Accelerated ReaderAR

The Basics

• Give Students Time to Read

• Access to Books• Success: The time

Motivator• AR as a Motivator• Self Direction and

Freedom of choice• Read Aloud to Students

• Variety• The Student Reading

Log• Goal Setting• A Word of Praise, a Pat

on the Back• TOPS Report• Reading as a Reward• Modeling

Give Students Time to Read

• Greatest single motivator to get students to read is to give them time to read at school.

• Each school should allow students to Read Independently for a minimum of 20 minutes per day.

• Time spent in Read To and Read With activities. Builds phonemic awareness and familiarity with books.

Access to Books

• Your library should have a flexible schedule which allows student to check out another book as soon as they finish one.

• The more access students have to good books, the more they will be motivated to read.

Success: The Prime Motivator

• “Nothing succeeds like success.”

• When we experience success with an activity, it reinforces our self-esteem and give us a chance to demonstrate our mastery to other.

• AR tests are written to be mastered easily by any student who has read the book with comprehension.

AR as a Motivator

• Accelerated Reader motivates students to read in the same ways that games motivate children to play them– Points are awarded based on the quality,

quantity, and difficulty level of the student’s performance

– Students receive immediate feedback– Objective questions and computer-based testing

ensure fairness.

TWI • Reading To: reading aloud is critically

important to a child’s reading development.

• Reading With: an important bridge to independent reading for beginning and remedial readers.

• Reading Independently: perhaps the only effective way a student develops comprehension and higher- order thinking skills.

Variety

• Provide students with the greatest possible variety of books to read at every level.

• The wider the selection the better the chance that she likes.

• Give students the chance to help choose some new books so when they come in they are ready to read.

ZPDThe key to the increased growth in

reading comprehension is maximizing the amount of reading practice a student performs within his “Zone of Proximal Development”

ZPD is the zone in which the student is both challenged and presented new vocabulary, but also in which there are enough context clues that the child can construct meaning without being frustrated.

Self-Direction & Freedom of Choice

• The process of training students to know their own reading levels, and to use them to select books that help them meet their reading goals, is a tremendous way for teacher to empower students.

• It helps develop responsibility while providing students with a feeling of control over their learning and their lives.

WELCOMETO

“LET’S MAKE A DIFFERENCE”

Door #1

Motivate

Goal Setting

• Setting individualized student achievement goals allows the teacher to tailor expectations to the student’s ability.

• You allow every student to feel a sense of success and accomplishment.

• There are at least four goals for each student:

The Student Reading Log• Students keep a log of the title of the book the

level of difficulty, and how many pages he has read since the day before. The resulting log is a huge motivator.

• Lets them see a daily record of achievement.

• Checking the log daily provides accountability. Allows the teacher to focus on students who are not reading enough or inappropriate books, and allow for quick adjustments.

Door # 2

Instruct

MINI-LESSONS

• Mini- lessons are ten to fifteen minute lessons that deal with a single objective and are integrated with the books that students are reading on their own.

TEACHING STUDENTSHOW TO SELECT BOOKS

• Your role is to help students know their individual reading levels and find the reading level information on AR books, so students can make judgements about whether or not to select a given book to read.

SCHEDULING BOOK

DISCUSSIONS

Sharing books, stories, and reading experiences combine modeling with direct instruction.

Door # 3

Monitor

Four Goals to Focus On

• Number of points to be achieved during that term.

• The average percent of correct answers on book test.

• The average book reading level

• The progress toward the next appropriate level of Reader Certification. (We use the STAR Test to determine this)

TOPS Report• Accelerated Reader includes a set of

features that make it easy to provide this kind of adult recognition and praise on a routine basis.

• TOPS

•Three

•Opportunities to

•Praise a Student

STATUS OF THE CLASS

• Monitoring student progress is a regular activity that we recommend you perform on a daily basis. During your daily check on the Status of the Class, speck individually with each student viewing and initialing the student reading log.

• Ask questions like “How do you like that book so far?” “Who is your favorite character?” “Would you like to read another book by the same author?”

Door # 4

Intervene

INTERVENTION

• This means to “Get in the Way” whenever one of your students takes a turn onto the road to reading failure.

• The answer lies in reinforcing the fundamental elements of the MIMI cycle.

MIMI

MOTIVATEINSTRUCT

MONITOR INTERVENE

1. Modify Motivational strategies

2. Modify Methods of Instruction

3. Modify the Kinds of Monitoring.