Where’s Pluto?

The 18 Reasons Not to Use Accelerated Reader

This is a great article that should be required reading for any teacher who uses Accelerated Reader, or for that matter any teacher or administrator who works in a school where it is being utilized.

Now, let me make it clear that I’m not anti-AR by any stretch of the imagination. I love it. I think it’s a valuable resource that can be used to gain good information about a student’s reading abilities and habits. It’s also a good motivator for readers that need a challenge or a little kick in the pants.

I also have a love-hate relationship with AR, because I’ve found it to be misused or overemphasized. AR shouldn’t be — nor was it meant to be — a comprehensive reading program. Many schools treat it like that, though. It isn’t a replacement for guided reading, or running records, or lit circles, or anything else that will help a kid become a better reader. Meanwhile, there’s a lot it can do that a lot of (I’m tempted to say “most,” because that’s been my experience) teachers don’t take advantage of. 

Here’s an example from my own experience. Toward the end of the school year, it was decided that we should give each student a ROLA test. Yes, the end of the year. Don’t ask. Anyway, I was able to use the Instructional Reading Level from the AR/STAR test to find a starting point for the ROLA. I found that most of my students ended up with a ROLA level that was very close to what the STAR test said.

A running record-based test like ROLA gives a lot of useful information, such as helping to diagnose decoding and phonetic issues. On the other hand, these types of tests are based around reading a single, short passage. AR can actually give diagnostic information that is more relevant to longer reading passages and chapter books. There’s a lot of stuff “under the hood” in the AR application, but many teachers don’t know it’s even there.

If all you’re doing with AR is telling kids to take quizzes on the books they read and tracking their points, you’re doing it wrong. You’re not getting a decent value out of the application, and most likely finding that the kids who are successful with the program are those who would read independently anyway, while banging your head against a wall trying to get the unmotivated to even try. That’s a waste of time.

My feeling on AR is that it’s like a bowl of cereal in a 1980s TV commercial. It’s “an important part of this nutritious breakfast.” It’s not supposed to be the whole meal, and if you’re eating a bowl of Rice Krispies every meal, you’re going to wind up malnourished. Make the most of what AR can do with you, but recognize that it’s intended to be a component of a comprehensive literacy program. It’s not the whole thing.

– dEV

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The 18 Reasons Not to Use Accelerated Reader

January 24th, 2010 | Mark Pennington, MA Reading Specialist

Accelerated Reader™ (AR) is a simple software concept that was at the right time (late 1980s) and right place (public schools during a transition from whole language to phonics instruction) that has simply grown into an educational monolith. From an economic standpoint, simple often is best and AR is a publisher’s dream come true. Renaissance Learning, Inc.(RLI) is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol RLRN and makes a bit more than pocket change off of its flagship product, AR. As is the case with many monoliths, detractors trying to chip away at its monopolistic control of library collections, computer labs, and school budgets are many. Following are short summaries of the most common arguments made by researchers, teachers, parents, and students as to why using AR is counterproductive. Hence, The 18 Reasons Not to Use Accelerated Reader. But first, for the uninitiated, is a brief overview of the AR system.

What is Accelerated Reader?

From the Renaissance Learning website, A Parent’s Guide to Accelerated Reader™, we get a concise overview of this program: “AR is a computer program that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. Your child picks a book at his own level and reads it at his own pace. When finished, your child takes a short quiz on the computer. (Passing the quiz is an indication that your child understood what was read.) AR gives both children and teachers feedback based on the quiz results, which the teacher then uses to help your child set goals and direct ongoing reading practice.”

How is the Student’s Reading Level Determined?

Renaissance Learning sells its STAR Reading™ test to partner with the AR program. The STAR test is a ten minute computer-based reading assessment that adjusts levels of difficulty to student responses. Among other diagnostic information, the test establishes a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) reading range for the student.

How are AR Books Selected?

Students are encouraged (or required by some teachers) to select books within their ZPD that also match their age/interest level. AR books have short multiple choice quizzes and have been assigned a readability level (ATOS). Renaissance Learning provides conversion scales to the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) test and the Lexile Framework, so that teachers and librarians who use  thesereadability formulae will still be able to use the AR program. Additionally, Renaissance Learning provides a search tool to find the ATOS level.

