Anticipation Guide for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Purpose of the Strategy

The purpose of the anticipation guide is help the students prepare to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. This guide will help students tie the text to their own schema, stimulate discussion of the text in class, and aid in reading and writing activities.

Directions:

Step 1 -- Read passage or story

Read and analyze Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling and identify the major concepts and themes, including honesty, bravery, loyalty, the hero journey, standing up for your beliefs, and anything else you feel might be important.

Step 2 -- Decide on major concepts

Out of these concepts and themes pick several that are the most pertinent to your students. Honesty, bravery, loyalty, and remaining true to your beliefs would probably resonate with them the most. These concepts and themes will be used to get the students interested in the novel before they begin reading and will help them to use their own schema to articulate their beliefs.

Step 3 -- Write statements on major concepts

The following handout contains seven declarative statements that correspond to the chosen concepts and themes mentioned above. Some of the statements are controversial and students will probably have differing ideas about their accuracy. This is actually good because the disagreements will help to stimulate classroom discussion about the topics.

Step 4 -- Display the guide

Make the guide into an overhead and make enough copies to distribute to the entire class. Hand out the guide to the students and ask them to complete it. Make sure that you read the directions at the top of the page to the students so that they understand exactly what to do. Explain to them that they will need to have reasons for the answers they give and encourage them to think about why they feel the way they do. Give the students approximately 3-5 minutes to complete the guide.

Step 5 -- Discuss

After the students have finished filling out the guide on their own, put the overhead up and conduct a class discussion about the concepts. Go through each statement and have the students explain what they thought and why. Make sure they back up their beliefs. Conduct the discussion for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Step 6 -- Read

Have the students read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. As they read encourage them think about the evaluative statements and their reactions to them in the light of the author's intents and purposes.

Step 7 -- Revisit the guide

After the students have finished the novel have them get the guide back out and go through it again. Have them compare and contrast what they originally believed to what they now believe. Did their opinions change? Why? What did the author present (or how) that made them change their minds?

Assessment

This anticipation guide will help the students identify and understand major concepts and themes that they will encounter while reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The guide also helps to facilitate class discussion and helps the students to think about their own schema before diving into the novel. It also allows the teacher to see how her class generally believes and thinks. After reading the novel the teacher should have the students pick one of the concepts or themes from the anticipation guide to write a short paper about. The students should explain the concept, what they thought about it before reading the novel, how or even if their beliefs changed and why, or how and why their beliefs did not change.

Diana Anderson, Brigham Young University 2000