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Thank you all for your responses. I have some good ideas and a plan to use to
address this with my principal and my staff.  Thank you for all your support.
 Ruie


       1.   Have monthly library contests. E.g. Every time a student read a
fairy tale/folktale/legend
book (AR or not) they filled out a photocopy ticket (made up by me) with
their name, division, and the
title of the book and put it into a draw box.  At the end of the month
(happened to be Jan) 5 names were pulled out of the box and they won a small
book prize. (there were 300+ names in the box of 309 students) Other monthly
contest ideas --biographies; poetry; nonfiction; mysteries; animal books;
hardback books; science books; etc..
 2) When we had an AR assembly (all students with so many points got a
certificate) I put every student's name in the school in a draw box and gave
out 40 prizes for being readers (all students GR 2 - 6 are in the program
anyway and this way even students that did not have the required points for a
certificate had a chance at a prize).  Prizes such as pencils, bookmarks,
posters, binders (left over from last year.  As well, each winner got a food
certificate from a major sandwich restaurant for a free meal (they give these
out to schools in our are that request prizes for reading activities).
      This year, we are trying to balance it a little more.  We are following
the newer direction that reading Renaissance suggest.  Students will set a
realistic goal with their teachers help. Teachers are being urged to make it
readily achievable by using the point chart given out by the program. (This
is the one that shows the number of minutes needed to achieve a certain
goal.)  It is important that your teachers and parents understand that this
is a small part of their child's reading program.  It is only a computerized
accountability system checking fact retention.  It should therefore reflect a
small portion of their overall Language Arts program.

      We are therefore having no major AR assemblies. At the end of the year,
we will give out certificates to all students that have reached their reading
goal. We will have a wall of recognition that will show students reaching 25%
of their goal etc.  (As per the program's recommendation).  We are also
having recognition in the classroom by teachers (however they wish to
accomplish that).
One teacher last year had ice cream cones on his bulletin board in the hall.
Each scoop on the cone represented a book read (they wrote the name of the
book on it) and he put  a class total of number of books read and the class
point total.  This emphasized the team aspect.
       Our school district also has Battle of the Books.  A few children
elected to do that last year as well and interestingly, some of the children
on the teams (which is a lot of work) also had the highest point total for
the year in AR).
       I have also been emphasizing that a book is a book..I don't care
whether it has a dot on it or
not.
       Our intermediate teachers are also going to have literature circles
this year and I may start a book club in January (if I can figure out the
dynamics.

      Book reports (quick answer type) or "I would recommend this book
because...."can also be used for additional points to be added to a
child's score, if you can figure out the mechanics of this.

       The overall point to remember is that you have to educate your staff
as to the problem and get their support.  This has been a slow process for us
but we are getting closer to the balance.

Because of a lack of AR tests when we started up, we dwelt with this problem
from a different angle.  We are only in our second year of AR, and at this
time only have 1800 tests. We run AR last year with only the 3-5th graders,
and are hoping to add the 2nd graders on at Christmas.
When the students set their goals, they must include reading a non-AR book
goal.  Even if the student have all of their points of their goal, they are
not considered having met the goal until the non-AR book(s) have been read.
This allows for students to select books of interest regardless of reading
level.

Right now the biggest 'sellers' are books that are not AR in our library.
(Yes, they are AR, but I don't have the test yet.  So, they are treated as
non-AR books.)  There is a waiting list for the 3 copies that I have.
(Sasquatch, Bloomability, Nose from Jupiter) I also direct students to books
that I think would be a good match for them that is outside of their AR
level.  I encourage them to read the book and try the test for 'fun' if it is
too high, or for enjoyment if it is too low.
I have explained that even I like to read books that are below my reading
level because I can finish them fast and enjoy the story.  Only one of my
teachers really push the AR guidelines.

As you can see, because of the philosophy of our school, it is not a major
concern.  Maybe you can share this with your teachers, and see if they will
implement it from their classrooms.

We really don't push AR at our school.  It is totally optional to participate
yet 80-90% of our students choose to participate.  Our teachers also do not
put a lot of emphasis on the program but praise students for their efforts
when they do well.  We do not assign any grades based on
ARperformance/participation and we do allow students to read outside their
reading level occasionally.  It is rare that a student would only check out
AR books and much more common that a student finds a book they want to read
and are pleased to find out that there is also an AR quiz for it on the
computer.  It's like an added bonus to them but they are
picking books they are interested in.  If it's still a problem for you
though, maybe you could try to get or make quizzes for the books you really
want students to read (i.e., the classics,etc).  You can custom order quizzes
for books that you already have in your library.

