When I was a kid I loved to read, books came with me on vacation and I always had one stuck in my bag or purse. I would have been the kid who would have loved getting my points. My daughter is the same - I've instilled a love of reading in her from a young age. When she found out that she would be earning points in first grade, she was excited - she likes to see the progress of her flower as she earned those points. When she doesn't earn all the points in the book, she reacts with a positive spirit and describes what she thinks was the problem - wasn't really engaged in the book, didn't really like the characters and so didn't pay enough attention, read the book in a hurry or took too long with her reading and not giving her best effort.
Just the other day I was reading some twitter posts about AR and how the poster's experience has been extremely negative. Her daughter wasn't allowed to read books that weren't in her AR level and she blamed AR for destroying her daughter's love of reading. Other parents I've spoken to have expressed similar dissatisfaction - AR was being used as part of the student's grade and made students HATE to read or students had to meet a certain goal of so many points in the quarter/semester so students would choose books that had high points but weren't necessarily interesting to them. This created a stress for students who now viewed reading as a chore, rather than something that can be used for pleasure and to expand your knowledge base.
I was extremely sad to read the twitter post and it got me thinking - is this a response to AR or to the instructional use? And what is the difference?
The past two years I have watched my ENTIRE school site change from one where reading is something to be dreaded because my site was filled with students whose strength was NOT reading and comprehension (a quick background - our site is a Title 1 school where over 80% of students are second language learners) to one where reading is a passion for nearly all students. My students beg to read - be it read aloud, partner/shared reading or independent reading. The approach that the instructor takes toward AR and how it is used in the classroom is instrumental to the feeling that the students have towards reading.
AR is a tool that just like all other instructional tools can be beneficial - in my classroom it is not the end all and be all. I track students reading in a variety of ways.
1. Status of the Class: Every day students report out the title and page they are currently on in their book. It takes all of 10 minutes (although a bit longer in the beginning of the year) and allows me to see if they are actively reading during the previous day, be it in class or at home. Students are excited to report that they finished their book and are ready to take their AR test.
2. 40 Book Challenge: This challenge, coming from Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer), challenges students to read 40 books in the school year - ANY 40 books. These can be picture books, books from our read aloud sessions and of course their independent reading books. These can be books that we read for history, science, biographies, units of study - like my comic book/graphic novel unit I'm currently working on. The point of this challenge is simply to encourage students to read...to develop a love of reading what is interesting to them. Please check out Donalyn Miller's response to what the 40 Book Challenge is NOT: https://bookwhisperer.com/2014/08/12/the-40-book-challenge-revisited/
3. Points bulletin board: As students earn their points, they move their reading stars (or owls or apples) from one point level to the next - no matter how long it takes them to reach their goal, it is celebrated. I will give them a year challenge - who can get 100 points by the end of the year. I make no restriction on what they can read - any level, any book. Why? Because if they are reading 200 picture books to get 1/2 point each book, then that is a lot of vocabulary they are reading. Or maybe they've found a series that they've fallen in love with and will devour over the course of the year (Rick Riordan and Margaret Peterson Haddix to name just a few series authors). Either way, students are reading. This past year I had a student who primarily read science - he loves earth science and space; I will not be surprised if I hear from him in 15 years and he has become a scientist. Did he read a lot of chapter books? No, but the amount of content knowledge he gained while earning his AR points was extensive!
4. 80% or Higher Tests Chart: For ANY test that students pass with 80% or higher, they put a sticker on the tracker chart. At the beginning of the year I conference with the students and ask each individually what goal students would like to set and then progress is celebrated.
5. AR test results: The last way that I track students' reading is by printing out students test results - this gives me an overall view of the student's choice of books (NF vs Fic) and is a great way to talk with students about where they can challenge themselves.
Our principal was instrumental in turning our instructional practices to those that were grounded in best practices and allowed us the freedom to try new curriculum and strategies. Our literacy coach has also been an active agent in turning around our school site. She brought her passion for reading to the teachers and in turn the students. We were introduced to different strategies that we then took back to the classroom. As our perspective of instruction changed, so did the student's view of reading. Reading became a way to succeed - students looked for books that they were interested in and that they would be successful in comprehending.
So what does all of this have to do with AR since AR doesn't really track comprehension? AR tracks the numbers of words students read, the attention of general information about the events in the book that the reader remembers and the ability to put vocabulary words into a cloze passage. AR doesn't check for understanding of reading elements such as inferring or cause and effect. AR is not the instrument to teach reading - points aren't entered in my grade book, not meeting goals doesn't affect their grade; there isn't any pressure created by AR. AR is a tool to help students, parents and teachers track what students read - nothing more. So what if the book isn't in the child's AR level?! How many of the books you read are in your level...I know mine certainly aren't. Let kids read books that are interesting to them. Challenge them to step outside of their comfort zone every once in a while with books that are above their level or in a different genre than they generally read but let them read what they want! If it's below their level, let them read it - for whatever reason it called to them, perhaps it has some great information on how to create a new way to conserve energy or inspires them to find a way to create a sleeping bag for the homeless that can be turned into a jacket.
I believe that the dissatisfaction and general unhappiness from teachers, students and parents has more to do with HOW AR is used by teachers and administrators than with the program itself. It saddens me to hear that love of reading has been destroyed but let's place the blame correctly - a computer program is NOT responsible for the destruction of readers...it is, unfortunately, the fault of teachers who make it part of their grade book and the administrators who mandate that teachers use it by setting a general goal for everyone's points, rather than setting an individual goal for each student where the student has ownership of the goal and is more likely to meet it.
Remember to ask yourself, with any instructional practice, strategy or tool - WHAT IS THE PURPOSE of using this? For me, AR is a tool to track student's completed reading of texts - it's not a grade and it's not a way to restrict the level of book that students are allowed to read.