1. Don’t Bring in an Elephant to Teach the Color Gray!
Creating Effective Anticipatory Sets
for Direct Instruction
By Colleen, Jenn, Kerry & Kirsten

2. Purpose of DI Anticipatory Sets To Provide an Advance Organizer for Key Ideas
Focus students actively
Pre-assess prior knowledge
Transfer existing knowledge
to the new topic
Introduce a unit/lesson
Communicate lesson goals
and objectives

3. The How To’s Keep it short: no more than 3 to 5 minutes.
Make it relevant, focused & stimulating: students must be actively involved / hooked in order for you to
Observe and pre-assess prior skills.
NOT
BUT

4. Make Topic Connections
Guide students to transfer prior knowledge to new topic.
New information is more relevant and more meaningful when hooked in with existing knowledge.

5. Communicate Lesson Goals and Expected Performance
In student language explain:
WHAT
You expect them to be able to do after lesson
WHY
This topic is important and how it will be useful
in real life
HOW
You will evaluate them and the expected level
of performance

6. Make Real Life Connections
Motivate students by relating the lesson goals to real life usefulness:
Explain how the students will benefit
from acquiring this new skill/knowledge:

7. SIGNALS FOR ATTENTION
Purpose: To focus student attention on you, the teacher. To indicate a new direction/next step/need to respond.
Use: During AS and/or as transition between AS steps.
Examples: hand clapping/pointing, lights on/off, desk bell, music box, etc.

8. THE L OF KWL You may now fill in the L section of your KWL chart!
If you can answer your W, then we did our job and all 4 of us can do the dance of joy!