LSU Service-Learning Class to Host Quiz Bowl at Zachary Library

10/26/2011

BATON ROUGE – LSU students enrolled in the adolescent literature service-learning course are working with the Zachary Branch Library to create and host a Young Adult Battle of the Books quiz bowl on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 6:30 p.m., at the Zachary Branch Library. The event marks the first of a possible series of hands-on, community-oriented teaching methods sessions involving local public libraries.

“My students are in charge of every aspect,” said Jacqueline Bach, the Dean E.B. “Ted” Robert endowed professor in the College of Education Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice. “They are working with Nancy Lockett, the young adult librarian at Zachary Library. The LSU students are reading the books and writing the questions, hosting the event, publicizing the event and decorating. They have also been working with the library’s teen council for advice and assistance.”

Bach first got the idea to make community outreach events like the quiz bowl part of her classes when she was selected in the spring for the Faculty Scholars Service-Learning Program facilitated by the LSU Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership. During those sessions, faculty scholars who were interested in service-learning were taught how to incorporate service-learning methods into their courses.

“Our first charge was to consider not only our community partner’s needs but also our students’ needs,” Bach explained. “I asked myself, ‘What experience could help my students understand adolescent readers and the literature they read in an authentic setting?’”

She said the answer was obvious – send them to work with young adult librarians who were experts on these topics. She immediately formed a relationship with East Baton Rouge Parish librarians who were interested in working with LSU students.

This event is funded as part of the Dean E. B. “Ted” Robert endowed professorship awarded to Bach by the LSU College of Education.  Bach believes that the event will benefit her students on many levels.

“Not only are they reading what adolescents are reading as well as interacting with them in an out-of-school setting, they are also learning how to organize events and work as a team,” she said.

The student-produced quiz bowl will include a costume contest in which participants in grades 7-12 may dress up as their favorite literary character. Questions will be pulled from the following young adult series: “The Hunger Games,” “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “Harry Potter,” “Twilight” and “Eragon.”

“My hope is that this direct experience with teen readers and the organizing of a program for teens will add meaning to the students’ standard classroom experience,” said Lockett.
“For our library and our teens, it not only promotes reading but adds another dimension to books overall,” she added. “And the teens will love it! Teens having fun at the library?  How great is that!”

Bach has also placed groups of students at the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library and the LSU Laboratory School Library and is eager to extend service-learning projects like these into the other branches. Her students share her eagerness for the experience and benefits of service-learning courses.

“I think the service-learning aspect of this class will be very beneficial to me because we will gain first-hand experience working directly with students in hopes of encouraging their interest in reading,” said Catherine Daigle, of Thibodaux, an English major seeking teacher certification.

“We hope that this bowl not only encourages students to continue to read, but we also hope that it may inspire some students to begin reading if they do not already do so,” she added.

Students in grades 7 – 12 may register for the Battle of the Books by calling 225-658-1870.

For more information, contact Jacqueline Bach at jbach@lsu.edu. For more information on the College of Education, visit www.lsu.edu/coe.

LSU’s  Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership, or CCELL promotes community engagement by serving as a clearinghouse for service-learning pedagogy and community partnerships; promotes learning by informing and helping to coordinate planning, research, pedagogy, and assessment associated with service-learning and other innovative student learning initiatives; and develops student leadership skills by facilitating service-learning and related student initiatives. For more information on CCELL, call 225-578-4245 or visit www.ccell.lsu.edu.  

 

Billy  Gomila 
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3867
bgomila@lsu.edu