At our school, we don't have a choice. We are mandated to do AR every day for
about 60 minutes a day. During that time, they read, take tests, and go to the
library. They may also do book talks with a partner prior to taking a test on
a chapter book. I agree with the person who said that it is primarily a memory
test. Many of my students have a really hard time passing the tests on chapter
books because they don't recall the specific details that they ask for on the
tests. However, I do see improvement over the year. Usually whatever chapter
book I am doing during our Shared reading time is also an AR book. We discuss
the book as we read, practice writing summaries, and talk about the characters
as they change throughout the stories. Then everyone tests on it when we are
done. By the end of the year, must students have improved in their abilities to
read a chapter book, to stick with it and have learned to talk about what they
read. One of the problems I see is that
when a student takes the STAR test at the beginning of the year and scores
well, they are then set an awfully high point goal. I do adjust these when I
see students who just can't make those goals. Some of them are good readers,
but slow. Some are just good test takers, but don't have the interest to read
enough books to make those points.
So, I guess to sum it all up. I am stuck with AR right now. However, we are
finding ways to manage it, use it as a tool, and not let it be the sum total of
our Reading instruction.
Tammy
TX, 4
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