Grade: Grade 4 Subject: English Language Arts Created by: Vincent Crews Lesson Length: 1 hour 30 minutes Keywords/Tags: Team, Character, Leadership, Teamwork, Sportsmanship Lesson Description: Football is a sport becoming rapidly popular in the United States, and has shared interests in young people across the nation. Within the expanding community of football players and coaches, each share a certain bond with one another. How are the lessons learned on a football field beneficial to the classroom, and later in life?
Common Core Standards Covered with This Lesson
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4a: Use context (e.g., definitions, examples, or restatements in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
Lesson Content: Reading
Instructions: Please read the following reading passage as many times as needed (aloud and silent) before starting to go through other lesson pages. Understanding the content of this passage is very important since the lesson activities will be all about this content. Feel free to print the passage if needed.
The Football Team
A team is a group of people with a common goal. A school’s football team has two goals. One goal is to win. That is what the team wants to do. The other goal is to build character. Character is what a person values, how a person relates to others. That is why schools have football teams. They want to help students build good values.
There are many character traits that a football player can develop. One is leadership. The quarterback of the team is a leader. The quarterback makes choices—which play to make, who will get the ball. The quarterback has a big job. The quarterback has to inspire the players to work together. If they are losing, the quarterback has to work even harder, to give the players hope they still can win.
There is another leader, too. The leader of the defensive group. When the defensive group is playing, that means the team may lose points. So the leader has to keep the team members working together to stop that.
Each team member builds character. They learn to cooperate. They learn to make good decisions. They work hard. They practice every day. They learn to follow the rules. If a team member does not follow the rules, the entire team suffers.
Each team member has a position. Each position is part of winning. No one player has the ability to win the game for the team. Only if the team works together does a team win.
People often say, “There is no I in TEAM.”
Whether the team wins or loses, at the end of the game they congratulate the other team. That is called sportsmanship. While they fight to win during the game, it is just a game. They cannot be angry with the other team. If they are, they’ll hear from their coach.
The coach makes sure the team reaches the school’s goal. The coach cares about the whole team. The coach gives each player advice. When the team wins, everyone celebrates. And the coach is glad. But after the season is over, the coach is still happy. The coach gets to see the players as they go to school every day. The character they have built is part of their success in school, too.
Some coaches say that if you go into a classroom at their school you’ll be able to tell the players. It is not that they are bigger than the other students. It is the ones who are helping other students work. Teamwork is part of their lives.
Task 1: Vocabulary Activity
(40 points)
Instructions: Please complete the following vocabulary activity by choosing the correct meaning of each word selected from the passage and use of each word correctly in a sentence.
Vocabulary Questions
Word/Phrase: Cooperate | Tier: 3 | Points: 10
Q1
When the story says the team must "cooperate", what does this mean?
A. Work together *
B. Win the game by themselves
C. Ignore what coach tells them
D. Make their own decisions
Which of the sentences below uses the word "cooperate" properly?
A. I need to cooperate myself.
B. There is a cooperate in my yard.
C. The team must cooperate with each other to win. *
D. I went to the cooperate for milk and eggs.
Word/Phrase: Team | Tier: 2 | Points: 10
Q2
"Each team member builds character." What is a "team" as opposed to "team member" referred to in this sentence?
A. A "team" is one person, as a "team member" is the whole.
B. A "team" is a group of people working together, as a "team member" is one individual in the team. *
C. A "team member" does everything for himself.
D. A "team" is a spice, as a "team member" is a type of fruit.
Which sentence below uses the word, "team" as it should be properly used?
A. When we work together, we work as a team. *
B. A team means I do everything for myself.
C. A team is a large group of fish.
D. She wanted to join a team so she could do everything herself.
Word/Phrase: Leader | Tier: 2 | Points: 10
Q3
In a team, there is usually a leader. What is a "leader" as is referred to in this sentence?
A. A segment of thicker fishing line connecting the hook and thinner line on the spool
B. A certain size of soda you get at the grocery store
C. A person who helps everyone cooperate together towards a common goal *
D. A garden tool
Which sentence below is used correctly in describing what a 'leader' means to a team?
A. Billy bought a whole pack of leader for his fishing rod.
B. Billy is a great leader for our team since he gave me all the new plays coach gave us when I was sick. *
C. Did you see the leader coke Billy bought?
D. Billy's pencil ran out of leader, so he couldn't finish the test without borrowing a pen.
Word/Phrase: Sportsmanship | Tier: 3 | Points: 10
Q4
At the end of a game, each team must show good sportsmanship. What is good sportsmanship?
A. Whether the team wins or loses depends on if they're nice to the other team or not.
B. Whether the team wins or loses, the other team isn't allowed to talk to the winning team.
C. Whether the team wins or loses, at the end of the game they congratulate the other team. *
D. Whether the team wins or loses, they can blame each other for what went wrong.
Which sentence below uses the word 'sportsmanship' as it should be?
A. After every game, I try to use good sportsmanship by telling the other team how well they did. *
B. Good sportsmanship means only telling the people on your team how good they are.
C. Sportsmanship is when you argue with the referee at the end of the game who should've won.
D. I used good sportsmanship by calling the other team 'losers' after the game.
Standards Covered with This Lesson Activity: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4a, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.6,
Task 2: Discussion Activity
(30 points)
Instructions: This discussion forum will have questions for students to respond. Read the posted questions, and respond to each. Students are responsible for posting one initial and and two peer responses for each topic.
Topic Title
Replies
How sportsmanship and character go hand in hand.
In the story, they talk about how the goal of the team is to build character. They also say that after each game, you congratulate the other team win or lose by using good sportsmanship. How do you think these are related to each other in the story?
Sent on: Feb 28, 2016 by: Vincent Crews
0
The difference between the football field and classroom.
The story says, "Some coaches say that if you go into a classroom at their school you’ll be able to tell the players. It is not that they are bigger than the other students. It is the ones who are helping other students work. Teamwork is part of their lives." How does the teamwork they learn on the football field affect their behavior in the classroom?
Sent on: Feb 28, 2016 by: Vincent Crews
0
Good values.
In the first paragraph, it says teams want football teams to build good values. From what you know in the text, what values does the school expect football players to learn? Explain why.
Sent on: Feb 28, 2016 by: Vincent Crews
0
Standards Covered with This Lesson Activity: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1,
Task 3: Writing Activity
(30 points)
Instructions: Earlier in our discussion, we talked about how schools expect football teams to teach certain values to students, and how it effects them in the classroom. You are to share two or three ideas on how a team builds character in its members. Also include a minimum of two other 'teams' you may be a part of in your life now, or in the future. (other than sports) Make sure to provide specific examples.
Standards Covered with This Lesson Activity: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2,
