“Before I incorporated anticipation guides in my classroom, I would begin the study of a novel by telling my students what the novel was going to be about. This approach wasn’t really compelling, and reluctant readers in particular weren’t interested. I re-evaluated my strategy to be more student-centric, incorporating more of the student’s own work and their opinions of the novel. Now I introduce anticipation guides as a pre-reading strategy.

“In addition to supporting student learning, anticipation guides also help me with sensitive topics that can sometimes be difficult to address in the classroom. The structure of the guides allows conversation to happen naturally in a safe environment. And: Students become very excited about the process; seeing how they connect their real life experiences to a text is a constant reminder about how smart they really are.”