The Boys in the Boat

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

What is a generation? What distinguishes your generation from those before? What values, ideals, or common attitudes do people of your generation tend to hold and how do they differ from those of your parents’ or grandparents’ generations? To what extent do you think a person’s generation determines or impacts their core personality, beliefs, or values? How might labeling people by their generation be limiting?   

Teaching Suggestion: This question set will activate prior knowledge before reading the text. A post-reading revisit of the last question may help students retain information. Students may appreciate opportunities to connect this discussion to memes or other social media, though allowing this connection may require stricter moderation of discussion for focus and appropriateness.

• This chapter from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s 2020 book Are Generational Categories Meaningful Distinctions for Workforce Management? explores the benefits and drawbacks of the sociological theory of generations as a lens for understanding social factors.
• This infographic from Purdue University summarizes the five generations in the current workforce.

Short Activity

Research the Greatest Generation to create a poster or infographic that features the characteristics, culture, values, and norms associated with people of that era as well as major events that shaped this generation’s coming-of-age.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity can be used as an individual, paired, or small group activity. Sharing work either through class discussion or informal presentation may aid in retention. These visual aids can be used for reference throughout the unit.

• This article provides an overview of the Greatest Generation that can be used as a supplemental source for this activity and a reference throughout the unit.
• This site from the University of Iowa Libraries features a downloadable guide to a museum exhibit recognizing the 20-year anniversary of journalist Tom Brokaw’s nonfiction work, The Greatest Generation. The exhibition guide includes commentary on the Greatest Generation, images and visuals, and a historical summary of influential events during the lives of those born in the generation.

Personal Connection Prompt

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

In what ways can sports be political? Should sports be political? Describe a sports or sports-related debate that has become politicized. Why do you think this politicization has occurred? What do you think it is it about sports that lends itself to political entanglement? Explain your reasoning.   

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from a brief discussion or brainstorming session of moments when sports have intersected with politics before writing, such as Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in baseball, Colin Kaepernick and the debate around the rights of players to make political statements at games, or Megan Rapinoe’s fight with US Soccer for equal pay. This reflection can be used as a bridge to exploration of these or similar sources, which introduce the topic of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin.

• This article from NPR offers an overview of the Nazi control of the 1936 Olympic Games, including how Hitler’s use of the games as a political tool set a precedent that is still present today.
• This 46-minute NBC sports documentary explores the intersection of sports, racism, and politics through the lens of Jesse Owens’ iconic performance at the 1936 Olympics.