Re: Philosophical discussion - acheiving AR balance LONGe

[Elizabeth Gillies <yarrowlib@YAHOO.COM>]

I sent a reply directly to Ruie re:acheiving a balance
with AR but thought others might be interested too.


    Here are my 2 bits worth...
        We have had the same problem because the
program has been running for 5 years and it had become
a major hype in the school.  Here is what I did last
year (when I came to the school) to begin to downplay
AR as the "only worthwhile" books.
       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; non-fiction; 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.  Each student 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.
          Good luck

       Elizabeth


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