Jacob's Ladder

We talk a lot about "higher level thinking skills" and how they apply to the gifted classroom, but how do students know when they are using them?  One way is through the Jacobs's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program, which is published by the Center for Gifted Education and the College of William and Mary.  Jacob's Ladder always starts with a short story, poem, or nonfiction reading selection.  Next, the students must complete a series of comprehension steps, or a ladder.  There are four types of ladders employed by the program: consequences and implications, generalizations, theme and concept, and creative synthesis.  Each ladder begins with a question or task at the lower end of Bloom's Taxonomy, and gradually builds to questions or tasks that require higher level thinking.  Each reading selection is accompanied by two ladders.  Sometimes, the students work in groups, and other times they works as individuals.  What I love about the program is how students relate to the physical ladder.  It is easy to understand that the low tasks are not as complex, and that the high ones involve rigor, depth, and complexity.  This concept is easily transferred to the other content areas.  Since they are practicing all levels of thinking skills, they can use their experience to attack problems and activities with the ability to analyze, evaluate, and create.  

This week, the ASPIRE 5 students read a story about the life of Christa McAuliffe.  As the students climbed the task ladders, they made inferences about how the space shuttle program could have been different if Challenger had been successful, and how McAuliffe exemplified bravery.  The students worked together to transform a simple reading selection into intelligent and meaningful conversations and written responses about the consequences and implications of a significant event in our nation's history.  I am very excited about the potential of the Jacob's Ladder program, and I am looking forward to using it with the students throughout the year.