So, when I heard the news about Subtext riding off into the sunset, I was sad to hear. I mean, I was there at the beginning, using it through each and every update with sleuths of students. Upon its acquisition with Renaissance Learning, I kept up and continued full force. This past year, I even taught a class of teachers in my district about its use. |
So what now? Back to business. AR360 is IDENTICAL to Subtext. When I say identical, I don't mean it's a knock-off version, or parts of the whole, or filled with tests after tests. I shifted to AR360 this entire school year and didn't miss a step to the Subtext beat. In fact, some of my students actually used the Subtext app to complete some of the tasks I assigned in AR360 (We had it directly connected through our Renaissance Learning log-in's). It's that identical.
Everything I did and used with Subtext I can do with AR360 PLUS more. Seriously folks, I can scrutinize like no other.....
Here's what I actually like better with AR360:
1) Those CCSS aligned assignments. When teaching about main idea and details, I just assigned the activity and students could easily highlight and tag those components and I could see at a glance if they understood.
2) Bank of articles. You can select articles based on topic, CCSS focus, or grade level. All have ATOS leveling (Which is Renaissance Learning's way to level articles, much more encompassing than lexile, in my opinion). I can quickly locate articles....just wish some were a bit longer.
3) Short quick quizzes about articles. Don't roll your eyes at me...I've heard all the flack about Accelerated Reader quizzes and it's all about a balance. I never put parameters on my students to reach a certain number of points or actually over emphasize them in class. I do put a goal of reading 1,000,000 words (Which gets tabulated after tests) and do a fun celebration when they achieve that. To me, those results combined with STAR assessments and many other measures show me a snapshot of a reading student.
I will continue to use AR360 because there is no other spot I can curate specific content I need for students, combine multiple articles with Readlists or create/copy/paste information into a Pages document and convert to an ePub with ease. AND create specific groups of students, regardless if it's in the same room or across the globe.
It's still my number ONE reading app, regardless of its name!
Everything I did and used with Subtext I can do with AR360 PLUS more. Seriously folks, I can scrutinize like no other.....
Here's what I actually like better with AR360:
1) Those CCSS aligned assignments. When teaching about main idea and details, I just assigned the activity and students could easily highlight and tag those components and I could see at a glance if they understood.
2) Bank of articles. You can select articles based on topic, CCSS focus, or grade level. All have ATOS leveling (Which is Renaissance Learning's way to level articles, much more encompassing than lexile, in my opinion). I can quickly locate articles....just wish some were a bit longer.
3) Short quick quizzes about articles. Don't roll your eyes at me...I've heard all the flack about Accelerated Reader quizzes and it's all about a balance. I never put parameters on my students to reach a certain number of points or actually over emphasize them in class. I do put a goal of reading 1,000,000 words (Which gets tabulated after tests) and do a fun celebration when they achieve that. To me, those results combined with STAR assessments and many other measures show me a snapshot of a reading student.
I will continue to use AR360 because there is no other spot I can curate specific content I need for students, combine multiple articles with Readlists or create/copy/paste information into a Pages document and convert to an ePub with ease. AND create specific groups of students, regardless if it's in the same room or across the globe.
It's still my number ONE reading app, regardless of its name!