My lesson plans for both 7th grade and 8th grade English Language Arts are due by 8:45 on Monday mornings. This deadline gives me plenty of time to draft an alternate lesson plan this weekend— the lesson plan for the football fan.
The plan is designed for at least two fans watching football in the same room. It is tailored to this week’s NFL matchups.
Season LIX: Unit 1: Lesson 3
Lesson Objective: I can analyze an offense’s effectiveness by comparing and contrasting a team’s running and passing attacks.
Standard: F.4.2 - Determine the impact of establishing the run on a team’s ability to throw the ball.
Fandom Level Preparation
Lesson Components
Review the lesson and embolden the components that reflect the standard.
Do Now
Spark
Jigsaw
Talking Chips
Round Table
Exit Ticket
Staircase of Complexity
What prior grade level expectations should fans have met to engage in this work?
F.2.2 - Explain the difference between a strong rushing attack and passing attack.
F.3.2 - Explain a team’s preference for a strong rushing attack or passing attack.
F.4.2 - Determine the impact of establishing the run on a team’s ability to throw the ball.
F.5.2 - Analyze the impact of a team’s play-calling on their effectiveness to develop a balanced offensive attack.
Football Shifts
Which sport shifts are reflected in this lesson?
Watching the Games: True fandom can only be meaningfully cultivated through watching games.
Consuming Sports Analysis: To develop one’s own opinions, a fan must study statistics and consume expert analysis.
Reminiscing: Looking back on old sports memories bolsters connections between eras, and between fans.
Complexity: Analyze each component of game complexity.
Structure
Barrier: 4 quarters: The length of the game may vary from two and half to three and a half hours, plus pregame shows and postgame highlights. This time commitment may be a barrier to some fans with low interest levels.
Scaffolds: Allow the use of phone time during commercial breaks to interrupt the action; stock a strong supply of snacks and drinks; limit pregame and postgame content consumption.
Meaning
Barrier: Games so early in the season may or may not correlate to postseason success. A new fan may be likely to ask if these games matter, or wonder what the point is.
Scaffold: Draw connections between these players and well-known NFL great players and teams, which will enable fans to place these games in a historical context. For example, if a team creates a turnover well in opposing territory, say, “Tom Brady would always go to the end zone here to demoralize the other team. Let’s see what Kirk Cousins does here.”
Language
Barrier: Anticipated challenging vocabulary: dynamic kickoff; cover 2; offensive tackle.
Scaffold: Allow fans to use closed captioning and an online dictionary to promote vocabulary building.
Knowledge
Barrier: Being the third week of the NFL season, casual fans may not be up-to-date on some teams’ performances. For example, the Baltimore Ravens play the Dallas Cowboys, two teams that are ostensibly good, but share just one win between them and are both in virtual must-win situations.
Scaffold: Limit the YoutubeTV multiview feature to two boxes to narrow the focus of the fan.
Reflection
How do the decisions regarding game complexity, scaffolding, and knowledge-building provide access to fandom-level, engaging, and meaningful instruction?
This lesson is designed and differentiated with the advanced, casual, and non-fan in mind. Most critically, it bolsters all fans in their developing understanding of the game without using the crutch of gambling, which has the dangerous possibility of trivializing the game in the eyes of the fan, while simultaneously building potentially unsavory habits.
Do Now
Questions
Review: How did your team’s quarterback perform last week? (1 complete sentence that includes passing yards, passing touchdowns, and interceptions)
Preview: How did this week’s opposing defense perform last week? (1 complete sentence that includes total points and passing yards allowed)
Note: With a group of more than two fans, utilize StandUp-HandUp-PairUp protocol.
Spark
Hook the fans’ attention with an analogy or anecdote for reference throughout the game.
Sample spark: “In one of our most known fables, The Tortoise & The Hare, a slow start is the recipe for a strong finish. But in the NFL, such a beginning may be too much to overcome. Only four teams in NFL history have ever started 0-3 and made the playoffs in the same season. Today’s slate of Week 3 games could have major implications to make, or break, football teams with high aspirations.”
Jigsaw
Each fan selects a different piece of sportswriting previewing today’s matchups. In alignment with today’s learning standard, all fans ought to read about two teams in the same game. At least one fan should focus on defense, with another fan focusing on offense. Once all fans have internalized the articles, they converse with each other about what they learned.
Talking Chips
When the game kicks off, each fan takes an empty bowl and fills it with five chips. In order to comment on the game, the fan must “spend”, or eat, a chip. However, when the fan’s bowl is empty, they may not make another comment about the game. They may only refill their bowl when all fans have eaten all five chips.
This Talking Chips protocol ensures equality of voice during the game, and prevents any one fan from dominating the conversation, or from opting out of it.
Round Table
At halftime, each fan takes a copy of the accompanying handout.
Each round, each fan responds to two questions. When all fans are ready, they pass their paper to the left, then check the work of their partner. This activity builds the capacity of each fan to interpret statistics and support their peers. It also lays the foundation for the Exit Ticket, which will measure attainment towards the standard.
Exit Ticket
Question: Choose a team from today’s slate of games. Analyze their offensive effectiveness by comparing and contrasting their rushing and passing attacks.
Your answer should should discuss their offensive attack as well as their opponent’s defensive response(s).
Enjoy the games today. While I watch, I’ll be writing my actual lesson plans for the actual middle school classes I teach.