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Lesson 1

We will continue reading Friday Night Lights and begin analysis of the ideas of race and socioeconomic status in the text and their relationship with high school athletics. We will analyze the author’s tone and how this impacts the meaning and the author’s perspective in the text. We will analyze claims about the author’s tone and identify evidence that supports these claims. We will discuss and identify the author’s use of symbolism throughout Chapter 5.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret language and sentence elements and structures Bissinger uses to deepen my understanding and determine the tone in Friday Night Lights?

  • Can I evaluate how well Bissinger uses literary devices and rhetoric in Friday Night Lights to support his perspective?

  • 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?

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 introduce the section by reviewing the Central Question and framing questions.

Step 1

Review 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 new knowledge do you have in relation to the Central Question?

  2. What are you still curious about in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What is the relationship between the question and the texts you have read so far? How do the texts shed light on the question? How does the question help you understand the texts?

  4. How has your response to the question evolved, deepened, or changed?

In your Learning Log, write your response to Question 3. You will return to this response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.

Step 2

Now review the Framing Questions, paying special attention to the second question, which is the focusing question for the second 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 lessons student athletes learn about values impact their perspective of American society?

Discuss your answer to Question 2 with a partner or small group.

Activity 2: Discuss

We will discuss and define symbolism. We will brainstorm examples of symbolism that we see in our everyday lives and write down this on chart paper to keep as a reference throughout the section.

Discuss what the term symbolism means and create a common definition of the word, recording it in your Vocabulary Journal.

Brainstorm examples of symbolism in your life and share them with the class. These examples will be wrote down on chart paper so we can reference them as we read Friday Night Lights.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will read part 1 of chapter 5 in Friday Night Lights and answer and discuss text-dependent questions. We will discuss the author’s use of symbolism and his tone in the chapter.

Read and annotate the first part of Chapter 5. As you read, focus on the author’s use of symbolism and his tone to impart his perspective.

Answer and discuss the following text-dependent questions from the Section 2 Question Set:

  1. What tone does the author imply on page 97? What are Bissinger’s feelings about how White citizens treat minorities based on his tone on page 97?

  2. Read this line from page 98: "She loved her hometown, because of what it represented and despite what it represented." What does the author mean? How do you know?

  3. What symbolism do you see in the sentences that begin with "She relished…" and end with "… reassuring about that." on page 99? What effect does it have on the meaning of the chapter?

  4. In the first full paragraph on page 101, Bissinger explains how citizens felt about the government’s involvement in desegregation. In Chapter 1, on pages 32 and 33, he presents a different perspective on America of the citizens. Why do you think he presents these opposing perspectives?

  5. On page 102, Bissinger states that the Black population of Odessa is about 5 percent. This comes immediately after a rather detailed description of how White citizens feel about minorities in Odessa. Why does he point out the percentage of the Black population?

  6. Read the last sentence on page 104. What is Bissinger’s tone? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will review our annotations and complete Attending to Details Tools.

Step 1

Review your annotations and identify details in the text to complete the first row of the Attending to Details Tool for the following question:

  1. How does Bissinger use language and tone to support his perspective about race in Chapter 5?

Reread the text as needed to find additional details.

Step 2

Use the details you wrote down in the first row from the text to complete the second row of the tool. Use the textual information and consider the original guiding question to complete the third row.

Activity 5: Read

For homework, we will read parts 2 and 3 of chapter 5, continuing to focus on Bissinger’s use of symbolism and tone to support his perspective.

For homework, read and annotate Parts 2 and 3 of Chapter 5, focusing on Bissinger’s tone as he discusses race relations in Odessa.

Write down new or interesting words in your Vocabulary Journal.

Write down sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned in your Mentor Sentence Journal. You can use these sentences to build a writer’s toolbox, wherein you have a number of techniques at your disposal to use when writing.