What are the Quizzes? What is the Student and Teacher Feedback?

AR quizzes are taken on computers, ostensibly under teacher or librarian supervision. They consist of multiple choice questions, most of which are at the “recall” level. Students must score 80% or above on these short tests to pass and receive point credit for their readings. When students take AR quizzes, they enter information into a database that teachers can access via password. The TOPS Report (The Opportunity to Praise Students) reports quiz results after each quiz* is taken.

Both teachers and students have access to the following from the database:

• Name of the book, the author, the number of pages in the book
• ATOS readability level
• Percentage score earned by the student from the multiple choice quiz
• The number of points earned by students who pass the quiz. AR points are computed based on the difficulty of the book (ATOS readability level) and the length of the book (number of words).

*Quizzes are also available on textbooks, supplemental materials, and magazines. Most are in the form of reading practice quizzes, although some are curriculum-based with multiple subjects. Magazine quizzes are available for old magazines as well as on a subscription basis for new magazines. The subscription quizzes include three of the Time for Kids series magazines, Cobblestone, and Kids Discover. www.renlearn.com

What about the Reading Incentives?

“Renaissance Learning does not require or advocate the use of incentives with the assessment, although it is a common misperception.” However, most educators who use AR have found the program to be highly conducive to a rewards-based reading incentive program.

Criticisms

Book Selection

1. Using AR tends to limit reading selection to its own books. Teachers who use the AR program tend to limit students to AR selections because these have the quizzes to maintain accountability for the students’ independent reading. Although much is made by Renaissance Learning of the motivational benefits of allowing students free choice of reading materials, their selection is actually limited. Currently, AR has over 100,000 books in its database; however, that is but a fraction of the books available for juvenile and adolescent readers.

2. Using AR tends to limit reading selection to a narrow band of readability. A concerned mom recently blogs about her experience with her sixth grade daughter (Lady L) who happens to read a few years beyond her grade level:

I’m not trying to be a whining, complaining parent here.  I’m simply trying to highlight a problem.  At our public library, there are bookmarks in the youth department that list suggested books for students in each grade (K-12th).  We picked up an 8th grade bookmark to get ideas for Lady L’s acceptable reading-leveled book.  Found a book.  Looked up the reading level  and found that it was a 4.5 (not anywhere near the 8.7-10.7 my daughter needed).http://inthemomzone.blogspot.com/2010/01/accelerated-readermy-take.html

3. Using AR tends to discriminate against small publishing companies and unpopular authors. Additionally, valid concerns exist about the appropriateness of a private company effectively dictating the materials which children within the program may read. Although teachers may create custom quizzes for reading material not already in the Accelerated Reader system, the reality is that teachers will not have the time nor inclination to do so in order to assess whether an individual student has read a book that is not already in the system. Thus, the ability for a student to explore books which are neither currently commercially popular nor part of major book lists is severely restricted in reality by the Accelerated Reader program.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Reader

In fact, many teachers are inadvertently complicit in this discrimination as they require students to read only books that are in the AR database. Many teachers include the TOPS Report as a part of the students’ reading or English-language arts grade, thus mandating student participation in AR.

4. Using AR tends to encourage some students to read books that most teachers and parents would consider inappropriate for certain age levels. Although Renaissance Learning is careful to throw the burden of book approval onto the shoulders of teachers and parents, students get more points for reading and passing quizzes on higher reading levels and longer books. Although an interest level is provided as is a brief synopsis/cautionary warning on the AR site, students often simply select books by the title, cover, availability, or point value. Thus, a fourth grader might wind up “reading” Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (4.7 ATOS readability level) and a sixth grader might plow through Camus’ The Stranger (6.2 ATOS readability level). Hardly appropriate reading material for these grade levels! Content is not considered in the AR point system and students are, of course, reading for those points.

(Full Story)

http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading/the-18-reasons-not-to-use-accelerated-reader/

NBC News: Can kids be taught to become bullyproof?

