Brown Ajah Book Challenge 2020

[PiedPiper - Member]

2 hours ago, StarRisk said:

I am an avid reader, meaning i just read a lot, though it may be the same thing many times

Ah, a kindred reader -- I too have been rereading tons recently, especially since quarantine started.

[StarRisk - Patron Supporter]

Yes. Gosh, there are so many, right? I love the StarRiskLtd series (Chris Bunch/Steve&Dal  Perry), Casca the Eternal Mercenary (Barry Sadler), Sten (Chris Bunch & Alan Cole), Temeraire series (Naomi Novik), Rain Wild Chronicles (Robin Hobb), Dragons of Pern (Anne McCaffrey), Dragonlance series (Margarett Weis, Tracy Hickman, Richard A Knaak & many others), Legend of Drizzt (R A Salvatore), The Expanse series (James S A Corey)....

 

the list truly goes on and on as this only scratches the surface, but its what came to mind in a couple minutes.

[Jeannaisais - Member]

On 10/7/2020 at 12:08 PM, Cross said:

yup. read for pleasure, read for knowledge.

 

I've been working on the read for enjoyment idea with my students. So often they just read for information rather than for pleasure 😢 I've implemented reading Fridays where they get to read choice novels for the class period, and it has been a beautiful and amazing process so far! I've got teenage boys who told me at the beginning of the school year "reading is stupid" now so engrossed in books that they're reading them outside of our reading time on Fridays! Makes my heart so happy!!

[Jeannaisais - Member]

On 10/19/2020 at 3:05 PM, PiedPiper said:

Ah, a kindred reader -- I too have been rereading tons recently, especially since quarantine started.

 

I mainly reread for teaching - every year I go back through Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, etc. I've been fighting the desire to reread WoT because my TBR list is so insanely long still! 

[Cross - Member]

7 hours ago, Jeannaisais said:

 

I've been working on the read for enjoyment idea with my students. So often they just read for information rather than for pleasure 😢 I've implemented reading Fridays where they get to read choice novels for the class period, and it has been a beautiful and amazing process so far! I've got teenage boys who told me at the beginning of the school year "reading is stupid" now so engrossed in books that they're reading them outside of our reading time on Fridays! Makes my heart so happy!!

 

 

yeah that was pretty much me in school. had to read so didnt thoroughly enjoy it. thats an awesome way to attack it! glad its working

[Jeannaisais - Member]

16 hours ago, Cross said:

 

 

yeah that was pretty much me in school. had to read so didnt thoroughly enjoy it. thats an awesome way to attack it! glad its working

 

It is! My favorite part is that I read with them too! Studies show if the teacher isn't modeling the behavior, the students won't see the benefit of it. We have no school Friday this week so our reading day is being moved to today. Reading day is my favorite day lol

[PiedPiper - Member]

On 10/21/2020 at 3:24 AM, Jeannaisais said:

I've been working on the read for enjoyment idea with my students. So often they just read for information rather than for pleasure 😢 I've implemented reading Fridays where they get to read choice novels for the class period, and it has been a beautiful and amazing process so far! I've got teenage boys who told me at the beginning of the school year "reading is stupid" now so engrossed in books that they're reading them outside of our reading time on Fridays! Makes my heart so happy!!

I think I was really lucky; when I was in elementary school, our school had a similar system to yours. We called it DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time, and we just read whatever we wanted for 30 minutes to an hour at the end of the day a couple days each week. We also were sort of halfway outside the school system, so we didn't follow the district's reading curriculum, so we took no comprehension tests at the end of each book like so many schools do. I think that helped us love reading also, because it really kills a book when you know you'll have to take a test on it at the end.

[Ryrin - Club Leader]

Were you in a Charter school?

[PiedPiper - Member]

It was a magnet school. The district left us to our own devices, for the most part.

[Jeannaisais - Member]

10 hours ago, PiedPiper said:

I think I was really lucky; when I was in elementary school, our school had a similar system to yours. We called it DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time, and we just read whatever we wanted for 30 minutes to an hour at the end of the day a couple days each week. We also were sort of halfway outside the school system, so we didn't follow the district's reading curriculum, so we took no comprehension tests at the end of each book like so many schools do. I think that helped us love reading also, because it really kills a book when you know you'll have to take a test on it at the end.

 

I did DEAR in high school as well but I call mine SSR (Silent Sustained Reading). I still ask students to answer two simple questions about their reading for the day just to see that they are reading and thinking about what they read. The main issue I remember from DEAR is that teachers didn't model the reading, they'd yell at students to read but not do the same themselves. I model the reading behavior with them. They are seeing me get invested in the books I'm reading to the point that while they were working on projects after reading yesterday, I continued to read my book rather than get grading done lol It was the last 100 pages of Maas's Throne of Glass.... and the last 100 pages of most books are hard to put down until you're done, ya know?

