Anticipation Guide

"It has often been remarked that an educated man has probably forgotten most of the facts he acquired in school and university. Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."
B.F. Skinner

OVERVIEW

An Anticipation Guide is a prior knowledge activity that prompts students to respond to a series of statements before they are introduced to a topic. After the lesson has been taught, the students then respond to the same series of statements and compare and contrast their before and after responses.

IMPLEMENTING THIS ACTIVITY

Form a series of statements related to the major topic. Be sure to include misconceptions in the statements. Doing so will enable you to more accurately assess the student’s prior knowledge.
Prior to the lesson/reading, ask the students to honestly fill out the Anticipation Guide. Be sure to explain your expectations and provide clear directions.
After students have completed the pre-responses, remind them to keep these statements in mind while completing the reading or lesson.
After the reading/lesson has been completed, ask the students to revisit the Anticipation Guide. This time, however, they are expected to explain the reasoning behind their consistent or changes in response.

After all steps have been completed, the teacher should either collect the chart or review the chart with students to address any remaining misconceptions.

VARIATIONS

This tool is used to activate prior knowledge about a specific topic. However, teachers can implement this tool in different ways. Instead of having students compare the initial responses to their more informed responses, students may be prompted to compare their initial reactions to the information they encounter in a text.

CONTENT AREA APPLICATIONS

English – When reading Hamlet, offer a series of morality based statements to acquaint the students with their own opinion and a major theme in the book.

Foreign Language – Before starting a culture study, offer a series of statements pertaining to geography, food, music, customs, etc.

History – Before studying the Civil Rights movement, offer a mixture of history and morality based statements.

Science – Before introducing the topic of dinosaurs, offer a series of statements about their discovery, physical appearance, etc.

ASSESSING THIS ACTIVITY

During this activity, the teacher should monitor student participation and review their responses. While there is no grade given, this activity allows the general misconceptions of the class to be determined. After receiving the post-responses, the teacher can then evaluate what specific concepts students have mastered and what concepts are still unclear.

MANAGING THIS ACTIVITY

Teacher should provide an example from that content area before assigning an Anticipation Guide for the first time.