By BETH J. HARPAZ

updated 5/31/2012 1:22:58 PM ET

NEW YORK — Teaching kids to become “bullyproof” is all the rage. Books, videos and websites promise to show parents how to protect their kids from being bullied; school districts are buying curricula with names like “Bully-Proofing Your School,” a well-regarded program used in thousands of classrooms. Even martial arts programs are getting into the act: “Bullyproofing the world, one child at a time,” is the motto for a jujitsu program called Gracie Bullyproof.

But can you really make a child invulnerable to getting picked on? And even if you could, should the burden really be on potential victims to learn these skills, rather than on punishing or reforming the bullies?

Parents and educators say when bullyproofing programs are done right, kids can be taught the social and emotional skills they need to avoid becoming victims. But bullyproofing is not just about getting bullies to move on to a different target. It’s also about creating a culture of kindness, beginning in preschool, and encouraging kids to develop strong friendships that can prevent the social isolation sometimes caused by extreme bullying.

Who’s got your back?
Bullies “sniff out kids who lack connections or who are isolated because of depression, mental health issues, disabilities or differences in size and shape,” said Malcolm Smith, a family education and policy specialist at the University of New Hampshire who has been researching peer victimization for more than 30 years. “So if you’re worried about your child being a victim, the best thing a parent can do from a very young age, starting in preschool, is ask, ‘Who’s got your back? When you’re on the bus, when you’re in the hall, who’s got your back?’ If they can’t name someone, you should help them establish connections to their peers.”

Smith, who is working on a program called “Courage to Care” that’s being tested in three rural New Hampshire schools, cited an example of a new boy who was being pushed and shoved by other boys in the hallway. “We didn’t know how to empower him,” Smith said, until the staff noticed that he’d become friends with a girl. “This girl is sweet but really assertive. What are seventh grade boys more afraid of than anything? Girls! So having her walk down the hall with this boy was the immediate solution to ending the bullying.”

Psychologist Joel Haber, a consultant on the recent documentary “Bully,” says kids should also have “backup friends” outside school through sports, hobbies, summer camp or religious groups. “That’s hugely important, especially as kids move from elementary to middle school.”

Emotional skills
Haber says “most kids can learn skills to make themselves less likely to have the big reactions” that feed bullies.

“Let’s say you’re one of those kids who, when I make fun of your clothes, you get really angry and dramatic. If I taught you in a role-play situation as a parent or a therapist to react differently, even if you felt upset inside, you would get a totally different reaction from the bully. And if you saw that kids wouldn’t tease you, your confidence would go up,” said Haber

One way parents can help is to normalize conversations about school social life so that kids are comfortable talking about it. Don’t just ask “How was school today?” Ask, “Who’d you have lunch with, who’d you sit with, who’d you play with, what happens on the bus, do you ever notice kids getting teased or picked on or excluded?” advises Haber, who offers other bullyproofing tips and resources at RespectU.com and is co-authored of a new book called “The Resilience Formula.”

Body language
Bullies “feed on the body language of fear. It’s a physical reaction — how the victim responds, how they hold their head and shoulders, the tone of voice,” said Jim Bisenius, a therapist who has taught his “Bully-Proofing Youth” program in more than 400 schools in Ohio and elsewhere.

Teaching a kid to appear confident physically can sometimes be easier to teach than verbal skills, Bisenius said. “If a kid who’s never been mean in his life tries to fake it, or tries to outdo a bully with a verbal comeback, the bully sees right through that.”

Lisa Suhay, a mom in Norfolk, Va., said her 8-year-old son Quin was helped by Gracie Bullyproof, a martial arts program taught in 55 locations that combines verbal strategies with defensive jujitsu moves. Quin had been bullied so much on the playground that Suhay stopped taking him there. But she decided to give the park one last try after he completed the Gracie training.

No sooner did Quin begin playing on a pirate ship than a bigger boy knocked him down and ordered him to leave. But this time, as his mom watched in amazement, Quin grabbed the other kid around the waist “and landed on him like a big mattress, all while saying, ‘That was an incredibly bad idea you just had. But I’m not afraid of you.'” The other boy swung again, and Quin took him down again, then asked, “Now do you want to play nice?” They played pirates for the rest of the afternoon.

