Writing a paper on AR need need some opinions!!!

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Writing a paper on AR need need some opinions!!!

by Beth H

Jul 21, 2009

I am a student at Missouri State. I am making a presentation on the benefits and/or disadvantages of AR to parents, students, teachers and schools. I would appreciate any insight that experienced teachers have on this subject.I am also interested in any suggestions on the best way to get started in an AR program as a first year teacher. Thanks for the help!

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Carolyn I'm not a big fan of AR. I find it doesn't address the issue of complex understanding of content in reading. Any child can make educated guesses on the multiple choice questions. I'm more of the belief that reading material needs to be discussed in order for it to be learned. Our school uses AR as a punishment/reward tool. If a child hasn't met som...See MoreI'm not a big fan of AR. I find it doesn't address the issue of complex understanding of content in reading. Any child can make educated guesses on the multiple choice questions. I'm more of the belief that reading material needs to be discussed in order for it to be learned. Our school uses AR as a punishment/reward tool. If a child hasn't met some pre-established goal, then he/she doesn't get to dress down. The trouble I have with this is, this is a software students don't have access to at home. The only time they can take these tests, then, are in school (most often the LA class), where their taking a test means they miss my valuable instructional time. I'd rather we spend two weeks reading and discussing a novel as a class, rather than a child answer 25 multiple choice questions and be labeled "proficient in comprehension".

I recently was given two articles on AR, which have discredited its value. They did 100 studies of the use of AR and determined that only 2 of the 100 studies showed any significant increase in content comprehension. The other 98 studies proved to be unreliable, invalid studies and so the results proved inconclusive.

I think it's just one more way to force educators to buy pointless learning software. My opinion.

On 7/22/09, Jack wrote: > On 7/21/09, Beth H wrote: >> I am a student at Missouri State. I am making a >> presentation on the benefits and/or disadvantages of AR to >> parents, students, teachers and schools. I would appreciate >> any insight that experienced teachers have on this >> subject.I am also interested in any suggestions on the best >> way to get started in an AR program as a first year teacher. >> Thanks for the help! > > I would suggest first talking to local schools in your area to > see if you can talk to the librarians in your community. > Things that you should look into are flexibility, creativity, > usage, time usage, student rewards, student grading, student > reactions, etc. AR is used in so many schools nationwide that > it will be difficult to gather a control base unless you have > a lot of good contacts in the educational world. There are > posters on this site, but probably less than 20 are regulars. > > I can only speak for my class, but I see excitement in my > students. I see competition. I see individual goal settings > to pace each student correctly. (We also use the STAR > programs to gauge what level books students should be reading > to gather the best success). What I have found is that its > an 80/20 rule. It works great on 80% of the students. The > remaining 20 are either above the norm or below the norm and > requires special attention, use and creativity of the > product. It allows a quality in what they are reading. > Meaning, they really have to read the entire book to get the > points or the score. Cannot cheat and say the read it all > when they did not. > > However, it is not perfect. Many kids like to stay in a given > level. They think reading more lower level books shows a > better accomplishment than taking on larger and more > challenging books. So you have to watch that. Others may get > questions and answers from friends, so watch kids that are > close friends that may be checking out the same book right > after each other. In some ways, AR is so popular that kids > may not read books that do not have an AR quiz. So you want > to setup something that requires AR usage yet does not > discriminate from other good reads. Several students are not > book readers. Prefer periodicals or self-decision books (If > you choose this way go to page 34 or choose this way go to > page 45, etc). You really have to find a reading match for > all of your students. But AR does a great job in motivation > of reading for the majority of your early grade students > (3-6). I have not had experience in other grade levels. > > >

Aug 12, 2009

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To Carolyn Carolyn - I'd love to see these articles. Could you post the title and source information?

Like you, I am not a big fan of AR. I'd wager at least 35% of my students take the hit to their grade rather than read or take a test. I'd rather open things up to allow more flexibility and discuss what we read. But my school and department disagre...See More

Aug 14, 2009

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To Carolyn - never mind I just saw your post with the links.

Thanks!

n 8/14/09, To Carolyn wrote: > Carolyn - I'd love to see these articles. Could you post the title > and source information? > > Like you, I am not a big fan of AR. I'd wager at least 35% of my > students take the hit to their grade rather than read or take a test. > I'...See More

Aug 14, 2009

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Jake Carolyn, you make some good opinions here. Do you remember the studies or have links to them? That would be good to back up from a case study standpoint. I do question the test taking from home. How can you verify it is the student taking the test if you are not there? It could be their brother or sister or friend. I think any reading comprehension...See MoreCarolyn, you make some good opinions here. Do you remember the studies or have links to them? That would be good to back up from a case study standpoint. I do question the test taking from home. How can you verify it is the student taking the test if you are not there? It could be their brother or sister or friend. I think any reading comprehension test should be administered from a qualified teacher/mentor, not someone that stayed at a Holliday Inn last night. (No pun intended). AR is just a quality measurment utility in my mind. With it, students are kind of forced to read the entire book. I do like the discussion concept you have employed, but the issue with that is time. How do you have the time to discuss every brook from start to finish with every student? Really, nothing stops students from reading at home and taking the test the following day either.

