Oregon Live from The Oregonian
Summary and Key Points: The Battle of the Books finale event was fought out at CCC in Salem recently. This event (for which our school started reading and forming teams back in November, I think) is an exciting way to get kids reading-- and reading critically, for a deep understanding of the content. In fact, that is what the Battle is about: students are quizzed on not just greater themes, but also on small details from the books from their age group.
Intended Audience: general public
Relevance: As a language arts teacher, I am excited about anything that promotes reading-- and all the more so if some group has already chosen half a dozen age-leveled, recent books for the purpose! Making things competitive is always a good engagement technique, and the fact that this is an actual competition with participation from all over the state gives the kids who might not be inclined to sports competition a venue to feel the thrill of competition (although I should say that our star soccer player was also on a district-winning team this year!).
As a reader and lover of all books, I snagged the high school reading list to add to my own personal summer reading list. It will be beneficial both for maintaining that crucial "withit-ness," and also just to see what sort of level is deemed appropriate for highschoolers these days.
One of the schools that I observe in also partook in this Battle. I can't remember if Battle of the Books was around when I was in elementary school, probably high school, but it sounded so familiar when I learned the school was participating. When I was young the only "competitive reading" we had was to just keep track of how many hours a week you read, and if you accrue a certain amount, you won a prize of some sort. To me this was not a motivating method, because I could just forge the hours and have my parents sign it. I think this is a much better way to get kids reading, but also partaking in the entertaining competitive spirit.
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