Affective Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program

Grade 3

Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Tamra Stambaugh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000494426
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The Affective Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program uses a models approach to scaffold student learning and promote inquiry-based discussions of texts. This series of Jacob's Ladder:

• Focuses specifically on supporting advanced students' social-emotional needs.
• Includes high-interest reading selections in the following genres: short stories and media, poetry, and biographies.
• Moves students from lower to higher level skills of self-awareness, metacognition, and goal setting.
• Integrates reading comprehension and analysis skills with affective and social-emotional needs.
• Asks students to apply themes, character or real-life experiences, and lessons from texts to their own lives.

New ladders were specially designed for this series and derived from relevant theories about empathy, risk and resilience, achievement motivation, and mindsets and practices for cultivating talent. The Affective Jacob's Ladder guides provide teachers with an explanation of the nature and substance of the theoretical constructs for each ladder. Also included are an overview of the goals and objectives of each ladder and suggestions for how to implement the ladders in the classroom in a way that supports students' academic and social-emotional needs at the same time.

Optional Student Workbook Packs

In addition to this teacher's guide, companion student workbooks are available for Picture Books, Short Stories and Media, and Poetry and Biographies. The student workbooks feature ample room for student responses and notes, make reviewing and providing feedback on student work easier than ever, provide students with an easy-to-use reference to use during discussions, and save time, as there is no need to reproduce student handouts.

Part I: TEACHERS' GUIDE TO AFFECTIVE JACOB'S LADDER READING COMPREHENSION PROGRAM

Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9781003232940-1

Affective Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program is a supplemental reading program that applies targeted readings and images from various genres of literature and visual media to link comprehension and analysis skills about affect. Using verbal and visual stimuli, the program invites students to engage in an inquiry process that moves from lower order to higher order levels of social-emotional awareness and thinking skills.

Starting with basic awareness and understanding, students learn to become aware of self and others, express emotion and needs, and create conditions and schema for maximizing potential for an optimal life. The ladders address both important skills for emotional well-being (risk-taking and managing stress) and desirable outcomes (acquiring emotional intelligence and developing excellence).

Rationale

Constructing meaning of the written word is one of the earliest tasks required of students in schools. This skill occupies the central place in the curriculum at the elementary level. Yet, approaches to teaching reading comprehension often are “skill and drill,” using worksheets on low-level reading material. As a result, students frequently are unable to transfer these skills from exercise pages and apply them to new higher level reading material. This is especially the case when there is no attention to the affective and conative underpinnings to the process of reading. Several researchers have noted the need for motivation, persistence, and coping strategies that would entice students to move their learning to a higher level (McInerney & Ali, 2006; Pink, 2006; Zimmerman, 2000).

Affective Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program provides that affective bridge to encourage readers to develop skills that promote life skills as well as reading skills in areas like problem solving, developing empathy, and channeling emotion. Breaking down these skills into steps that can be internalized by the student further supports social-emotional learning (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning [CASEL, 2017]; Gresham, 1995).

Research on emotional intelligence suggests that some skills such as emotional well-being, social effectiveness, social connectedness, and managerial effectiveness can be developed through a curriculum-based approach (Ciarrochi & Mayer, 2007), especially long-term interventions that are carefully implemented by a teacher who is sufficiently trained in the affective processes of open-ended questioning and inquiry. Quasi-experimental studies at upper elementary and middle school levels have found positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes when students are exposed to an emotional intelligence-based curriculum (Brackett et al., 2012; Maurer & Brackett, 2004). CASEL (2013) reported that a deliberate curricular focus on developing skills such as self-awareness (e.g., recognizing strengths, understanding emotions, belief in oneself), social awareness (e.g., empathy, perspective taking, appreciation of diversity), responsible decision making (e.g., identifying, analyzing, and reflecting on problems), developing relationships (e.g., communication and collaboration), and self-management (e.g., goal setting, organizational skills, managing stress) results in healthier and more productive lifestyles (see https://casel.org/ impact for more information). A more recent meta-analysis of the effects of social-emotional curriculum on student behaviors and learning reported an 11-point gain in achievement scores when curriculum was deliberately taught and well-executed in the classroom (Durlak et al., 2011).

Educators and researchers at all levels working with all abilities of students have begun to realize the importance and impact of the affective domain on learning in the classroom (CASEL, 2013; McCoach et al., 2013). The basis for considering the importance of affective development of the gifted as the cornerstone of gifted curriculum comes from several sources and emerging theories in the field. Lines of research have included personal goal setting (Marisano & Shore, 2010), compassion (Hartsell, 2006), and coping mechanisms (Shaunessy & Suldo, 2010), just to name a few. Similarly, factors such as motivation and perseverance or task commitment impact an individual’s talent development trajectory (Subotnik et al., 2011). Other less recent, but still important, research includes Moon’s (2003) proposal of a theory of personal talent that suggests metacognitive control has a substantial impact on the capacity of a student to convert aptitudes into skills. Sternberg’s (2006) idea that the individual’s capacity to direct the talent development process in a proactive way is essential to optimal realization of positive outcomes. Older theories such as Gottfredson’s (1996) career development model that stresses the use of ability indicators to create a trajectory or life path and Csikszentmihalyi’s (1991) concept of flow are central to the affective emphases suggested in this text.