“It’s about respect and self-confidence,” said Suhay. “You’re not teaching them to beat up the bully. But they’re not cowering. They make eye contact. They talk to the bully. So much of the time they avert the situation because the bully doesn’t expect them to say, ‘I’m not scared of you.'”

(Full Story)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47629812/ns/health-health_care/#

NBCNews: As K-12 classrooms go high-tech, colleges get more virtual

‘The opportunity to learn has exponentially grown,’ US education official says

By Sevil Omer and Devin Coldewey NBC News

updated 8/20/2012 5:18:35 PM ET

Across America, the latest technologies are being stuffed into backpacks, propped up in classrooms and enabling learning across vast distances. While mobile and Internet technologies are often used to build classroom engagement at the grade school and high school levels, technology and educational experts say that things at the university level are quite different. In fact, technology may well eliminate the need for campuses altogether.

What does e-education look like?

• Top universities to offer online courses — for free.
• Virtual field trips for thousands of elementary school children in rural Minnesota.
• iMac computers for Chicago-area high school students and iPads for their counterparts in Indianapolis.

Matt Rivera / NBC News
Students at Archibishop Mitty H.S. in San Jose, Calif. use iPads in the classroom in this Sept. 2011 photo.

“It’s a significant change,” Karen Cator, the director of educational technology for the U.S. Education Department in Washington, D.C., told NBC News. “While we might feel like the Internet has been for around for a long time, which it has been, we just have to remember that it’s fairly new to us — and the opportunity to learn has exponentially grown.”

Studies show educators are ready for a major change, particularly in accepting newtechnology into the classroom — or replacing the classroom entirely. K-12 teachers are striving to get their administrators on board with tablets and Web-based learning. Meanwhile, higher education sees the campus itself transitioning from an institution where students live for four years to a more familiar site they log into every day from home.

“We were ready to move ahead,” Rolly Landeros, chief information officer with Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, told NBC News. “We wanted our students become a part of the learning process for teachers.”

More than 900 Cathedral High School underclassman were required to purchase iPads for the 2012-2013 school year as part of the school’s upgrades to its wireless networks and classroom technology, he said. Students who couldn’t afford the $500 for an iPad were able to get discounts and scholarships to help pay for them, he said.

PBS / VeraQuest

“When students use an iPad, they use it recreationally and socially, but teachers use iPads for their educational and professional use. We wanted both sides to use it in all worlds. Instead of teachers being afraid to ask for help, we now have students helping teachers be successful in the classroom,” he said.

Students at Archibishop Mitty H.S. in San Jose, Calif. use iPads in the classroom in this Sept. 2011 photo.

Last September, NBC News paid a visit to the Archibishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., which is also piloting a one-iPad-per-child program. (See video below.) As the 2012-2013 school year kicks off, it too will be issuing iPads to its 1,600 students for use at school and at home.

But while change is happening in pockets across America, don’t expect an iPad revolution to occur occur overnight.

A PBS-funded VeraQuest survey of K-12 teachers found widespread agreement that technology was helpful in the classroom, making the teacher’s job easier and improving the students’ experience. But despite a prevalence of PCs, only 21 percent felt they had the right level of technology in the classroom. New and helpful technologies like electronic whiteboards and tablets are highly desired. And while teachers themselves often have access to helpful technology, the students rarely do.

PBS / VeraQuest

Naturally, cost was identified as the primary limiting factor, more than learning to use the new tools or any shortcomings in the tools themselves. And not surprisingly, teachers who taught in high-income areas found the administration, board and parents more supportive of technology.

In northern Minnesota, new technology will help level the playing field for schools in remote areas, said Matt Grose, chair of the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative and superintendent for the Deer River School District in Deer River, Minn.

The collaborative, which includes 20 schools and 6,000 students, is relying on new video technology to link classrooms with others throughout the region, he said. A $1 million federal grant helped pay for the distance-learning initiative, he said. The telepresence classrooms will be used for foreign language classes and field trips.

“Our kids are going to have opportunities to take higher level courses that we can’t offer here, or at least that we don’t have the enrollment to justify a teacher for,” he said.

