Anticipation Guide

What is an anticipation guide?

Anticipation guides are resources that classroom teachers can use to help guide student reading. Guides, just like this one, are used before reading to help students activate their prior knowledge and anticipate what they'll be learning.

Before reading, students use an anticipation guide and usually answer questions. In this anticipation guide, teachers fill out a set of statements or questions about what their students will be learning. Students then read each statement and answer true or false. They'll also provide a justification for why they believe a statement to be true, before reading.

After they've finished reading, students look back over their guide and answer true or false again for the same statements. They'll also look over their explanations and correct any of the ones they previously missed, or provide further justification for those they got correct.

What are the benefits of an anticipation guide?

• Stimulates students' interest in a topic and sets a purpose for reading.

• Teaches students to make predictions, anticipate the text, and verify their predictions.
• Connects new information to prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic.