Lesson
2
:
Learning Grit from a Nonfiction Text
Grade
Grade 8
UNIT
2
•
Grit
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, “Learning Optimism from a Nonfiction Text,” students will learn examples of optimism from a contemporary work of young adult nonfiction: Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America by Steve Sheinkin and illustrated by Bijou Karman. Students will develop their reading comprehension skills by reading this text. Additionally, they will develop their critical thinking skills by answering questions about the text and advance their academic dialogue skills by participating in a class discussion about the book.
SUGGESTED TIME:
- 1 class period to introduce the text; 1 class period to discuss the text
- If desired, additional class periods can be devoted to in-class silent reading of the text
- The book for this lesson, Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin, is 233 pages and 38 chapters.
- Suggested reading assignments, to be completed either in class or for homework are:
- Assignment 1: Tryout – The Coach
- Assignment 2: The Game – The Team
- Assignment 3: Restless Disposition – The Carlisle Rut
- Assignment 4: Football Imagination – Wild Horses
- Assignment 5: Haughty Crimson – High Jump
- Assignment 6: The Forward Pass – Crossroads
- Assignment 7: The Quarterback – All-American
- Assignment 8: Stockholm – Football Evolution
- Assignment 9: Carlisle vs. Army – Brutal Business
- Assignment 10: Undefeated – Epilogue: Back on Top
- Have students complete the worksheet questions as they read.
- Allow at least 50 min for in-class discussion of the book.
RELATED SUBJECT:
English Language Arts
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Read a nonfiction text and demonstrate an understanding of the central ideas
- Write answers to questions about the book, demonstrating an understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar
- Engage effectively in collaborative discussions about the book
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- Book: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin
- Video: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian Football Team by BPLibraryKids (~3 min)
- Video: Jim Thorpe | The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players (2010) by NFL Films (~4 min)
- Prohuman Grade 8 Unit 2 Worksheet 2: Learning Grit from a Nonfiction Text
ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET
LESSON PROCEDURE
Step 1:
- Without providing any information, show students two photographs, a before and after:
- Ask students what they notice.
- Ask students what they wonder.
Step 2:
- Explain that these photographs were taken in 1883; they are the before and after images of three students named Wounded Yellow Robe, Timber Yellow Robe, and Henry Standing Bear. The second photograph was taken 6 months after the first.
- Ask students what assimilation means.
- Provide the definition of assimilation: the process whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society. The process of assimilating involves taking on the traits of the dominant culture to such a degree that the assimilating group becomes socially indistinguishable from other members of the society. (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica)
Step 3:
- Explain that these students were enrolled in the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, the first federally funded off-reservation Indian boarding school.
- Operating from 1879-1918, CIS enrolled over 10,000 students from across the United States. The purpose of the school was to assimilate Native American children into Euro-American culture.
- Show this map: “Locations of Off-Reservation Indian Boarding Schools in the U.S” from the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.
- Explain that this map shows the locations of off-reservation Indian Boarding Schools throughout the United States, numbered in the order in which each began operations under government auspices.
- These 27 schools were fully managed and directed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- There were more than 300 other schools, located both on and off reservations, many of which were managed by the Bureau, but some of which received subsidies from the federal government for their operations.
Step 4:
- Explain that we will be reading a book about the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team titled Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin.
- The team met in 1907 at the Carlisle school, where they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football," they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools such as Harvard and the Army.
- Play the book trailer video: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian Football Team by BPLibraryKids (~3 min)
- Play the video: Jim Thorpe | The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players (2010) by NFL Films (~4 min)
Step 5:
- Have students read the book, Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin, either as a series of in-class reading assignments or for homework.
- Have students write the answers to the worksheet questions while reading the book.
Step 6
- Set aside a class period to discuss the book. Invite students to a whole-class discussion of the worksheet questions.
GRADE 8 UNIT 1 WORKSHEET 2: LEARNING OPTIMISM FROM A NONFICTION TEXT
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER WHILE READING THE BOOK Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin:
- What was the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and what happened on the Trail of Tears?
- In the chapter “The School,” what happened to the treaty the U.S. government had signed with the Lakota?
- In the chapter “Football on Trial,” what does the author say is “football’s real problem”?
- In 1905, what did the Intercollegiate Athletic Association do to save football?
- In the chapter “The Quarterback,” what is a “soul wound” and how did it affect the students who attended Carlisle?
- In the chapter “All American,” what was the “awkward position” that Jim Thorpe was in as a Native American in the Olympics?
- In the chapter “One More Year,” when did Congress pass a law extending citizenship to all American Indians?
- In the Epilogue, what does the author conclude about the impact of Carlisle and other government-run Indian boarding schools?
- What are 3 ways you see grit being shown in this book?
- What did you learn about grit from reading this book, and how can you show more grit in your life?
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Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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