Affective Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program

Book excerpt: 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 Short Stories and Media, Poetry and Song Lyrics, and Biographies, Essays, and Speeches. 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.