We use a program called 100-book challenge
1. You could make your own tests for the books your kids love to read.
2. Make a deal with your teachers.  Students must earn a set number of points
each month, nine weeks, whatever, and then kids can pick ANYTHING they want
to read.
3. Set up non-AR contests.  Pick some books and kids that check them out and
read them can enter their name in a drawing or something.

I have the same concerns about taking fun reading away from students, but I
can't deny that AR does promote reading at our school.

In our county, the elementary office discourages the use of AR, even though
individual schools are allowed to purchase and use additonal reading
materials.(we have a countywide anthology series; Houghton Mifflin) Some
principals really like AR.  However, the reading specialists do not advocate
its use.  They feel the it is a low level skills based program. Since
Maryland has high stakes performance based testing, they do not feel AR
prepares students for the higher level thinking/reading needed for the tests.
 I agree with them and see you make that point also.  I believe that AR is
popular because it gives people a false sense of being able to control and
improve reading.

This is a HUGE problem with AR. I ran an elementary school library for nine
years, and AR was installed during the last three. Can you get your
parents/teachers to compromise by allowing the kids to check out one book of
their choice when they check out one AR title? This worked fairly well for
me.  Another option would be to findparents/teachers willing to volunteer
their time to create tests for books that don't have AR tests available.  I
understand that's a pretty involved process, but might be worthwhile.  In our
competition-oriented world, tremendous pressure is exerted to build up those
points, and I don't know how to combat that. It's SO frustrating to have kids
refuse to borrow new books or really terrific older books, just because they &
quot;don't have a test."
I too have serious problems with AR because this program gets all of the
credit for good teachers and librarians doing all the work, but none of the
blame for readers who learn to loathe books.

I was the department head on a middle school campus that used AR as part of
the language arts grade.  I always had the lowest readers on campus, and I
finally just stopped fighting the banality of the program.  I made a deal
with my kids: read anything that interests you.  If there's not a test, I'll
make it or buy it.

I pushed good books, not software.  Consequently, I had the most AR points on
campus.  Kids read because they loved books, and that's why they gained so
much.  I am offended when people want to use my class as the example of how
AR worked so beautifully.  When kids came to me that had earned less than 10
points the previous year (on average).  At the end of their 8th grade year,
most of the kids earned more than 10 points each six weeks. In fact, over
half my class had over 100 points.  So, was it the AR that made them
successful?  I don't think so, because they had AR in the 7th grade but
didn't earn points and didn't pass the state standardized reading test.  In
8th grade, they had tons of points and passed the standardized test.  What
made the difference?  GOOD TEACHING!  To say anything less is to insult me
and my students.  I'm tired of that dumb computer program getting all the
credit for my hard work.  The AR program wasn't at school on Saturdays and
Sundays preparing lessons; the AR program wasn't recommending good books; the
AR program never once dressed up in a costume to build excitement for a
novel.  And, the AR program never once intercepted a problem DURING the
reading process.  I did all those things.  Good teachers do all those things
for their kids because they love them.  My students learned to love books,
not software.  And, the AR program did not make them lifelong readers.  I did
that.

Unfortunately, I do not have answers for you, but I feel the same way you do.
 The way AR was used last year in my school was very, very frustrating.  Kids
at our school (middle, grades 6-8) had absurdly high point goals to reach,
some of 100+points!  And, they couldn't read anything but AR books during our
SSR time. AR is still being used this year, of course, but at the end of
last school year, I wrote down my issues and presented them to the teachers
during an "end of the year" AR meeting.  I started with the
positives of AR and then moved to my concerns.

It's gotten a bit better this year, and I'm hoping that each year I'll see
loosening up on the program.  At least this year students can read non-AR
books provided they talk with their reading teacher.  Also, the goals aren't
quite so high, which is very nice. That's a start!

I feel that as long as a child is reading - it doesn't matter if they are
reading the same book over and over.  Sometimes they like to read the same
book over and over because they can feel good about understanding it.  They
will read faster, gain more confidence and will eventually move on to other
books.
I don't know AR so I can't make many comments - But the one item that stands
out for me in your email is: " I am discouraged by teachers who will
only let their students read AR books" .  It seems fundamentally WRONG
that a teacher should have any control whatsoever over what a child reads
outside of the requirements for that teacher.  It does seem counterproductive
to push just one source of literature (are these adaptations or specially
written books or what)?  And to not let the children choose to read what they
like -- surely they will read more and better books when they are autonomous.


