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So often I walk into a classroom and announce, “Today we’ll be learning about ____________.” I fill in the blank with the teaching strategies for the day, and then I dive headlong into the lesson itself. When I start that way, students have no time to adjust themselves to the learning we’ll engage in that hour and have not had their background knowledge activated. One easy way to get students engaged in the lessons and primed for learning is to use what’s called an “Anticipatory set.” This essential teaching term is, according to teacher Jennifer Gonzalez, “A brief portion of a lesson given at the very beginning to get students’ attention, activate prior knowledge, and prepare them for the day’s learning. Also known as advance organizer, hook, or set induction.” It’s important that teachers take a few moments to carefully consider those opening moments of class to use teaching strategies that will help students become curious rather than bored, engaged rather than resistant. Here are a few teaching strategies for anticipatory sets that you might find worthwhile to try.
