Re: AR Problems Cont.

[Vaneesa Thompson <VANEESAT@AOL.COM>]

As a mother, librarian, and teacher I can say that I am pleased with all
aspects of the AR program.  What many of you fail to realize is that the
children who come in looking for books with a particular point value or level
were probably the same students who would not be reading a book otherwise.
Alas, my son was one of those.  As much as we tried to encourage him to read
on his own... buying books we thought would be of interest to him -  taking
him to the library to check out books... he just would not read own his own.
Then came AR and those dreaded points.  Yes, he often looked for books with a
certain point level.  Yes, he looked for ways to finagle the system.  But yes
he was also reading.

Further, he reads more now for enjoyment (they don't do AR in the high
school) than he did before.  I also think that AR helped him to try different
genres of books.  Many of the nonfiction books have a lower point value and
he would gravitate toward those at the end of the grading period when before
he would not have picked up a nonfiction book.  Now, these are the types of
books he enjoys reading.

So instead of bemoaning the fact that children are reading for the points or
the extrinsic rewards, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that the children
are reading and hope that they will discover books, authors, and genres that
they might not have experienced otherwise?

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