Activities and resources for incorporating sports in the middle school ELA classroom.
When teachers incorporate student interests into the classroom, they connect with their students on a whole different level. By taking the time to understand what your students enjoy talking about and thinking about, an ELA teacher can start choosing books and resources that align with those interests.
A creative middle school ELA teacher will find ways to integrate those interests into the classroom in various ways.
In today’s post, we’ll discuss how you can begin incorporating sports into the middle school ELA classroom. Sports tend to be a high-interest topic for many students at this age, and finding ways to use that topic for learning is crucial for maintaining their engagement in your class.
Let’s begin!
Ideas for Incorporating Sports in the Middle School ELA Classroom
We’ll explore several categories to consider as you start incorporating sports into your class. Let’s start with the texts you’re using.
Books
When choosing books for middle school ELA, it’s essential to select topics that genuinely interest students. Sports are a major interest at this age, so having sports-themed books available will provide students with engaging reading material. Often, we think that students need to read at a high ability level all the time; however, sports books based on facts and data can be just as captivating for students as novels.
Encourage your students to read a mix of both. Offer opportunities to read nonfiction books about sports, whether it’s a history of the Green Bay Packers or a book about record holders in the NBA. Then, guide students towards books written with more fluency, such as biographies of their favorite players or graphic novels about the Fab Five Olympic gymnastics team.
Encourage students to explore fictional characters involved in sports as well. Ask your librarian or media specialist to help you locate fiction-based novels about people who play sports or are connected with different sports.
When considering texts, movies, and novels related to sports, also think about other stakeholders in the sports world. Some of the greatest sports movies focus on team management and fans. Talking about sports doesn’t always have to center on athletes themselves.
Resources
Find resources that focus on sports to have activities ready to engage your students early in the year. Sports-themed paired passages can be used in various ways and can be handy for your lessons.
Click on the image below to learn more about the paired passage set and what it includes.
Evidence-Based Discussions
Many students enjoy data as it relates to sports. Although this is more commonly used in math, you can also use it to develop speaking skills. Have students present their favorite athletes or engage in discussions about sports figures vying for awards. For example, there is ongoing discussion in the WNBA about who will be Rookie of the Year. As a project, students could present or create a podcast or video as ESPN reporters on this topic. They can pull in data and use their own analysis to argue who they believe is most deserving of the Rookie of the Year award.
Students can also participate in Socratic seminars. Have them read articles and data about a current event or athletic competition and use the discussion time to support their arguments with evidence.
Since sports are data-heavy, they provide great material for discussions and are perfect for practicing evidence-based reasoning. Use this to your benefit in your ELA class.
Research-Based Projects
Research-based projects are a fun way to incorporate sports into the middle school ELA classroom. Projects can range from students creating presentations about their favorite athletes or informing the class about a particular person or team they are interested in.
But research-based projects can go beyond this. For example, students could study a sports figure and then create a children’s biography about that person or write a memoir-style book about the athlete. They might also create projects related to podcasts or YouTube channels, emulating interviews with athletes, team managers, or historical sports figures.
These projects require students to research and respond in a way that reflects real-life scenarios. This process involves significant reading and research and offers a challenge that students may be enthusiastic about due to their interest in the content.
Hopefully, this post has provided you with various ways to incorporate sports into your middle school ELA classroom. These ideas are a starting point and should inspire you to create even more sports-themed activities for your class!