Re: Please help me understand the AR levels

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"Everybody is wrong" sure gave an "easy to understand" lesson on how
to have a child pick their own book...lol. AS I SAID PREVIOUSLY, each
school may do it differently, to make it EASY for a CHILD to pick
their own book, since AR is our INDEPENDENT reading program. (parents
also need an easy-to-understand method for helping their child to
choose an appropriate book based on their interest and independent
reading level- and our method is easy for parents)
My school puts COLOR CODED LABELS on each book level. They are sorted
into " grade levels" and shelved together in the library. The kids
pick their own books. I DO NOT have to "take into account the interest
level" - the kids pick books by themselves.
So, not all schools assign a ZPD range. We use the Gaites test, the
SpEd kids use the Woodcock, and we assign kids a "color coded" range
to pick from. It's not WRONG it's DIFFERENT from what you do.
We have had EXTENSIVE training on AR....and great success with the
program, as AYP/National Blue Ribbon status has been achieved. Imagine
that! And apparently we're doing it 'All wrong...?'
On 9/12/09, Everybody is Wrong wrote:
> A student is to be assigned to a ZPD RANGE based on the
> student's reading level.
>
> A child in his fifth month of sixth grade is not limited to 6.5
> level books. Few students are EXACTLY on grade level all the time
> anyway. Plus, you're severely limiting student choices by giving
> ONE level of book.
>
> Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the sixth grader in
> the sixth month of school IS reading on a 6.5 grade level. In
> that case, he or she should be reading books in the RANGE of ZPD
> levels from 4.9 to a 6.3.
>
> However, not ALL books within that range will be appropriate for
> that student. You also have to take into consideration the
> interest level. Let's take a 4.9 level book for instance.
>
> Adele & Simon in America is a 4.9 book level. But it's a LG
> interest level, meant for children in K-3. It is not appropriate
> for a sixth grader.
>
> On the other end of the spectrum, many novels by James Patterson,
> Agatha Christie, and Sue Grafton--just to name a few--are in the
> 4.9-5.1 range. They are meant for adults, and are also not
> appropriate for a sixth grader.
>
> A sixth grader with a on-grade reading ability should be reading
> MIDDLE GRADE INTEREST LEVEL books, such as Artemis Fowl,
> which is a 5.0 level . . . but with situations appropriate for a
> child that age.
>
> The book levels are only readability levels . . . can the child
> read the words. The interest level is for age-appropriateness.
>
> Sounds like people need training.
 

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