Read, Compete, Achieve!
1st Annual Cobb County School District
Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl
February 3, 2007
Frequently Asked Questions
1) Question: How many students do you recruit for this...I see team that goes is 5, but do you start with more? Answer: You can have up to 10 on the official roster but you could have more students participate if you'd like but officially only 10 can be in the competition.
2) Question: How many teachers/coaches do you have/need? Answer: minimum 1 - we have three only because there are three of us who were interested.
3) Question: Do we create questions? Answer: We recommend creating questions to practice... you can have your students write questions and you can write questions and you can look at practice questions on the GA HRRB site at: http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/hrrb/questions.html
4) Question: Where do you get questions for the CCSD competition from? Answer: Volunteers write and contribute the questions for the competition database. They are asked to sign an ethics statement stating that they will delete all copies of the contributed questions and not use them for team practice.
4) Question: Does every student read all the books...or just 4-5 that they become expert of... Answer: This really depends on your coaching strategy and your team members. Our students typically read 4 to 5 each but some students will read many more than that. Sometimes a student will read all 20 books.
5) Question: How do you hold competition? - I envision spelling bee type setup. Answer: Typically there are two tables (1 per team) set up at angles to one another but facing the console judge with their backs to the audience (parents & other students on team not in that round)
6) Question: I know this isn't an issue for H.S. but there typically are books are the GA Book Award list that I don't purchase because I don't think they are appropriate for our level kids...would that put our kids at serious disadvantage for competition? Answer: On average about three questions will come from each book so choosing not to allow your students to read a particular book may be an option that you would feel more comfortable with.
7) Question: Can parents attend the competition? Answer: Yes, parents are encouraged to attend the opening and closing ceremonies and if space is available in the competition room parents may watch the competition rounds. Please note that parents must remain silent during competition and may not interact with the team, coaches, or console judge, scorekeeper or moderator.