Reading Strategies

4. Getting Ready to Read: Anticipation Guide

An anticipation guide is a series of questions that will help guide your reading. When you encounter material that is new to you, an anticipation guide will help you process it. It should activate your prior knowledge and experiences to help you think about the ideas you read about.  Done well, it will encourage you to personally connect with the text in a way that integrates your prior knowledge with the new knowledge gained from the text.

Create your own anticipation guide by writing down the main headings of the text you will be reading. For each heading, create at least one statement you from your previous knowledge and experiences about the topic. Try to anticiapte what the content of the text will be. Then, while reading a text, look for new-to-you information. Reread the statements you created and write new statements that encorporate what you have learned.

For Example:

Citizenship in Canada [this is the heading]

A good citizen always does what the government tells him or her to do. [This might be your statement of belief about the heading]

A good citizen follows the laws of a country, but also knows that as times change, laws should also change to reflect those changes. Sometimes a good citizen brings about changes through respectful resitence of current laws. [This might be your new statement of belief after reading the section]

It is also a good strategy to discuss new information with a classmate. What are your different ideas? To what extent do you agree of disagree with your classmates?