Based on the premise that what students know before they read an assignment will strongly influence what they learn by reading that assignment, this booklet provides strategies that teachers can use to evoke and enhance students' background knowledge in relation to content area reading. Following a foreword and preface, the first major section of the booklet discusses readiness to read in the content areas, including content and word knowledge, motivation, and attention. The second section provides guidelines for asking and answering questions before reading. The third section contains information on forecasting a passage, while the fourth section discusses preteaching content vocabulary. Previewing graphically represented information is discussed in the fifth section. The sixth and final section covers guidelines for selecting prereading activities, keeping in mind the characteristics of the learners and materials and the expected learning goals. (HTH)