Skip to Main Content

Lesson 1

We will begin reading Friday Night Lights. We will learn about the city of Odessa and the football players that the author focuses on. We will define fandom and discuss our observations and experiences with fandom in relation to high school and professional sports. We will also discuss the meaning of an author’s purpose and perspective and analyze different examples of each.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I analyze an author’s purpose and perspective and explain how this influences the position, purpose and ideas of a text?

  • Can I recall prior knowledge or observations about personal experiences with athletics and sports and communicate a response to a prompt?

  • Can I use a variety of strategies (e.g., context clues, word study, and vocabulary resources) to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, phrases, and figurative expressions in Friday Night Lights that are important to understanding the tone and meaning of the text?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger, Da Capo Press, 1990

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will introduce the unit by examining the Central Question and framing questions.

Step 1

Read the unit’s Central Question:

How do high school athletics reflect American society?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What is the Central Question asking?

  2. What might you already know in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What about the question piques your curiosity?

  4. How do you think this question relates to the texts or topic of the unit?

  5. If you were to provide an answer to the Central Question today, what would it be?

Step 2

Read the Framing Questions, paying special attention to the first question, which is the focusing question for the first section of this unit.

Framing Questions:

  1. How do fans impact student athletes?

  2. How do racial and socioeconomic factors shape the perspectives of student athletes?

  3. How do ideas about gender and gender roles impact student sports culture?

  4. How do the values student athletes learn about impact their perspective of American society?

In your Learning Log, write a response to Question 1.

Share your responses with a partner or small group.

Step 3

Using personal experience and personal observations, discuss the following question as a class:

  1. How would you define fandom? Describe how your definition applies to high school sports.

Use the discussion to create a joint definition of fandom as a class.

Activity 2: Read

We will review the Unit Text List to familiarize ourselves with the texts we will analyze and discuss throughout the unit.

Step 1

Access and review the Unit Text List. Note the information that is included about each text. These texts are also listed in the activities in which they appear, under the Materials tab. You will notice that each text has an icon by it. These indicate where the text is located, which corresponds to the Location column in the Unit Text List.

Text locations are below:

  • Tradebook: These texts are full-length novels or nonfiction books you will most likely have copies of.

  • Digital Access: You can find these texts online. Use the information provided in the Unit Text List or on the Texts tab for the activity to conduct a web search for the resource. Digital Access resources include online articles, videos, podcasts, and other web sources.

  • PDF Texts: These are formatted PDFs of texts that are available for download on the Materials tab.

  • CD/DVD: This is material available on a CD or DVD. These materials might also be available through online content providers.

Step 2

Review the Independent Reading Text Options. Here, you will find suggested options for independent reading related to the unit.

Activity 3: Read

We will read the preface to Friday Night Lights to learn about the author and his reasons for writing the book.

Follow along as your teacher or your peers read aloud the preface of Friday Night Lights. As you read the text together, consider the following questions:

  1. What details stand out to you about the author?

  2. What details stand out to you about the town of Odessa?

Be prepared to share your answers with your group in the next activity.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss

We will discuss what we learn about odessa, the author, and his reasons for writing the book from the preface.

In your small group, find the following information from the preface:

  • two details Bissinger provides about himself that you think are important

  • two details Bissinger provides about Odessa that you think are important

  • one detail Bissinger provides for why he wanted to research football in Odessa

Write down the details in your Learning Log and be prepared to discuss with the class why you think those details seem important. Choose one person who will be your initial spokesperson in the full class discussion.

Activity 5: Discuss

As a class, we will discuss what we learned about odessa, the author, and his reasons for writing the book from the preface.

Participate in a whole-class discussion. When it is your group’s turn to share, make sure to explain why you think the details you chose are important. As you listen attentively to other groups, ask questions to help the groups clarify and explain their thinking.

Activity 6: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read and analyze the Culminating Task. We will identify the specific knowledge that you are expected to learn throughout the unit and the specific skills you will need to succeed on the Culminating Task.

Individually, review the Culminating Task Checklist. Jot some initial notes in response to the following questions:

  1. What is the focus of the Culminating Task? What does the task ask you to do?

  2. What questions do you have about the Culminating Task?

In a small group, determine what skills and knowledge you need to succeed on the Culminating Task.

Respond to the following questions:

  1. What do I need to know to succeed on the Culminating Task?

  2. What do I need to do to succeed on the Culminating Task?

As a group, create a checklist in your Learning Log or use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to note what you need to know and do to succeed on the Culminating Task. For each type of knowledge and skill identified, assess how prepared you are.

You will revisit the Culminating Task and continue to build your understanding of it as we move through the unit.

Activity 7: Read – Write

For homework, we will read the prologue from Friday Night Lights. We will identify and define important vocabulary from the prologue.

For homework, read and annotate the prologue of Friday Night Lights.

Write down the following words from the prologue in your Vocabulary Journal:

  • salvation

  • pandemonium

  • euphoria

  • exhortation

  • vicarious

Determine the meaning of each word. You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For each word, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine its meaning.