    I feel your pain!  I dealt with the AR blues for 7 years at Meadow
Park... and never found a solution to this problem.  My whole fiction
collection was dictated by the AR lists; and right before I left, nonfiction
was swinging that way also.  It pained me so to turn a kid onto an author and
find that the book they loved was the only one we 'had a test for' - and they
wouldn't check out another one although they really enjoyed that author's
style and story.  Sigh.
     I hope you find a balance... and if you do, please share what you've
implemented.  Although I no longer have to deal with this (I've exchanged
this problem for one where high school teachers refuse to let a student read
what they want, but only want them to read 'the classics'... it never ends).
I think you have enumerated all of the reservations that professionals should
have about AR.
It does have its good points, but it isn't the best practice for all
students. I have been listening to pros and cons for 4 months in the hopes of
preventing problems before they begin. If I can get our staff together, I
want to lay out some of the negative aspects and get everyone to follow the
same procedures, but from past experience, I think I'm dreaming. It will be
interesting to see what other shave to contribute. I'm a reading teacher and
librarian so want to find the right balance before the students overdose on
AR. Our school hasn't been very good at providing AR books or quizzes, so it
may die out eventually anyway. I'm the only one writing quizzes at this point.

I think the secret to building readers rather than point gatherers is to
amass a huge collection of AR books and tests.  If each child has masses of
books to choose from that are on the appropriate reading level, most will end
up having successful, enjoyable reading experiences. There are very few
well-reviewed books still in print that do NOT have an AR test available.

If I could make the rules, I wouldn't start AR before 2nd grade. Make it a
rite of passage. As far as teachers pushing only AR books, if they are
allowed to check out 3 books at a time, you might make your policy that only
2 of them can be AR (tell them that the reason behind the rule is to keep the
AR collection from being depleted!  I've heard of AR rewards including being
able to write a test for a book you love that is not AR, but I was never
organized enough to get that going.

When I read to the kids, I almost always chose books that were NOT AR. That's
another way to expose them to the treasures that are not tested. I remember
some days 10 years ago thinking that so many of the books that my kids
checked out stayed in their backpacks or in their desks and were seldom
shared at home. I left knowing that they actually read the words in most of
them and didn't just look at the pictures!

There will always be those children that read for the sheer joy of a good
story. They will always do so. There are a number of kids, however, who seem
to have to be suckered in to discovering that joy by being rewarded with
points. Moving from elementary to middle has shown me that sometimes that
extrinsic motivation turns to intrinsic. Trust me, not for everyone, but
because of those that do turn into joyful readers, the drawbacks to AR seem
pale in comparison.
I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you, but I wanted to let you know
that I share your concerns. Luckily there are some teachers at my school who
encourage students to read other books as well as AR. The students seem to
get so caught up in the points and the certificates and all the other stuff
that goes with AR. It is so frustrating to have a student pick up a book, say
that it looks really interesting, then see that it is not AR and put it back.
The other librarian in my district tells me I should try to get as many AR
tests as possible for the good books so the students will read them, but it
just doesn't feel right.

With Reading Counts you make your own quizzes.  Insist that quizzes get made
for all your good books.  Ask teachers to make a few, share with other
schools, parent volunteers are great for this.

I can't believe how you wrote exactly what I've been thinking about AR also.
This is my second year as a MS and I'm not sure what to do.  I believe it is
a great program, but there is a problem when good literature is looked over
because it is not an AR or in "the correct zone".  Can you believe
that I will not even bother to catalog a donated book if it's not AR, because
I know it will probably never get checked out!  How sad, I slap a book
pocket/card on it and put it on a rack.  I would be glad to hear what others
have to say on this. I do know others feel the same as we do, but what to do
about it?
Here are a few ideas I've come up with:
1) Some teachers will allow students to read "other" books out of
their zone after their weekly goal is met.
2) I allow my students 3 books, 2 AR and 1 other.  There are some teachers
that don't like this too well.
3) If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  I order very few books that are not AR.
4) I try to give some "free reading" time during library class to
read anything (we won't tell the teacher).


Ruie Chehak, Library Media Specialist
Sallie Jones Elementary School
1221 Cooper Street
Punta Gorda FL 33950
rchehak@aol.com or Ruie_Chehak@ccps.k12.fl.us

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