He said the collaborative wants to expand the telepresence to the community, offering college courses for adults during the evenings.

In the southwest suburb of Chicago, about 7,400 students returning to the Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 will get new computers and updated computer labs. The district leased 700 new computers to update its 25 computer labs within its four high schools, district spokeswoman Charla Brautigam told The Chicago Tribune. Also, students in the district’s music and art programs will get new iMacs to use this 2012-2013 school year, she said.

Even assuming the presence of technology will increase with time, how it is applied is an important issue as well, educators say. Some argue that it isn’t helpful for children to have tablets if they’re just going to be watching lectures and slides on them. Frank Noschese, a science teacher at John Jay High School in New York, described the weakness of using technology as just another way to make students memorize and regurgitate information.

“I’m not against technology in the classroom, I’m against using technology as away to dispense information to students, for them to consume it and then spit back out,” he told NBC News in an earlier interview.

“I want to see students using technology to create knowledge for themselves. It’s not technology versus not technology, it’s about content delivery via lecture versus content delivery via exploration.”

(Full Story)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48358371/ns/technology_and_science-back_to_school/?__utma=14933801.1882577638.1342424052.1345264195.1345266355.117&__utmb=14933801.2.10.1345266355&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1342424052.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)%7Cutmccn=(direct)%7Cutmcmd=(none)&__utmv=14933801.%7C8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1%5E12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1%5E13=Landing%20Hostname=www.nbcnews.com=1%5E30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=87670040#.UEwxTo7BNh4

Free Classroom Supplies from TeacherLists.com

I’m a little late on this one, but I appreciate Sue sending me the link. TeacherLists.com is a site where teachers can posts lists of supplies their students will need for the year, as well as a “wish list” of stuff they’d like to have for their classroom. Parents can print this out and do their back to school shopping, while also helping the teacher earn rewards for their class.

Here’s the info from the TeacherLists.com web site:

TeacherLists.com is revolutionizing – yes, seriously, revolutionizing – the old-fashioned school supply lists and teacher wish lists that have been circulating around schools for decades. Whether it’s parents frantically searching for the right supplies (or the tattered list) on the night before school begins or teachers wishing and hoping (and praying!) for the extra supplies they need for a thriving and effective classroom, TeacherLists.com is here to help.

It’s simple really – one site where all parents and all teachers can connect around all lists. That’s it.

No more teachers scrambling to create their lists or get them to parents – that’s way easier with TeacherLists.com. No more parents jumping from one district site to another trying to find the right list for each of their three children. It’s all here. It’s all easier.

And – oh, yeah – we’ve got rewards for schools and free samples for teachers and discounts for parents to make it all even better.

TeacherLists.com is the latest parent-to-teacher and parent-to-school connection from the folks at School Family Media, the company behind PTO Today (the magazine and site for school PTO and PTA leaders), SchoolFamily.com (insight for school families), the School Family Nights® program and more.

Launched with amazing support from our founding partner (and National Presenting Partner), Bounty, the site now has support from a host of leading brands including Elmer’s, Puffs, Avery-Dennison and Mr. Clean. Each of our partners is committed to helping teachers and parents and schools serve children well.

Check out the site to learn more. I know that school has already started for most of us, but there still might be some opportunities to earn rewards and get free stuff! Check it out!

– dEV

Making Announcements Worth Listening To

Showing a little love to the kids at Rafer Johnson Junior High and my buddy Perkins…

I was fortunate to finish out the year at Rafer last year, and loved every minute. Mrs. Perkins is a bit of a kindred spirit, in that she likes to try out new stuff and take risks with her teaching. This year, she’s teaching a class in Media Production, and her class wants to do some quality student-produced video production stuff for morning announcements.

But they need some equipment to do it effectively! She’s looking for funds to purchase a camcorder, tripod, and carrying case. They even have an anonymous donor who will match what they raise! Check out the details below, and throw a couple bucks their way if you have the means!

– dEV

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Making Announcements Worth Listening To

Classroom project requested by Mrs. Perkins on Jun 16, 2012

My Students: Do you remember the morning announcements when you were in school? They were about as meaningful as the noise made by the teacher in Charlie Brown cartoons. We are on a mission to make announcements worth listening to.

