[MOSAIC] Accelerated Reader

[Beverlee Paul]

This post makes me think of zucchini stories, which always start with, "Do 
you know why small towners lock their cars only in August?" followed by "So 
noone gifts them with more zucchini."  At this time of year, there are 
always recipes passed around for "brownies with zucchini" "zucchini banana 
bread," etc., always accompanied by the disclaimer that "you can't even 
taste the zucchini."  Well, what I've always wondered was--if zucchini is 
used only as something that adds nothing to its dish, why use zucchini at 
all?  What's wrong with just brownies or plain banana bread??

This post pretty much follows the zucchini theory, I think.  If you are 
"teaching reading strategies, using lit circles, doing mini-lessons, reading 
aloud, and implementing readers' workshop," why in the world would you need 
AR?  Your dish stands alone!!!!

I realize that I'm taking a chance on jumping into the discussion on a hot 
button issue like AR. I have very mixed feelings about the program, but I do 
continue to use it in my classroom. I'll try to explain why I think it has 
value. To me, AR serves as a record-keeping and management program - no 
more, no less. I would not classify my use of the program as assessment 
because the test questions aren't the greatest and they definitely don't 
inspire anyone to think deeply about their reading. If someone used AR as 
their entire reading program, they would be doing themselves and their 
children a great disservice. However, if you are teaching reading 
strategies, using Literature Circles, doing reading-minilessons, reading 
aloud, and/or implementing a reading workshop, I think AR can have its 
place. I've heard horror stories about the way some schools implement AR, 
and I would fight to the bitter end against some of the things I've been 
told about. Let me compare and contrast some different methods of using AR:

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