From case studies, I'd like to read more on that since there seems to be so many articles both ways on research and analysis methods. I'm sure realtime discussion of books will lead to faster growth but I'd like to find that method that is deployable in your public schools as well.

On 8/12/09, Carolyn wrote: > I'm not a big fan of AR. I find it doesn't address the issue of > complex understanding of content in reading. Any child can make > educated guesses on the multiple choice questions. I'm more of the > belief that reading material needs to be discussed in order for it > to be learned. Our school uses AR as a punishment/reward tool. If > a child hasn't met some pre-established goal, then he/she doesn't > get to dress down. The trouble I have with this is, this is a > software students don't have access to at home. The only time they > can take these tests, then, are in school (most often the LA > class), where their taking a test means they miss my valuable > instructional time. I'd rather we spend two weeks reading and > discussing a novel as a class, rather than a child answer 25 > multiple choice questions and be labeled "proficient in > comprehension". > > I recently was given two articles on AR, which have discredited > its value. They did 100 studies of the use of AR and determined > that only 2 of the 100 studies showed any significant increase in > content comprehension. The other 98 studies proved to be > unreliable, invalid studies and so the results proved inconclusive. > > I think it's just one more way to force educators to buy pointless > learning software. My opinion. > > On 7/22/09, Jack wrote: >> On 7/21/09, Beth H wrote: >>> I am a student at Missouri State. I am making a >>> presentation on the benefits and/or disadvantages of AR to >>> parents, students, teachers and schools. I would appreciate >>> any insight that experienced teachers have on this >>> subject.I am also interested in any suggestions on the best >>> way to get started in an AR program as a first year teacher. >>> Thanks for the help! >> >> I would suggest first talking to local schools in your area to >> see if you can talk to the librarians in your community. >> Things that you should look into are flexibility, creativity, >> usage, time usage, student rewards, student grading, student >> reactions, etc. AR is used in so many schools nationwide that >> it will be difficult to gather a control base unless you have >> a lot of good contacts in the educational world. There are >> posters on this site, but probably less than 20 are regulars. >> >> I can only speak for my class, but I see excitement in my >> students. I see competition. I see individual goal settings >> to pace each student correctly. (We also use the STAR >> programs to gauge what level books students should be reading >> to gather the best success). What I have found is that its >> an 80/20 rule. It works great on 80% of the students. The >> remaining 20 are either above the norm or below the norm and >> requires special attention, use and creativity of the >> product. It allows a quality in what they are reading. >> Meaning, they really have to read the entire book to get the >> points or the score. Cannot cheat and say the read it all >> when they did not. >> >> However, it is not perfect. Many kids like to stay in a given >> level. They think reading more lower level books shows a >> better accomplishment than taking on larger and more >> challenging books. So you have to watch that. Others may get >> questions and answers from friends, so watch kids that are >> close friends that may be checking out the same book right >> after each other. In some ways, AR is so popular that kids >> may not read books that do not have an AR quiz. So you want >> to setup something that requires AR usage yet does not >> discriminate from other good reads. Several students are not >> book readers. Prefer periodicals or self-decision books (If >> you choose this way go to page 34 or choose this way go to >> page 45, etc). You really have to find a reading match for >> all of your students. But AR does a great job in motivation >> of reading for the majority of your early grade students >> (3-6). I have not had experience in other grade levels. >> >> >>

Aug 24, 2009

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Carolyn On 8/24/09, Jake wrote: > Carolyn, you make some good opinions here. Do you remember the > studies or have links to them? That would be good to back up from > a case study standpoint. I do question the test taking from home. > How can you verify it is the student taking the test if you are not > there? It could be their brother or si...See MoreOn 8/24/09, Jake wrote: > Carolyn, you make some good opinions here. Do you remember the > studies or have links to them? That would be good to back up from > a case study standpoint. I do question the test taking from home. > How can you verify it is the student taking the test if you are not > there? It could be their brother or sister or friend. I think any > reading comprehension test should be administered from a qualified > teacher/mentor, not someone that stayed at a Holliday Inn last > night. (No pun intended). AR is just a quality measurment utility > in my mind. With it, students are kind of forced to read the > entire book.

I do like the discussion concept you have employed, > but the issue with that is time. How do you have the time to > discuss every brook from start to finish with every student? > Really, nothing stops students from reading at home and taking the > test the following day either.

