I have used AR for about 14 years and I would definitely agree with Bill, Laura and Cheryle. I have a student teacher at the present time that used AR in fourth grade and she loved it. It is an excellent supplement to a reading program, holds kids accountable at the base level of comprehension and is motivating even without rewards. Although, I think rewards can have a place, especially when working with low level readers and or economically underprivileged students who love little trinkets and don't read well enough yet for reading to be its own reward. Something a little extra helps that motivation. I set goals every three weeks and set them low enough that students can easily meet them and have time to read other books, or they can write a short report or some other type of activity for a non AR book to make it count, or I write a test for the book. There is also a way to get tests from the website-I think it is rather expensive-but then every book AR has a test for is available. Our school may do that next year. I do take grades from tests. We are required to take grades on a regular basis from grade level TAKS type assessments and below level students can score very low on these, especially at the beginning of the year. AR reading is done on their reading level so AR grades pull up their average. I meet individually with my students to set goals and discuss whether they have been met at the end of three weeks. It is a great individual conference with my students about their progress and interests in reading. We don't just set goals on points or number of books we set individual goals-like let's try a chapter book next time or two nonfiction books.
Laura Cannon _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
