ELEM:Removal of AR Books into Classrooms?

[Vaneesa Thompson <VANEESAT@AOL.COM>]

How could you possibly move all of the AR books from the library into the
classrooms?  The purpose of AR is to allow children to read books that are
leveled for their ability.  There is no way that a classroom teacher could
collect enough books on the many different reading levels that he or she
would have in a typical classroom.  When I taught 5th grade, I had one child
who read on a pre-primer, a child who read on a college level, and everything
in-between.  There is no way that I could have collected enough books to
service the reading needs of all of those children.

If you are talking about splitting your existing AR collection, how do you
decide how many books of each level a teacher gets.  From the above example
of the 5th grade class, I would have needed many books on a wide range of
levels.  Are the teachers going to rotate books among their grade to give the
children a wider selection?

AR books definitely belong in the library.  A good compromise might be for
you and the teacher to allow the children to check an AR book and a non-AR
book.  Or an AR book on their level and an AR book not on their level just
for enjoyment (provided you have enough AR books to do that).

Although you may not personally like AR, the teachers are using it as part of
their curriculum and you said that your job was to support the curriculum.  I
just don't see any way to feasibly move the AR collection out of the library.

Good luck - I hope you find a reasonable solution to your dilemma.

Vaneesa Thompson
MLIS Student
The University of Alabama
Vaneesat@aol.com

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