The book can be broken down into chapters, or specific parts of literature, and discussed either as a whole class (Let's discuss the introduction, plot and rising action found in chapters 1-3, etc) or you can break the kids into groups and have THEM identify the parts of the literature and create a presentation they give to the class. They can use whatever end product they want, as long as they address the specific task. I've had students do skits, TV Talk Show formats (where characters from the book are on a TV talk show discussing their issues), newspaper formats, models, diaromas, poems, etc. The important thing is that THEY are interpreting the book in a way that works best for them. Each group then presents their "lesson" to the class. We all learn together. If it takes three weeks to learn the book, so be it. We spent just a portion of our allotted time on that, then we move on. Keep in mind they also need to do independent reading on top of a whole class novel/book. I went through two books with my 6th graders and one with my 7th. We also had several short stories, and my 6ths read a poem novel during our poetry unit. And of course, writing, vocabulary and grammar.

All this helps to move the kids from reading (or skimming) a book, to fully comprehending all parts (theme, plot, setting, characterization, etc) of it. Any book worth reading is worth discussing in detail.

Just my opinion.

> > From case studies, I'd like to read more on that since there seems > to be so many articles both ways on research and analysis methods. > I'm sure realtime discussion of books will lead to faster growth > but I'd like to find that method that is deployable in your public > schools as well. > > > On 8/12/09, Carolyn wrote: >> I'm not a big fan of AR. I find it doesn't address the issue of >> complex understanding of content in reading. Any child can make >> educated guesses on the multiple choice questions. I'm more of the >> belief that reading material needs to be discussed in order for it >> to be learned. Our school uses AR as a punishment/reward tool. If >> a child hasn't met some pre-established goal, then he/she doesn't >> get to dress down. The trouble I have with this is, this is a >> software students don't have access to at home. The only time they >> can take these tests, then, are in school (most often the LA >> class), where their taking a test means they miss my valuable >> instructional time. I'd rather we spend two weeks reading and >> discussing a novel as a class, rather than a child answer 25 >> multiple choice questions and be labeled "proficient in >> comprehension". >> >> I recently was given two articles on AR, which have discredited >> its value. They did 100 studies of the use of AR and determined >> that only 2 of the 100 studies showed any significant increase in >> content comprehension. The other 98 studies proved to be >> unreliable, invalid studies and so the results proved > inconclusive. >> >> I think it's just one more way to force educators to buy pointless >> learning software. My opinion. >> >> On 7/22/09, Jack wrote: >>> On 7/21/09, Beth H wrote: >>>> I am a student at Missouri State. I am making a >>>> presentation on the benefits and/or disadvantages of AR to >>>> parents, students, teachers and schools. I would appreciate >>>> any insight that experienced teachers have on this >>>> subject.I am also interested in any suggestions on the best >>>> way to get started in an AR program as a first year teacher. >>>> Thanks for the help! >>> >>> I would suggest first talking to local schools in your area to >>> see if you can talk to the librarians in your community. >>> Things that you should look into are flexibility, creativity, >>> usage, time usage, student rewards, student grading, student >>> reactions, etc. AR is used in so many schools nationwide that >>> it will be difficult to gather a control base unless you have >>> a lot of good contacts in the educational world. There are >>> posters on this site, but probably less than 20 are regulars. >>> >>> I can only speak for my class, but I see excitement in my >>> students. I see competition. I see individual goal settings >>> to pace each student correctly. (We also use the STAR >>> programs to gauge what level books students should be reading >>> to gather the best success). What I have found is that its >>> an 80/20 rule. It works great on 80% of the students. The >>> remaining 20 are either above the norm or below the norm and >>> requires special attention, use and creativity of the >>> product. It allows a quality in what they are reading. >>> Meaning, they really have to read the entire book to get the >>> points or the score. Cannot cheat and say the read it all >>> when they did not. >>> >>> However, it is not perfect. Many kids like to stay in a given >>> level. They think reading more lower level books shows a >>> better accomplishment than taking on larger and more >>> challenging books. So you have to watch that. Others may > get >>> questions and answers from friends, so watch kids that are >>> close friends that may be checking out the same book right >>> after each other. In some ways, AR is so popular that kids >>> may not read books that do not have an AR quiz. So you want >>> to setup something that requires AR usage yet does not >>> discriminate from other good reads. Several students are not >>> book readers. Prefer periodicals or self-decision books (If >>> you choose this way go to page 34 or choose this way go to >>> page 45, etc). You really have to find a reading match for >>> all of your students. But AR does a great job in > motivation >>> of reading for the majority of your early grade students >>> (3-6). I have not had experience in other grade > levels. >>> >>> >>>

Aug 25, 2009

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