LM_NET: Library Media Networking
This is my first year on LM_NET and I have been reading with interest the
discussions about AR. I used the program in an ES for 3 years and loved it.
For what it's worth I would like to contribute my thoughts because it seems
to me arguing the pros and cons of the program obscures the fact that AR is
just a tool and as such it can be used to create something beautiful or ugly
depending on the proficiency of the person with the tool. If more people
used this tool or others like it as a way to guide students to want to be
able to read on grade level and to learn to love reading for its own
rewards, then AR is as good as any other tool that does the same thing.
After working 20 years in ES, I was pleased to find AR because it was the
second reading incentive program I could legitimately run. I hated awarding
kids for lying (or their parents) about what they read, associating books
with pizza or prizes, or rewarding 5th graders for reading easy books. What
I did want to do was teach 4th and 5th graders how to stick to a book and
finish it. I know that most of the chapter books I circulated in my
career were not read at all or only the first and possibly last chapters.
That is not learning the joy of really reading a book. The AR test tests
encourages students to find a book that they will actually read from
beginning to end and passing the test proves it most of the time.
Earlier in my ES career when I was in a very small school I grouped large
numbers of fiction books together by reading level (not grade level) and
challenged students to read 3 a month. They met with me before school or
during recess to discuss the book and prove they had read. What I found was
eye opening. Many bright 4th and 5th grade kids doing well with grades
tried to fake it. They could read well but had never really read all the
way through a chapter book. AR allowed me to administer a legitimate
reading program where I knew books were actually being read but to deliver
it more efficiently than spending 10 or so minutes with each student which
would have been impossible when I worked in an ES with 1000 students.
The AR program has so much flexibility for encouraging kids to read on their
grade level and letting kids find out if they read carefully. I didn't do
silly things like principal on the roof or prizes and contests. The purpose
was for students to prove to themselves, teachers, and parents that they
could and were reading and understanding books on or above grade level. I
watched below grade level students work hard and be proud to be able to
finally pass tests on grade level. Some of the rare students who read
independently without any encouragement liked the program because they could
easily find other good books to read while others thought the program was
stupid since they already read widely and often. I didn't even encourage
the latter students to participate, but I let them know I respected their
independence in reading. If all our students were like them we would be
wasting our time running any kind of reading incentive program. I think the
big contests/prizes/stunts give AR a bad name. It is neither a good or bad
program--it is how it is used that can make it a valid tool in an
educational setting.
Cheryl B. Adams, Media Generalist
Patuxent High School
12485 Rousby Hall Road
Lusby, MD 20657
<mailto:adamsc@calvertnet.k12.md.us>
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