Therefore, the primary purpose of the Affective Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program is to combine English language arts (ELA) standards of textual analysis with social-emotional learning through the exploration of and identification with characters, themes, and situations within texts.

The Methodology of Using the Affective Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program

The use of books has long been lauded a stand-alone intervention in addressing the affective concerns of gifted learners but is magnified in effectiveness when paired with specific issues of the gifted population (Halsted, 2009). Bibliotherapy can be useful in helping these students explore issues of decision making (Friedman & Cataldo, 2002), identity development (Frank & McBee, 2003), emotional intelligence (Sullivan & Strang, 2002–2003), empathy (Ingram, 2003), social problems (Hébert & Kent, 1999), and multiculturalism (Ford et al., 2000), among others.

We also know that reading skills like comprehension are enhanced by instructional scaffolding, moving students from lower order to higher order thinking, using strategies and processes to help students analyze passages (Fisher & Frey, 2014; Peterson & Taylor, 2012). In addition, teachers who emphasize higher order thinking through questions and tasks, such as those at the higher rungs of each ladder, promote greater reading growth (Degener & Berne, 2016). The original Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program was written in response to teacher perceptions that students needed additional scaffolding to work consistently at higher levels of thinking in reading (see VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2006b).

In addition, the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in 2010, or state standards modeled on the CCSS, resulted in a new emphasis on the close reading of complex text. This involves making annotations, using text-dependent questions, and holding discussions about texts. Harvey and Goudvis (2007) have promoted the use of text coding and annotating as methods for students to deepen comprehension. In gifted education, the use of literary analysis and interpretation of single or multiple sources have been major tools for enhancing higher level thinking (VanTassel-Baska & Little, 2017).

In order to focus students’ attention on specific elements of text in multiple readings, researchers have emphasized the need for teachers to provide text-dependent questions (Fisher & Frey, 2012; Lapp et al., 2013; Santori & Belfatti, 2017). Text-based discussion can facilitate reading comprehension by allowing students to construct their understanding of ideas in collaboration with their classmates (DeFrance & Fahrenbruck, 2015). Researchers have also noted the importance of discussions for enhancing student talk about texts for improving the comprehension of text (Duke et al., 2011; Lawrence & Snow, 2011) and promoting thinking.

Many of the questions in Jacob’s Ladder are text-dependent questions, although some ladders and questions are deliberately open-ended, as students are also encouraged to go beyond the text to make connections within and across other disciplines and to their own lives. Discussions may be conducted one-on-one, in dyads, in small groups, or with the entire class.

The Affective Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program is a compilation of the instructional scaffolding and reading experiences necessary to aid students on their journey toward becoming strong readers, a goal that involves their emotional responses to the texts as well as their critical ones. This methodology deliberately moves students from simple to complex skills with grade-appropriate texts. Such a learning approach to skill development ensures that students can traverse easily from basic comprehension skills to higher level critical and creative reading skills, while using the same reading stimulus to navigate this transition.

The questions and tasks for each reading are open-ended, as this type of approach to responding to literature improves performance on comprehension tests (Wasik & Hindman, 2013). Progressing through the hierarchy of skills also requires students to reread the text, thereby improving metacomprehension accuracy (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). Students at all levels delight in discussing the meaning of a text and how to interpret it, as seen in our early studies of elementary students using the ladders. (See the Research Base section for more information.)

Audience

This book is suggested for gifted students in grade 3 who are already showing advanced levels of thinking and would benefit from discussing affective needs through textual and media-based prompts that support discussion. This book is also appropriate for use with typical learners who have strong textual analysis skills and who require more emphasis on affective development in their curriculum, including those who are twice-exceptional, students from lower income backgrounds, and those from different cultural backgrounds (VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2006b). The reading selections include classic and contemporary literature and media that appeal to a wider audience than just the gifted. Many of the texts and resources were deliberately selected based on the inclusion of concepts that highlight experiences and struggles reported by gifted students. The ladder questions require students to have a basic understanding of a text before engaging in-depth with applications to their own affective development. It is easily argued that most students, whether identified as gifted or not, will benefit from affective development using processes outlined in this program, such as fear of failure, achieving goals, and peer relationships. However, not all students may be as concerned about these issues at as early of an age as they are dealt with in this book, nor in the same ways. Teachers can use their own discernment and understanding of their students to decide whether or not questions and textual prompts need to be modified for use with an entire group of students.

Research Base for the Jacob's Ladder Program

A quasi-experimental study was conducted using the Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program as a supplementary resource for grade 3–5 students in Title I schools. After receiving professional development, teachers were instr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Part I: Teachers' Guide to Affective Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program
• Part II: Student Ladder Sets and Prompts
• Appendix A: Pre- and Postassessments, Rubric, and Discussion Checklist
• Appendix B: Classroom Diagnostic Forms
• About the Authors
• Common Core State Standards
• Alignment to the NAGC Program Standards