Skip to Main Content

Lesson 2

We will continue reading Friday Night Lights and begin to analyze the city of Odessa and the relationship citizens have with the football team. We will discuss how Bissinger portrays this relationship.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret language and sentence elements and structures to determine Bissinger’s perspective on Odessa and their feelings toward the Permian team?

  • Can I recognize and interpret the important relationships among the players, the city, and fandom within the text?

  • Can I pay attention to and acknowledge others while thoughtfully considering their ideas during class discussions about 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: Discuss – Write

We will interact with the words we defined for homework to cement our understanding of their meaning.

Work with a partner or group to respond to the vocabulary exercises, as directed by your teacher.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will use an Attending to Details Tool to deepen our understanding of the prologue.

For this activity, you will work with a partner. Each group will be assigned a question from the Section 1 Question Set. Complete a copy of the Attending to Details Tool with the question assigned to you.

Once you and your partner have completed the Attending to Details Tool, discuss with the class the details and analysis from your group’s tool.

Activity 3: Write – Discuss

We will do a quick-write, connecting the idea of fandom to our personal lives.

In your Learning Log, respond to the following question in a short paragraph:

  1. What does the concept of fandom mean to you, both inside and outside your school?

Be prepared to discuss your answer with the class.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss

We will begin reading chapter 1 of Friday Night Lights with a focus on fandom.

Read and annotate the beginning of Chapter 1 to the break in the text on page 29 ("… even by the standards of children, to find anyone as dirty as these men were."). Answer and discuss the following questions, focusing on how the author portrays the history of the town. These questions can also be found on the Section 1 Question Set:

  1. On page 24, the author states that the history of Permian football found in the city library is more detailed than any history of the city. What is this foreshadowing? Why would the author make this statement?

  2. Reread the second sentence on page 25. What can be inferred from this statement? What evidence supports this statement?

Activity 5: Read – Write

We will begin using the character Note-Taking Tool to note key details about and analyze a character. We will answer a question about the player you choose to follow throughout the book.

Select one of the characters Bissinger introduces in the prologue. Use the following questions from the Section 1 Question Set to begin taking notes on the Character Note-Taking Tool.

  1. In the prologue, how does Bissinger describe the player you have selected to follow?

  2. What evidence does he use to describe him, including his personality, his actions, and his self-image?

Activity 6: Read

We will finish reading chapter 1 for homework.

For homework, finish reading and annotating Chapter 1, using the following guiding question found in the Section 1 Question Set:

  1. On the last page of Chapter 1, Bissinger says, "In just about a week the team would be officially unveiled to the public. And from that moment on, it would become the property of those so desperately devoted to it." How does this quote support the perspective Bissinger develops in Chapter 1?

Write down any ideas or evidence from the text that help answer this question in your Learning Log.

Write new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.