 

I don't always do tests for class novels/stories. Depends on the group really - I concentrate more on having them write analysis papers about what we read together. I want them to think deep, not regurgitate information 😉

[Ryrin - Club Leader]

On 10/19/2020 at 10:56 AM, StarRisk said:

Time to check in. 

 

Where are you in your goals??? Guess I should get a list going myself, to be fair 😉 Be fair to yerselves!

 

I am an avid reader, meaning i just read a lot, though it may be the same thing many times (WoT!!!), I also enjoy new books of any age.

I made mine!!!

[StarRisk - Patron Supporter]

On 10/23/2020 at 2:54 AM, Jeannaisais said:

 

I did DEAR in high school as well but I call mine SSR (Silent Sustained Reading). I still ask students to answer two simple questions about their reading for the day just to see that they are reading and thinking about what they read. The main issue I remember from DEAR is that teachers didn't model the reading, they'd yell at students to read but not do the same themselves. I model the reading behavior with them. They are seeing me get invested in the books I'm reading to the point that while they were working on projects after reading yesterday, I continued to read my book rather than get grading done lol It was the last 100 pages of Maas's Throne of Glass.... and the last 100 pages of most books are hard to put down until you're done, ya know?

 

I don't always do tests for class novels/stories. Depends on the group really - I concentrate more on having them write analysis papers about what we read together. I want them to think deep, not regurgitate information 😉

 

That is so encouraging to hear! Thank you.

 

@Ryrin, I made mine...though i still got a month for a couple haha

[Jeannaisais - Member]

18 hours ago, StarRisk said:

 

That is so encouraging to hear! Thank you.

 

Thanks! The best part are days when I tell them it's time to put the books away if we have other content to get to and I hear "But Mrs., I'd rather keep reading. Can we?" And ya know what, nine times out of ten I say yes! 

 

My goal was 12 books... just finished book 28 last night! I think the last I posted on here I had *just* started Maas's Throne of Glass series. It's 7 books and I am going to start book 7 today! 

[PiedPiper - Member]

On 12/6/2020 at 4:26 AM, Jeannaisais said:

My goal was 12 books... just finished book 28 last night! I think the last I posted on here I had *just* started Maas's Throne of Glass series. It's 7 books and I am going to start book 7 today! 

Wow, congratulations! On both your success getting kids to read and your goal! It's always so rewarding when other people come to the dark side... muahahahaha...

[Jeannaisais - Member]

On 12/10/2020 at 1:30 PM, PiedPiper said:

Wow, congratulations! On both your success getting kids to read and your goal! It's always so rewarding when other people come to the dark side... muahahahaha...

Haha yes - bringing them to the dark side is great!! 

 

And.... book 29 done as of last night lol Gonna dive back into the world of classics and read Don Quixote next me thinks and hopefully hit a nice well rounded 30 books in a year!!

[blank - Donor]

For the first time in about a decade I'm not going to make my reading goal.

 

I'm sitting at 65/75 books and I'm not in any hurry to spend the rest of the year feverishly reading to try and make it. 

 

I won't be a lot off but I still won't make it. 75 books has been my goal for at least the past 5 years, but maybe I need to adjust it for next year!

[Ryrin - Club Leader]

I need to move mine up. Two of my favorite things here are the Brown’s book challenge and Chocolate Week.

[PiedPiper - Member]

1 hour ago, Ryrin said:

I need to move mine up. Two of my favorite things here are the Brown’s book challenge and Chocolate Week.

Chocolate Week? When is this? Where is this? What is this?

 

"I'll give you one chance to answer this question: where is Chocolate Week?"

"I'll do you one better: who is Chocolate Week?"
"I'll do you one better: why is Chocolate Week?"

[Asha'man Shar'aman - Member]

40 minutes ago, PiedPiper said:

Chocolate Week? When is this? Where is this? What is this?

 

"I'll give you one chance to answer this question: where is Chocolate Week?"

"I'll do you one better: who is Chocolate Week?"
"I'll do you one better: why is Chocolate Week?"

Chocolate.... 

[blank - Donor]

1 hour ago, PiedPiper said:

Chocolate Week? When is this? Where is this? What is this?

 

"I'll give you one chance to answer this question: where is Chocolate Week?"

"I'll do you one better: who is Chocolate Week?"
"I'll do you one better: why is Chocolate Week?"

 

Where - Will be in Brown Ajah I think but I'll advertise it on the front page.

 

When - It's in February close to Valentine's day. 

 

Who - The Browns in general and specifically me a lot of the time because I love events. 

 

Why - Brownies. 

 

Also

 

 

Any questions haha?

[Asha'man Shar'aman - Member]

Yes. What god/goddess decided on chocolate week?

[Ryrin - Club Leader]

I know. Just chocolatey heaven. 

[PiedPiper - Member]

I'm just going to drool a little bit.

[Ryrin - Club Leader]

It’s 2021! New challenge!