Game Changer

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. How do athletic programs impact the social life of your school and your community? In what ways are organized sports beneficial at the high school level, and in what ways problematic?

Teaching Suggestion: A discussion of the role of athletics in students’ own school can be tricky because most classes will have a mix of students with varied interests; it might be beneficial to widen the scope to include athletic programs in general. You might suggest that students use the article below or other internet news reports about high school athletics and the culture around high school teams. Students may bring up peer pressure, potential for cliques, and physical danger as potential problems with sports programs. Stress that there are no right or wrong answers to these questions.

• This article describes some of the risks football poses for high school athletes and explores why some parents, teachers, and student athletes in a small Pennsylvania town believe the risks are worth taking.

2. What role does social media play in your school’s social life? How important are the posts that you read on social media sites? What would the social life of your school be without social media?

Teaching Suggestion: Social media is such a common element of students’ lives that many may not have considered it as either good or bad. The novel carefully balances its depiction of social media: It helps bring the shocked community together and provides a forum for expressing concern and sympathy, but later it is weaponized by the football team to keep the facts about Teddy’s injury quiet. You might ask students to consider whether social media brings people together more than it divides them, or vice versa. You might also guide a discussion on the topic of cyberbullying and the difficulty schools face in combating postings done off campus.

• This article defines cyberbullying and provides tips for dealing with it.

Short Activity

The epigraph to the novel provides a definition of a game changer: “an event, idea, or procedure that effects a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something.” In small groups, complete this short activity.

• Discuss and list examples of athletes whom you consider game changers—whose contributions, achievements, and character altered the sport they played. Consider a wide range of sports, not merely the major team sports on network television, and think about different levels of athletics.
• Brainstorm an additional list of people who are not athletes who could be called game changers. Consider social, political, and environmental activists, musicians, politicians, business entrepreneurs, writers, actors, and computer engineers. Consider historical figures as well.
• Select one of your examples to present to the class. Be sure to explain how your chosen person fits the definition of a game changer; you may need to briefly research factual information before sharing.

Teaching Suggestion: Exploring the wide applications of the term “game changer” prepares students to think about the impact of Teddy Youngblood and his “accident” on his school, its football program, and his community. You might invite students to consider some of the following game changers:

• Malala Yousafzai (activist for women’s right to education)
• Nadia Murad (activist against human trafficking)
• Rosa Parks (activist for civil rights of African Americans)
• Lois Jenson (activist for women’s right to work)
• Barack Obama (politician)
• Basquiat (artist)
• Sophie Cruz (activist for immigrant rights)
• Jimi Hendrix (musician)
• Sylvia Plath (poet)
• Steve Jobs (developer of computer technology)
• Rachel Carson (environmental activist)

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Write a journal-style entry about your experience with athletics or some other activity that requires a commitment of time and energy. What did the experience, good or bad, mean to you? Why did you initially choose the activity? What did success in the activity require? How did participation change your perception of yourself? How would you be different if you had not engaged in the activity?

Teaching Suggestion: What purpose is served by school activities, sports, and clubs? At the heart of the novel is young Teddy’s commitment to football and the impact that commitment has not only on his family and friends but on his perception of himself. You might ask students to consider what makes participation in an activity fun, meaningful, and enriching, and what can make it stressful, burdensome, or even harmful.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who are English language learners could respond to the prompt through illustrations, original drawings, or photos from their own video scrapbook, adding a few declarative sentences to summarize the importance of their participation in their chosen activity.