[MOSAIC] Accelerated Reading

[Bill Roberts]

AR also has tests on higher level skills, but they cost extra.  It is great 
as an aid to your reading instruction, but take care it doesn't become a 
case of the tail wagging the dog with students reading for points only.  I 
use the strategies in my classroom, but AR is only a part of the 
instruction.  Many schools think it's an easy program and doesn't require 
any effort on the part of the staff.....it can be used in such a manner, but 
it isn't effective that way......

......but any program can be ineffective if there is a ineffective teacher 
or leader....

Bill


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marg Epp" <marg.epp at spiritsd.ca>
To: <mosaic at literacyworkshop.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 3:17 PM
Subject: [MOSAIC] Accelerated Reading


> Hello all,
> I am a Learning Support Facilitator in the area of literacy in my school 
> division.  We have been working on reading comprehension strategies using 
> the work of Ellin Keene, Stephanie Harvey, etc. etc. etc.  As with all 
> things, there are the keen, the reluctant, and all those in between (and 
> on other sides of the spectrum!).  Recently I had an administrator contact 
> me because he wants to purchase the Accelerated Reading software.  I was 
> somewhat familiar with it, having read about it years ago, but my very 
> general opinion was (is) that these are worksheets on a computer screen, 
> the main point is to get kids to do lots of reading (which isn't a bad 
> thing), it tests kids on very literal comprehension, but it doesn't teach 
> kids about how to think about their reading which is something we are 
> working on.  Also, it's an incentive program which research shows has 
> little or no effect on long-term attitudes towards reading.  Of course, 
> wanting to be someone with an open mind, I have been researching anything 
> to do with AR and still, I haven't been swayed to the other side.  That's 
> not necessarily a bad thing either, in this case.  What I have read is 
> that like any other program, it's not the program, but the people who 
> implement it, that make the difference.  So I am looking for for some 
> response to this issue.  Is there anyone out there who uses AR in a way 
> that supports "Mosaic of Thought" thinking?  (I warn you, it has to be a 
> VERY good argument to convince me!!!!). I sound like one of those 
> resistant people, don't I?!  However, I really am interested in a 
> conversation about this.
>
> Marg Epp
> Learning Support Facilitator
> Prairie Spirit School Division
> Saskatchewan, Canada
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