Darragh McDermott

Date: March 7, 2013

Class: English/Language Arts 7th grade- 50 minute periods

Goals:

Objectives:

Materials:
Game by Walter Dean Myers
17 copies of the passage for shared reading
15 crumpled up paper
5 chairs
5 garbage cans
Paper/pens/pencils
**will need to move desks in the classroom for the activity

Standards:


Hook: (10 minutes)

-Think back to your senior year of high school. You have worked as hard as you can and you believe
that you have a strong chance to get a full scholarship to the school of your dreams. The last portion
of the scholarship opportunity calls for you to plan an event for your graduating class. Your chances
of getting this scholarship directly relates to your ability to follow through with this event. You think
that you can handle the workload and decide to go at planning the event yourself. Soon you are
buried in the massive amounts of planning and coordination that goes into the preparation. Friends
and family offer their help, but you initially refuse, thinking that this scholarship is for YOU and only
you should do the work. There are only three days until the event is supposed to be held, and you
have almost nothing finished. WHATCHA GONNA DO?


Mini Lesson : (15 minutes)

Set up the reading:
-Just like in the WHATCHA GONNA DO Drew, the main character in Game, and his team need to
win this game in order to make the playoffs and hope to earn a college basketball scholarship.
-In this section the Chargers are playing in a close game and are losing by 1 point with less than a
minute left.
-Tomas (the new white player on the team), Ruffy, and Ernie are on Drews team, while Frankie and
Donald are on the other team.


Shared Reading - pg. 136 (from Frankie passed to had won)
-What is your initial reaction to how the game ended?
-Do you think it was right for Drew to steal the ball from his teammate even though he won the
game?
-How do you think Tomas will react to the way this game ended?

Shared reading- pg. 137 (From The Chargers to you fool)
-How do you think Tomas Feels?
-Do you think Tomas is justified in feeling this way?
-If you were Drew?
-What would have happened if Drew didnt take the ball?
- Do you think Tomas still would have taken the shot?

-Show the buzzer beater from Illini vs. Indiana game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRp-LL2pXIk

-What is the difference between this buzzer beater and the one from the book?
-What were the teammates doing in each situation?
-How did the teammates react to the game winning shot?


Independent practice: (15 min - 8-9 minutes for the game. 6-7 minutes for discussion)

Blind basketball
1. The class will be grouped randomly in teams of three and given three basketballs (crumpled
paper). The teams will have a minute to decide their team name.

2. Each group member will get a chance to play each role of blind basketball for one minute and
thirty seconds.
The roles:
-Shooter: the shooter will be sitting in a chair with their back to the basket. They
are not allowed to look back or speak throughout their turn.
- Coach: the coach will be standing next to the shooter giving them advice on their
shooting and what to improve on for their next shot. The Coach is the only person
allowed to speak during the game.
-Rebounder: the rebounder will be collecting the basketballs and giving it back to
the shooter or coach as quick as possible. The rebounder is also not allowed to speak.

3. After each round we will tally up the points on the whiteboard. Shooters will toss their paper into
garbage cans.

Teams: teacher will pick teams before class

Discussion:
-What parts of this game were challenging?
-Ask the winning team what they did to be successful?
-Ask the losing team(s) what could they have done better?
-Could you have done this alone?
-How did you need to depend on your teammates?
-What was the most important role?

Closure/Wrap Up: (5 minutes)

- Drew ends up learning to work with his teammates successfully and helps lead his team to the
championship game. They end up losing on a last second basket, and Drew is crushed. The book
ends with Drew eventually accepting a scholarship to play for DePaul University in Chicago.
- Because Drew learned to work as a team player his team found success at the end the of the season,
which gets them to the championship. From what his coaches tell him near the end of the book,
Drews ability to be a coachable player and good-teammate is what helps him get noticed by
college programs.

Exit slip:
What is the importance of being a team player? How can that lead to your success in your life outside
of athletics?

Assessments:
1. Participation in the game and discussion questions
2. Exit slip to leave class


Narrative: Where to go from here:

Tomorrow to do:
Narrative, Goals, objectives, standards

1.B.3a Preview
reading materials,
make predictions and
relate reading to
information from other
sources.

1.C.3b Interpret and
analyze entire
narrative text using
story elements, point
of view and theme