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News & Photos
Battle of the Books Tradition Continues
If Middle School librarians Stasha Gibbs and Sara Beach had their way, virtual school was not going to stop the tradition of Battle of the Books. So, on April 28 and 29, more than 150 students from six area independent schools gathered (virtually) to show their knowledge of the plot, characters, and authors of 10 books selected by school librarians for the fifth/sixth and seventh/eighth grade reading levels. Now in its 20th year, Battle of the Books was started by former librarian Nancy McFadden, currently a fifth grade Language Arts teacher.
“It was important to us to continue the tradition because our students work very hard all year,” says Gibbs. “The average participant reads each Battle book on the list at least twice, outside of their normal school workload. We had to give them an opportunity to compete. Some of our eighth grade participants have battled together on the same team since fifth grade. I wanted them to have one last Battle of the Books experience before they moved on to Upper School.”
Adapting to the virtual format was challenging due to the many moving parts inherent to the competition itself, which was made more complex by allowing every team to work together in real-time. Hosted by McDonogh, the competition called on the expertise of Robyn Little and Jack Hardcastle to help things run smoothly. Together with Gibbs, who served as the emcee, they not only figured out how teams would report their answers and how librarians and teacher volunteers would keep score and report them in real-time, but they also found ways to keep the live stream audience entertained while the competition was taking place.
Congratulations to McDonogh’s Middle School teams and to all those who participated. Learn more about the Battle of the Books and see the reading lists here.
If Middle School librarians Stasha Gibbs and Sara Beach had their way, virtual school was not going to stop the tradition of Battle of the Books. So, on April 28 and 29, more than 150 students from six area independent schools gathered (virtually) to show their knowledge of the plot, characters, and authors of 10 books selected by school librarians for the fifth/sixth and seventh/eighth grade reading levels. Now in its 20th year, Battle of the Books was started by former librarian Nancy McFadden, currently a fifth grade Language Arts teacher.
“It was important to us to continue the tradition because our students work very hard all year,” says Gibbs. “The average participant reads each Battle book on the list at least twice, outside of their normal school workload. We had to give them an opportunity to compete. Some of our eighth grade participants have battled together on the same team since fifth grade. I wanted them to have one last Battle of the Books experience before they moved on to Upper School.”
Adapting to the virtual format was challenging due to the many moving parts inherent to the competition itself, which was made more complex by allowing every team to work together in real-time. Hosted by McDonogh, the competition called on the expertise of Robyn Little and Jack Hardcastle to help things run smoothly. Together with Gibbs, who served as the emcee, they not only figured out how teams would report their answers and how librarians and teacher volunteers would keep score and report them in real-time, but they also found ways to keep the live stream audience entertained while the competition was taking place.
Congratulations to McDonogh’s Middle School teams and to all those who participated. Learn more about the Battle of the Books and see the reading lists here.