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 Stadium Voices
Procedures for teachers is divided into five sections:
Prep -- Preparing for the lesson
Steps -- Conducting the lesson
Extensions -- Additional activities
Prep
Media Components
Computer Resources:
- Modem: 56.6 Kbps or faster.
- Browser: Netscape Navigator 4.0 or above or Internet Explorer 4.0
or above.
- Personal computer (Pentium II 350 MHz or Celeron 600 MHz) running
Windows® 95 or higher and at least 32 MB of RAM. Macintosh computer:
System 8.1 or above and at least 32 MB of RAM.
- Software: Any presentation software such as Power Point or Hyperstudio
(optional)
Materials:
Students will need the following supplies:
- computers with the capacities
indicated above
- notebook or journal
- pens/pencils
Teachers will need the following supplies:
- Board and/or chart paper
- Ideally a screen on
which to project the Web-based video clips
- Handouts of Web resources
if computers are not available in the classroom
- Doris Kearns Goodwin's
Wait Till Next Year published by Simon & Schuster. ISBN Number:
0-684-84795-7
- Baseball as America:
Seeing Ourselves Through Our National Game, published by National
Geographic for The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. (ISBN Number:
0-7922-6486-X
- Photocopies of reading
passages for each student
Bookmarked sites:
Bookmark all of the Web sites used in the lesson and create a word processing
document listing all of the links to distribute to students. Preview all
of the sites and videos before presenting them to your class. Since many
of these Web sites have advertising, please warn your students not to
click on the ads.
For general information about all Baseball stadiums
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Steps
Introductory Activity:
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Divide the students into small discussion groups. Within
the groups, students should read the following:
- An excerpt from Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella about
enjoying a summer's evening watching a baseball game. This
is available on page 272 of Baseball as America: Seeing Ourselves
Through Our National Game
- An excerpt from Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns
Goodwin about the Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field on pages 46
to 48
- "Farewell" by Roger Angell about the razing of the
Polo Grounds where the New York Giants played. This is available
on page 281 of Baseball as America: Seeing Ourselves Through
Our National Game
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In the group, students should discuss what the unifying
theme is. Each group should get a copy of the Baseball Reading Organizer which includes questions for them to consider
as they are reading.
- What is the unifying theme in the excerpts from these three
authors?
- How do the authors feel about baseball?
- How do the authors feel about the stadium?
- What is so special about Ebbets Field for Doris Kearns Goodwin?
- What is so special about the Polo Grounds for Roger Angell?
- Based on the tone of the readings, what do you learn about the
three authors?
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After brainstorming their ideas in groups, come together
as a full class to discuss why people are so connected to these sports
arenas. For schools outside of the New York City region, it would
be good for teachers to come prepared with information and photographs
of the local major or minor league stadium. Information about high
school or university stadiums would be appropriate as well.
- What makes sports arenas so special?
- Is it just the physical space and location that make it so special?
Explain.
- How do you feel about your local stadium? Discuss why it is
so special.
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At this point, show the one hour "NEW YORK SPORTS: BIG
SHOTS AND BAD GUYS" episode of Thirteen's NEW YORK VOICES.
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After watching the show, consider the question again.
What makes sports teams and the spaces that they play in so special?
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Learning Activities:
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As a class, brainstorm a list of the players
and owners who were mentioned in the show.
- The 'Big Shots' list includes:
- Gil Hodges, Brooklyn Dodgers
- Mike Piazza, New York Mets
- Roger Clemens, New York Yankees
- Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks
- Willis Reed, New York Knicks
- Bobby Thomson, New York Giants
- Joe Namath, New York Jets
- Mark Messier, New York Islanders
- Dennis Potvin, New York Islanders
- Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees
- Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers
- Joe DiMaggio, New York, Yankees
- The 'Bad Guys' list includes :
- Reggie Miller, Indiana Pacers
- Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers
- John Rocker, formerly of the Atlanta Braves
- George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees
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Based on the information that students learned from the show
and what they know as sports fans, the class should write poems
or essays about the players that were featured in the NEW YORK VOICES
episode. In the end, the class will have a collection of poetry
that can be put together in a book. It is important for the teacher
to look at the distribution of the players that the students select
so there aren't too many poems about one player and none on
other athletes.
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The poetry and essay writing will probably
take a couple of sessions for brainstorming, peer editing, and publishing.
Remind students how Roger Angell, Doris Kearns Goodwin and W.P. Kinsella
communicated their feelings about their teams and the stadiums that
they played in. For example, what was it like for Bobby Thomson to
hit "The Shot Heard Round the World" in the 1951 pennant
race in the enemy territory of the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets
Field? What were John Rocker's comments about the 7 train that
goes to Shea Stadium and how did he feel when he played at that stadium?
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Encourage students to search the Internet
for photos of the players as well.
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Culminating Activity/Assessment:
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The final project for the unit will be to put together
a tourist brochure for each student's favorite sports arena
and/or stadium. If you want the focus to remain on the NEW YORK VOICES
show, then students should focus on Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium,
Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, Madison Square Garden, and Giants
Stadium where the New York Giants and the New York Jets play.
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The students' brochure should include information about
the building's history, architecture and lore. Distribute and go over
the rubric with students. The
rubric lists all of the brochure's required information. You should
collect tourist brochures prior to teaching the lesson so the students
can use them as models for their final projects.
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Allow for research and design time. This can be an
individual or group project, depending on the size of the class and
the ability of the students. Remind students that they are creating
a tourist brochure and/or booklet that should entice visitors to the
ballpark for a fun-filled afternoon or evening with their family and
friends. How will they convey that while including all of the required
information?
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Finally, allow time for presentations and question
and answer sessions.
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Extensions
Cross-Curricular Extensions:
- Mathematics – Assign students the task of examining a
player's batting or fielding statistics. There are plenty
of mathematical skills that can be taught using this kind of data.
Teachers can teacher concepts using decimals, fractions, percentages,
mean and median, chart reading, etc. For example, if you are researching
Jackie Robinson, go to
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers%5Fand%5Fhonorees/
hofer%5Fbios/robinson%5Fjackie.htm. This site will provide
all of the statistical information about his career.
- Literature and book reports – Assign students to read
a book from the myriad of books about baseball and its role as
America's pastime and national game. Keep in mind the appropriateness
of the books for the age group.
- Architecture – Students can pick their favorite basketball,
football and baseball teams and then study the difference in the
structure of the stadiums for each of the sports.
- Architecture – Assign students the task of designing their
own stadium. This lesson is more advanced in concept and skill.
Students can brainstorm ideas about what they would like to have
in their "dream" stadium and then present an artist's
rendition of it.
Community Connections:
- Plan a field trip to your local stadium (major or minor leagues)
to interview the maintenance crews, owners or managers about the
history and importance of the facility.
- Write letters to your city's minor league players or interview
them about their dreams of "making the show."
- Take a field trip to a ball game.
- Interview grandparents about their memories of "listening"
to baseball games when they were only available on the radio.
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