These students live in a small farming community rich in tradition. Many of their families have lived in this town for generations, yet there are some newcomers as well. For the most part, these students are torn between their desire to be treated like grown ups and their need to play like kids. Our school provides many opportunities through elective choices and extra-curricular activities that are offered less and less at other schools as budget cuts create increasing pressure on budgets. Students are able to take classes such as wood shop, home economics, and leadership to name a few. They are also able to participate in sports, drama, and intramural activities. These are all fun opportunities for students that they need to be kept informed about.

My Project: I am requesting a video camcorder, tripod and carrying case so that my Media Production class can use them to tape the morning announcements in the style of a news broadcast. This project will be designed, created, and produced exclusively by the students. I will only provide them with technical knowledge and advice. They will be able to create a meaningful production for the entire campus that is entirely their own. It will be something they can be proud of.

This project will give students a new sense of ownership of and interest in their campus. By using the camcorder with tripod and case, students will be able to create a news broadcast for morning announcements that will be meaningful and make an impact for all students at our school.

My students need a nearly-professional camera, with carrying case and tripod so that they can film morning announcements.

(Donate Here)

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/making-announcements-worth-listening-to/808271/?more=true&verify=2004991389&challengeid=239791

NBC News: Comics go beyond the Higgs boson

By Alan Boyle

If only there were a graphic novel that could guide you around the frontiers of physics! We mused over that possibility on “Virtually Speaking Science” just a couple of nights ago, during a discussion of what lies beyond the Higgs boson — totally unaware that PHD Comics’ Jorge Cham had just put out a video graphic novel addressing that very topic.

Cham’s latest animation draws upon the expertise of Daniel Whiteson and Jonathan Feng, physicists at the University of California at Irvine, to explain how the discovery of a new “Higgs-like” particle at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider is only the first of many blockbuster discoveries expected from the $10 billion facility over the next few decades.

One of the most way-out possibilities is that the LHC could pick up the signs of extra spatial dimensions beyond the three we know and love. Like the Higgs boson, which is thought to play a role in endowing other particles with mass, the existence of extra dimensions is suggested by some of the questions still outstanding in physics — for example, why is gravity so much weaker than the other fundamental forces of nature? But the evidence to back up that suggestion is devilishly difficult to come up with.

Cham literally sketches the outlines of the mystery in his animation, and graphically shows why the LHC is way bigger than the Higgs.

(Full Story)

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13732992-comics-go-beyond-the-higgs-boson?lite

When You Enter…

FREE Mastermind Board Game for Teachers

Thanks to my friend Sue for passing this along! Pressman Toy Corporation is offering a free copy of the game Mastermind for use in classrooms! If you’re a teacher, simply fill out the form, and a copy of the game will be shipped to you at your school. While supplies last, of course!

I like having a selection of fun and educational board games in my classroom, as they make a great free-time or reward activity. This one looks right up my alley! Here’s a description of the game from the Mastermind website:

It’s the code maker vs the codebreaker in this classic board game of logic and deduction. MASTERMIND board game sets itself apart from other traditional board games as a fun and challenging game of smarts. With over 2,000 code possibilities, you can match wits over and over again. MASTERMIND board game is available in its award-winning classic version, Ultimate MASTERMIND for experts, in travel editions for fun on-the-go, and several children’s versions including MASTERMIND Animal Towers for children ages 6 and older.

In order to win in this classic board game, players must use strategy and problem solving skills to outsmart their opponent. One player is the codemaker and creates a code of colored pegs. The other player is the codebreaker and attempts to break the code with help from clues given by the codemaker. Players take turns being codemaker and codebreaker and whoever breaks the code in the least amount of moves wins. Once the code is broken, the players can switch, finding out who can break the code more quickly, to get the title of MASTERMIND!

It’s a $12.99 value, and I’m very impressed that Pressman is passing along freebies to teachers! Very cool of them! Here’s the link…

http://www.mastermind-education.com/teacher-kit

– dEV

How to Write Good