Guided Anticipation Worksheet
Sharon Haigler
Overview
- This worksheet is adapted from “Activating the Schemata [Resource]” by Sharon Haigler.
- By posing provocative inquiries about local and state government, this worksheet is intended to ready students for abstract learning while guarding against conformity and encouraging critical thought. Specifically, students will be able to express their opinions on key concepts related to representative democracy, including elected officials, term limits, and the interconnectedness of state and federal politics
Introduction: Guided Anticipation Exercises
A series of provocative questions or statements related to the new topic is one way to involve students in a new concept. To avoid the “monkey-see, monkey-do” or copy-cat tendencies of many students, it would be advantageous to let the students write down their responses and then discuss the responses as a group later. For example, if the topic for a political science course centers on elected representatives, the teacher may want to expand the discussion to term limits for elective offices. The students already have a basic understanding of election processes, and the connection to the topic of term limits is built on this basic knowledge. Eliciting students’ responses before introducing the topic prepares them for conceptual learning.
Worksheet
Directions (for students): Answer the following questions or statements with a “yes” or “no” and then give any added explanations that you think are needed to justify your answers.
| Guided Anticipation Questions and Statements + Student Explanation | Initial “Yes” or “No” Response |
| 1. The citizens of a community or country should be able to choose members in their cities, towns, or states to represent them in government.
Explain: |
Yes or No |
| 2. If I don’t like what my elected official does in office, he or she should be removed from that office.
Explain: |
Yes or No |
| 3. As long as my elected official is doing what I think is best, he or she should be able to be re-elected over and over again.
Explain: |
Yes or No |
| 4. Other states’ federal election laws have no effect on what happens in my state.
Explain: |
Yes or No
|
| 5. The federally elected officials from another state have no effect on what happens to me.
Explain:
|
Yes or No |
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Attribution:
Haigler, Sharon. “Guided Anticipation Worksheet.” Strategies, Skills and Models for Student Success in Writing and Reading Comprehension. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
