LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Friends,
This year we initiated the Accelerated Reader program at my K-8
school. There are 265 students. Over the summer I ordered 800 books to go
with the standard test disks. I added another 300 books from the library
collection at hand to go with custom disks.
Our program is administered by a rather strong-willed individual
who, like the rest of us, wants the program to succeed. However, AR has
become such a focus that there is little opportunity for the students to
read books just for the sake of reading. Students are frantic to achieve
their goals and accumulate their points before the quarter ends. The
library and computer lab are sometimes filled with frenzied book-seekers
and test-takers. Books are often chosen on the basis of the quickest read.
Books are read within 10 minutes in the library and a test is immediately
taken.
A sixth grader remarked to me Friday that she won't be able to
read a book for enjoyment until Christmas vacation. Another student
commented that she was so looking forward to reading certain books, but
her ZPD had risen above that level and she won't be able to read them now
for points. I suggested she check them out for pure enjoyment. What a
novel idea! She doesn't have time to do both.
The program administrator has plans to have some custom disks made
using books I have on the shelves. She hasn't told me this directly. I
have heard it from students who are checking out non-AR books because they
have been told the books will some become AR. I don't want the library to
become a repository for AR books only. Many of the titles in question have
been purchased in support of the curriculum, and I want them available for
use in the classrooms and by individual students and teachers when these
subject areas are being studied. I am not looking forward to a
confrontation, but I feel strongly about maintaining the integrity of a
collection I have spent a good deal of time building.
If you have had any experiences along these lines, I would
appreciate hearing about them.
Thank you.
Jane K. Brehl
Trinity School Library
1381 Ida Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43212
614-488-7650
jbrehl@cdeducation.org
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