: After individual students initially respond to the statements, have them find a partner and share their responses. This is a critical step because it allows alternative points of view to be expressed, further builds and activates relevant prior knowledge, and heightens anticipation.
7: Gather responses from students. Volunteers can be asked to share whether they agreed or disagreed with statements. Be sure not to give away answers at this point. Remember, the more eager the students are to find out whether their anticipations are verifiable, the better.
8: Tell students that as they read, listen, or view, they should try to determine whether their initial responses about each statement are supported by the material presented or if they need to be changed. If supported, then the students' after-reading and learning response will be the as their before response. If not supported, their after-reading and learning response will be different than their before response. In either case they should write a brief explanation for their after-reading and learning response based on relevant content from the information source or sources they encounter during the lesson.
9: Present the information sources. As material is covered, stop periodically and have students discuss with their partners whether they now have relevant information to corroborate or reject their initial anticipations.
10: Finally, ask for volunteers to share both their before and after reading and learning responses along with explanations. During sharing, any lingering misconceptions about the anticipation guide statements can be clarified.
Below is a great reading video about anticipation guides. It's a bit long, but worth it.
ASSESSMENT:
When collecting finished anticipation guides, the teacher can gauge where the students were before the activity, and if the activity helped expand their knowledge. If the students answered most of the pre-reading questions correctly, then the teacher can determine how much time to spend on the subject. If the students didn't answer many of the question correctly, and clearly didn't know much about the content before the reading, maybe the teacher should spend a bit more time on the subject even after the activity. Anticipation guides are good evidence of "before and after." The teacher can see what the students did not know, and as a result of the activity, see what they learned afterwards.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE/RESEARCH
"Making preparations is an effective way to help create “learning-ready” students and Chan (2005) indicated that the preparations for the pre-test, which were held 10 minutes before each class, could stimulate students to work hard and gain some knowledge of the learning materials before class... Sun and Huang (2005) conducted an experiment with an experimental group and a control group, employing traditional instruction with or without asking for pre- reading Web-based learning materials. The results indicated that the pre-reading group received significantly higher scores than the group that did not pre-read."
The Effects of Pre-Reading and Sharing Mechanisms on Learning with the Use of Annotations
Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Hsu, Guo-Liang. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET 10. 2 (April 2011): 234-249.
"Instruction that uses anticipation guides can provide more than just the most proficient students with the opportunity to succeed. By way of the introductory paragraph created by the teacher, an anticipation guide can pique students' desire to read. In addition, the use of any of the adaptations allows for all students to participate more fully in content-area learning."
Increasing All Students' Chance to Achieve: Using and Adapting Anticipation Guides With Middle School Learners
Kozen, Alice A; Murray, Rosemary K; Windell, Idajean. Intervention in School and Clinic 41. 4 (Mar 2006): 195-200.
When collecting finished anticipation guides, the teacher can gauge where the students were before the activity, and if the activity helped expand their knowledge. If the students answered most of the pre-reading questions correctly, then the teacher can determine how much time to spend on the subject. If the students didn't answer many of the question correctly, and clearly didn't know much about the content before the reading, maybe the teacher should spend a bit more time on the subject even after the activity. Anticipation guides are good evidence of "before and after." The teacher can see what the students did not know, and as a result of the activity, see what they learned afterwards.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE/RESEARCH
"Making preparations is an effective way to help create “learning-ready” students and Chan (2005) indicated that the preparations for the pre-test, which were held 10 minutes before each class, could stimulate students to work hard and gain some knowledge of the learning materials before class... Sun and Huang (2005) conducted an experiment with an experimental group and a control group, employing traditional instruction with or without asking for pre- reading Web-based learning materials. The results indicated that the pre-reading group received significantly higher scores than the group that did not pre-read."
The Effects of Pre-Reading and Sharing Mechanisms on Learning with the Use of Annotations
Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Hsu, Guo-Liang. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET 10. 2 (April 2011): 234-249.
"Instruction that uses anticipation guides can provide more than just the most proficient students with the opportunity to succeed. By way of the introductory paragraph created by the teacher, an anticipation guide can pique students' desire to read. In addition, the use of any of the adaptations allows for all students to participate more fully in content-area learning."
Increasing All Students' Chance to Achieve: Using and Adapting Anticipation Guides With Middle School Learners
Kozen, Alice A; Murray, Rosemary K; Windell, Idajean. Intervention in School and Clinic 41. 4 (Mar 2006): 195-200.