Game Changer

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“What Is an Athlete?”

In this activity, students are asked to consider what happens to Teddy and Ethan’s friendship after the story ends by writing fictitious letters between the characters.

Write a letter from Teddy to Ethan and another from Ethan to Teddy. Imagine it is a month or so after Teddy has recovered. Teddy remembers the events of his injury, and he has heard his friend’s explanation.

• In the letter from Ethan to Teddy, have Ethan explain what he does not explain in the hospital: why that hit felt important enough for him to forget their friendship for one tragic moment. Why did football suddenly become so overwhelmingly important, despite the fact that it was a meaningless scrimmage game?
• Then compose Teddy’s response. Given your understanding of Teddy’s character, what would Teddy say to Ethan? What might Teddy say about the importance of the team, the respect for the game, what being an athlete means, and the discipline of learning the game?

Teaching Suggestion: To help them understand the complexity of the novel’s argument and its open ending, you might explicitly prompt students to compare Teddy, a gifted athlete, and his friend Ethan, a not-so-gifted athlete who pursues football to maintain social standing, and their respective reasons for playing football. Students might explore in discussion the reasons why people join groups, hang out with the popular crowd, or refuse to hang out with any group. What do these choices mean to the students who make them, and how do they affect how others perceive them?

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who might struggle with the length of the writing assignment, consider allowing them to write a series of text messages or record a voicemail message in place of each letter.