Re: end-of-the-year catch-up

[Marji Morris <mmorris@salemschools.com>]

oh, my, dayle! sounds as if you had quite a year! i LOVE middle 
schoolers. i've taught grades 7-12, and 7th graders are my favorites, 
followed by juniors.

anyway, i found AR to be a great tool for independent reading. of course 
we have over 5000 tests. i had a huge library in my room in addition to 
the school media center's fairly nice selection. i ordered new books and 
tests each year to keep my library looking up to date. some kids still 
didn't like it, but most became pretty dedicated readers by the end of 
the year. i don't do the limitations that AR suggests. i just have the 
books, the tests on computers, etc. i use it as a management tool. only 
one of our teachers didn't like AR. the others all did and used it much 
as i did.  i required kids to pass at least 2 tests or earn at least 10 
ar points each six weeks. i had books from first grade through 12th 
grade level, so everyone should be able to find things s/he can read. i 
counted ar as part of their grade. i also had them keep a reader 
response journal with a reading log in the back. and two more key 
elements--we did silent reading in class EVERY DAY--and I read along 
with them.

i also took a printed list of our ar tests to the public library so kids 
could check out books there and know what was on our list and what wasn't.
marji