Battle of the Books 2.0 2014-2015

Battle of the Books 2.0 – 2014-2015

Last year the new 2.0 format was very successful and it would be great to see even more schools participate this year to continue growing this event. Battle of the Books, 2.0 is becoming a great way to publicize our libraries within the district and out in the community. It’s important we remind everyone that we are relevant and important for literacy. Our event includes student teamwork, librarian & teacher districtwide collaboration, web 2.0 technology, creativity, literacy and Common Core all rolled into one. We are seriously considering presenting on BoB 2.0 at the CSLA conference in SF in February 2015.

If you didn’t participate last year it’s not too late to sign up for this year. Most of the work rests with the students and I can also help you train students and work with Animoto. A lot of time was spent planning last year so this year should be much smoother. Corinna will be putting together a movie (for high school & for middle school) to promote this year’s event. This is geared to help everyone who isn’t able to physically visit each English class or spend a lot of time in each classroom. This will, however, require you to talk with teachers and administrators as well as publicize the event around the school with flyers, etc.

Some basic requirements to participate: 1) Each team must have at least 2-4 members (Grades 7-12) 2) Each student needs to read, and pass, the AR quiz, for a minimum of 2 of the 5 selected titles (We will have printed quizzes for HS) 3) Each team must create a (5 min or less) movie using Animoto (following our rubric)

Some recommended goals: 1) Book talk or show BoB video to each English class 2) Create 3 teams minimum 3) Meet with your teams at least once a month in addition to the Animoto training session

Here’s the proposed timeline: 1) early September -- Order books 2) late September -- Video distributed to English classes 3) October & November -- Read books 4) end of October/ beginning of November -- Train students on Animoto 5) December -- Work on movies 6) middle of January – Teams submit movies 7) end of January -- Site battle – (then immediately send top 2 movies to Tatjana) 8) mid February -- District Battle

Here’s the list of titles: 1) Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Houston 2) Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai a. substitute at HS with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz 3) Wonder by R. J. Palacio a. Substitute at HS with Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern 4) The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer 5) The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I have some Follett credits and can help out with a “Starter Pack” of books for participating schools. How many I order per school depends on how many schools are participating and how many copies each site has. As soon as the books arrive you can start checking them out to students even if it’s before October.