Expectations v Reality - a purposeful response to reading

I say it all the time, capitalise on the trends. What are the memes of the moment? Bring them into your literacy learning!

Image: C.Fiorentini

Expectation versus reality is one of those trends we have all either seen or either posted about on social media of late. However, in saying that, it's also an extremely effective activity to incorporate into your literacy work, especially if you want to get the children engaged in purposeful reflections in response to reading.

So, be it with a picturebook, a passage in a text book, a read aloud from a novel, or even a movie - start by recording their expectations in response to the title, the cover, the author, the clues in the illustrations.

Then, following the reading, compare and contrast - was it everything you expected it to be? Were your expectations accurate? Was there a twist? Did the text launch a curveball at you? Were your expectations similar to those of your friends?

Individually, small group, or whole class - this is a fabulous invitation into rich and purposeful conversations around a text. It can be a method of incorporating inferencing, predicting, synthesising, critical thinking - and much more!

Give it a go!

Download a copy of the activity page:

Expectation v Reality.pdf

Download PDF • 25KB