Level of Familiarity 6
What is it?
An Anticipation Guide is a before and after reading activity in which students agree or disagree or state true or false to statements before reading. After students have read, they revisit their original assumptions to see if they were accurate based on the reading (Billmeyer & Barton, 1998).
Why use it?
Using this strategy will aid my students by activating their background knowledge, which at this point in the unit should be pretty extensive. In addition, using the guide with the narrative text piece will help students connect text book readings with authentic literature. My students enjoy and benefit from revisiting prior assumptions because it helps them remember what they have read.
When to use it?
Anticipation Guides should be used prior to reading for original opinions and predictions. Then, following the reading students should decide if their original responses were correct based on the reading.
How it works?
- I will give my students the Anticipation Guide before giving out the reading.
- I will instruct students to mark each statement with agree or disagree.
- Students will read the passage from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
- After students read, they will revisit their original responses to see if they would still be the same.
- Then, I will instruct them to discuss with a partner their responses and why they chose what they did.
- As a class, we will discuss students’ responses and why? Did they want to switch their responses after reading? If so, why? What made them change their mind?
What it looks like:
Name: ______________________________ Anticipation Guide
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Directions: Mark each statement agree or disagree. Be sure to think thoroughly before you respond. After reading, decide if you would keep your responses or change them.
- ______ (A/D) If I was homeless, I would steal food from farms.
- ______ (A/D) If I had starving children, I would work 18 hours a day to feed them.
- _______ (A/D) If I was homeless, I would own a car.
- _______ (A/D) If I was a farm owner and I knew people would still work for me for less money than they could survive on, I would still pay them very little.
- _______ (A/D) If I was a farm owner, I would guard my crops with guns.
- _______ (A/D) Men should never go hungry.
- ______ (A/D) Children should never go hungry.
