[LM_NET] HIT: Elementary Reading for Pleasure vs. prizes :)

[Paula Joseph <prj67@YAHOO.COM>]

The orginal question dealt with promoting readimng for pleasure as opposed to 
rewards...THANKS to all who responded :)

paula


When I started at my middle school library four years ago Reading Counts (cousin to 
AR) was really big for some of my teachers.  My main concern with the program was 
that students were encouraged to choose books according to level.  I felt this 
practice did not encourage life-long reading skills.  Who of us as adults goes to 
the library looking for a 13.7 book?  Instead we read based on our interests and 
what we feel like reading, or recommendations from friends.  
I also shared, with the teachers, levels of some popular reading books from authors 
like Nicholas Sparks and John Grisham.  The reading levels assigned by RC or AR 
aren't that far off of middle school level.  Yet, they were written for adult 
pleasure reading, and many adults who are smart and intelligent enjoy reading them. 
 It helped the teachers think about the difference between free reading and 
instructional reading.  Which is something I think about more as a librarian than I 
did as a teacher, and an important perspective to keep alive in the learning 
community.
We still do reading incentives, but I try not to tie them directly to Reading 
Counts.
Another thing with RC is that gifted readers can take quizzes on books they haven't 
read and pass, while struggling readers will sometimes fail a quiz from a book they 
read and understood.
 
Anyway, I'm not sure this is exactly what you are looking for but I thought it 
might be helpful information.  You also should check out a few electronic databases 
like Infortrac or EBSCO if you have access.  There are probably good journal 
articles on this topic that would give you some official sounding data.
Hope this helps,
**********

I would ask them if they would enjoy taking a test after their morning paper, read 
their professional journal, smutty novel, or even reading the funny papers?  AR is 
not even the best testing tool on the market. One kid takes the test and they can 
tell everyone else what the answers are, cheating!  There are plenty of other 
fantastic tools to use to
assess students immediately, and other providers, such as, Scholastic Reading 
Counts.  This program allows students to retake tests, and gives a bank of 30 
questions from which the program draws for each test.  It would be much more 
difficult for kids to cheat in the first place.
Lexia is a wonderful program that will assess students reading!  But there are many 
more programs than that available.  But I truly would ask them if they want to take 
a test after their morning or evening paper!
******************
There is at lot of good research out there about how low level AR
questions are and how little high level thinking is involved. I
encourage reading for please by sharing my love of reading, booktalking
great books, pairing kids who want to read the same book, letting kids
share about their favorite book, bringing authors to our school, etc.
For what AR costs you could bring an author every year!
****************8

My new book, Fire Up with Reading (by Toni Buzzeo), describes a reading incentive 
program that is a mix of competition and reading for pleasure.  It is modeled on a 
school wide reading incentive program that I launched at one of my own schools that 
was highly successful.  I think that creating an exciting program for kids to 
participate does a lot to get them excited about reading which, in turn, shows them 
the pleasure of reading.  You can read more about the original Fire Up program as I 
implemented it in my school and see photos at 
http://www.tonibuzzeo.com/fireupwithmrsskorupski.pdf

***************

I don't like rewards either.  I have 2 "contests" each year.  In January put up my 
6' dragon.  Every time a child brings a book back they get a dragon scale.  Every 
year we try to make the dragon's tale longer.
During the Iditarod (The race in Alaska).  I set up a chart and every morning the 
5th graders mark where the different racers are.  I have a line for our school.  
Every time a child turns in a book it counts as a mile.  We have never won the race 
in 10 years.
Long before there was AR there were person-to-person recommendations, and/or 
published book reviews (like those in newspapers). Although it's not easy and does 
require thought, a commitment to read, and a bit of time, the best resource your 
students have for enjoying reading is YOU! If you will take home one or two books a 
week from your collection, read them, (and perhaps you might want to make a quick 
list of them w/ call #s to leave in a file on your computer desktop) you will soon 
find that you can match up good selections with the right students. To the age-old 
(lazy, I think!) comment/question "Don't you have any GOOD books?" I ask in return, 
"Tell me what a "good" book is to you - what genre do you like? What other books 
have you enjoyed?" (etc.) or "If you could go anywhere and do anything right now, 
what would it be?" Fishing? Skateboarding? Snowboarding? (etc.)  - then offer them 
a nonfiction and/or a fiction story on that topic, or something
 similar. Some kids will read many of your recommendations, and come back again 
next week for more, so be prepared! Others will look over the books, and leave them 
on the table. That's okay. Eventually they find something on their own. The most 
important thing is that they see you as someone who cares enough to READ (and 
enjoys it) and you know what they might enjoy. (You probably do all this, right?).  
Some schools now have the ability to have kids write reviews of books and post them 
to the library website. Kids also spot books they want to read on poster charts of 
honored books – have several of these and rotate them once a month if possible. 
Or have kids write up reviews (I do this with new books) and then post their 
recommendations where others can see them.  I think reading programs have their 
place in helping determine reading comprehension, but I HATE the idea of tying a 
student's grades to earning X number of points. I also hate the idea of
 pushing students who read above their level into books that are too socially 
beyond their age level. Just because a 3rd grader is an advanced reader doesn't 
mean they will understand or enjoy a book with a storyline beyond their social 
understanding/maturity. It might even turn them off to reading. 
I hope you'll post a hit on this subject.  I'm in a strong AR school but share your 
views on it.  I do lots of book talks, read picture books, write articles for the 
monthly newsletters on value of reading for pleasure.  Next year we are considering 
starting a monthly book club but it's just in the planning stages.

**************8

There is at lot of good research out there about how low level AR questions are and 
how little high level thinking is involved. I encourage reading for please by 
sharing my love of reading, booktalking great books, pairing kids who want to read 
the same book, letting kids share about their favorite book, bringing authors to 
our school, etc. For what AR costs you could bring an author every year!
****************
I rewarrd all that get 100% with a coupon. Each 9 weeks they can redeem the coupon 
by presenting it for the reading incentive.
Fall Apple Cider
Winter Hot Chocolate
Spring Popcorn
Summer Lemonade
**********************
How about a lottery?  For each AR book read, the kid gets a lottery ticket.  So all 
who participated have a chance to get the prizes, but those who have read more get 
more chances.


Paula Joseph
Teacher Librarian
Courthouse Road Elementary
9911 Courthouse Road
Spotsylvania, VA 22553

prj67@yahoo.com

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