Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program: Grades 6-7

Description

The Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program targets reading comprehension skills in high-ability learners by moving students through an inquiry process from basic understanding to critical analyses of texts, using a field-tested method developed by the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary. Students in grades 6-7 will learn to comprehend and analyze any reading passage after completing the activities in Jacob's Ladder, Grades 6-7 (2nd ed.). Using skill ladders connected to short stories, poetry, essays, and nonfiction, students move from lower order, concrete thinking skills to higher order, critical thinking skills. The ladders include multiple skills necessary for academic success, covering language arts standards such as sequencing, determining cause and effect, classifying, making inferences, and recognizing main ideas, themes, and concepts. The second edition of the book builds off the previous Level 4 edition, including new readings and ladders for student use. The "Jacob's Ladder" guide provides teachers with an explanation of the nature of supplementary tasks that scaffold reading comprehension. Also included in the guide is an overview of the goals and objectives of the "Jacob's Ladder" tasks and suggestions for implementation, giving every teacher the tools needed to promote successful reading comprehension.

Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., is the Jody and Layton Smith Professor Emerita of Education and former Executive Director of the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary in Virginia, where she developed a graduate program and a research and development center in gifted education. She also initiated and directed the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. Dr. Tamra Stambaugh is the Director of Programs for Talented Youth at Vanderbilt University. She is the coauthor (with Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska) of Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Learners, Overlooked Gems: A National Perspective on Low-Income Promising Students, and the Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program.

Stambaugh and VanTassel-Baska have written a valuable teacher text which puts the focus back on purposeful planning, finding stories to engage young readers, and discovering ways to use readings to get the most impactful writings from our students while increasing their overall comprehension across the curriculum.,Erin Corrigan-Smith,MiddleWeb, 7/12/18