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Lesson 2

We will compare two perspectives on gender and youth sports. We will watch a video, “Who Says Girls Can’t Play Football? Certainly Not 13-Year-Old Auburn Roberson,” by Melissa Isaacson and analyze how this athlete is portrayed and supported in the video. We will then compare this to how females are portrayed in relation to athletics in Friday Night Lights.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of the video, “Who Says Girls Can’t Play Football? Certainly Not 13-Year-Old Auburn Roberson,” and Friday Night Lights and how each attends to gender in sports?

  • Can I recognize points of connection between “Who Says Girls Can’t Play Football? Certainly Not 13-Year-Old Auburn Roberson” and Friday Night Lights to make logical, objective comparisons?

  • Can I revisit, refine, and revise my understanding, knowledge, and work based on discussions with others and feedback and review by myself and others?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger, Da Capo Press, 1990
  • Digital Access
    • “Who Says Girls Can’t Play Football? Certainly Not 13-Year-Old Auburn Roberson,” Melissa Isaacson, ESPN, November 9, 2016

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will review what was read for homework to compare how gender is viewed at permian high school among adults and discuss how this might impact gender roles among students.

You finished reading Chapter 7 for homework. Closely reread pages 157-160 to the end of Part 2. In your Learning Log, respond to the following questions:

  1. How does the way that academic teachers are treated, especially the female teachers Bissinger highlights, compare to how football coaches are treated? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

  2. How does this impact the perspective of females to students at Permian? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

Once you have completed your response, discuss these questions with a group.

Activity 2: View – Discuss

We will watch a video, “Who Says Girls Can’t Play Football? Certainly Not 13 Year Old Auburn Roberson,” and discuss gender roles in sports. We will answer and discuss text-dependent questions about the video.

With the whole class, watch the video, "Who Says Girls Can't Play Football? Certainly Not 13-Year-Old Auburn Roberson." As you watch the video, consider the following question:

  1. How does the role of gender portrayed in this video compare to how it is portrayed in Chapter 7 of Friday Night Lights?

As a class, discuss the following text-dependent questions from the Section 3 Question Set:

  1. What does the fact that people still have shocked reactions to a female playing football say about society? (0:26)

  2. Why is Max Medernach’s reaction to Auburn unique? (1:33)

  3. What is the tone of the question, "Will she be able to continue to play football in high school?" (2:00)

  4. What obstacles does Auburn see in her path to playing high school football? Why is this important? (2:15)

  5. The narrator uses the term realistic options. What does this say about the narrator? (2:23)

Activity 3: Write

We will compare how two authors address gender in sports. We will analyze the video, “Who Says Girls Can’t Play Football? Certainly Not 13 Year Old Auburn Roberson,” and Friday Night Lights to compare how each author approaches gender.

In your Learning Log, create a Venn diagram. Label the left circle "Isaacson" and the right circle "Bissinger." Label the intersecting section "Both." Thinking back to the focus question for the video, respond to the following question:

  1. How does the role of gender portrayed in this video compare to how it was portrayed in Chapter 7 of Friday Night Lights?

Complete the Venn diagram with evidence from the video and Chapter 7 of the text to answer this question.

Activity 4: Read

We will read the chapter 8 of Friday Night Lights for homework.

For homework, read and annotate Chapter 8 of Friday Night Lights, paying attention to how Bissinger’s perspective on gender roles is further developed.

Be sure to 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.