The BookJam’s Core Standards
The BookJam is based on 12 Core Standards identified by Alan. These standards correlate to the National Common Core Standards. Alan says, “So much material out there is treated as if it’s of equal value. It’s not. This leads to many teachers working on the splatter theory. We throw a lot of teaching against the wall over the course of an entire school year and then we give our students a big state test to see what stuck. There’s a better way. The fact is, years of experience as both a teacher and an author have shown me that when it comes to the study of literature, not everything is of equal significance. That’s why I have distilled the BookJam curriculum down to 12 core elements for standards-based teaching of the core literary elements.” Alan covers each of these standards using a 6-Step Recipe for Nailing the Standards.
Sprinkled throughout the BookJam, you will find teacher tips, a buffet of helpful hints Alan interjects with the aim of making the classroom more accessible, more relevant, and more exciting. From suggestions like having your students visualize and sketch the text to tapping prior knowledge to making predictions or connecting text to word, self, or other texts, Alan has spiced up the BookJam with various ideas that come straight from his classroom.
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In every BookJam we pepper in a few articles that connect the text to some form of a nonfiction article. From Time to magazine to the New York Times to Psychology Today and beyond, we provide a host of nonfiction material in order to build a bridge of accessibility and relevance. We connect text to text across different models of writing with the objective of creating exciting, fresh, and invigorating opportunities for educators to “get into their books” from a whole new angle. Look for the Going Beyond the Print section for prompts to extend student thinking.
Alan has identified at least four themes in each of the novels included in the BookJam. Beyond merely teaching what each theme is, he also provides a prism through which you can explore the various themes. This mode of exploration occurs through the lens of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These thematic explorations can be used in any number of ways: framing whole-class discussions, homework prompts, classroom quick writes, or jumping-off points for debates and discussions. Use these ideas as you see fit.
A special relationship exists between listening and reading. Study after study has proven that using tools such as audiobooks to guide literacy instruction can be a magnificent way to open doors of accessibility to the text for students of every level. Many of the novels in the BookJam include unabridged recordings. Use them for whole-class read-alongs, small group think-pair-shares, or to allow struggling readers to gain better access to the text.
BookJam tests are constructed as tools for assessment. Projects serve as summative assessments. The quizzes and tests in the BookJam are assessments designed to give insight into student comprehension, but they are by no means written to be any sort of end destination on the assessment road. Instead, they allow the teacher to see who is reading and comprehending and allow students to feel positive, academic self-esteem and a sense of school success if they have done the work of reading the text prior to the test.
CLICK HERE to find out more about Alan’s 6-step process.
