Before Reading Activity – Anticipation Guide
An anticipation guide (Rozelle & Scearce, 2009) can be introduced as a prereading activity that requires students to draw upon their prior knowledge to make connections to the text to be read. The guide can further engage the interest of the potential reader in the topic of the text. The guide provides questions and statements to which the reader has to agree/disagree or respond yes/no. In some variations, the reader might be asked to explain why s/he agrees or disagrees with a given statement. Once the tasks on the guide have been completed, the reader will have some degree of knowledge about the passage topic to wet the reader's appetite, which will aid in comprehension.
Anticipation guides can be used as after-reading activities as well. Once the reader has completed the reading of the text, s/he returns to the guide to determine if opinions or prior knowledge have been changed after reading the passage. This exploration can be reinforced through a writing activity, if desired.
Anticipation Guide Template from Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy by Jan Rozzelle and Carol Scearce (2009). Click on the highlighted link and a fillable PDF will open from the Solution Tree website.) The template may also be accessed via this link, Anticipation Guide Template.
Anticipation guides are also presented within the work of other experts in the field, including: Cris Tovani's I Read It But I Don't Get It (2000) and Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? (2004); Kylene Beer’s When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do (2003); Harvey and Goudvis' Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement (2007); and Kelly Gallagher's Deeper Reading (2004). (These citations appear below in the Resources section.)
Reference:
Rozzelle, J., & Scearce, C. (2009). Power tools for adolescent literacy. Bloomington,
IN: Solution Tree.
http://go.solution-tree.com/literacy/Reproducibles_PTAL.html
Resources:
Beers, K. (2003). When kids can't read; What teachers can do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
http://www.vanguardnyc.net/foodforthought/mainidea111509.pdf
Gallagher, K. (2004). Deeper reading: Comprehending challenging text 4 – 12. Portland,
ME: Stenhouse Publishers. http://www.kellygallagher.org
Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension for
understanding and engagement. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Tovani, C. (2004). Do I really have to teach reading?; Content comprehension, Grades
6 – 12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Tovani, C. (2000) I read it, but I don’t get it; Comprehension strategies for adolescent
Readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.