Learning How to Play Football

Zachary Seagle
High School Physical Education

Common Core Standards:

Standard 1: Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a
variety of physical activities.
Standard 2: Demonstrates understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies and tactics as
they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.
Standard 3: Participates regularly in physical activity.
Standard 4: Achieves and maintains a health-enhancing level of physical fitness.
Standard 5: Exhibits responsible personal behavior and social behavior that respects self and others in
physical activity settings.
Standard 6: Values physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social
interaction.
Lesson Summary:
The basic procedure of this lesson is simple. Each student will learn to work as a team to score a touchdown in
a game of football. Each student will play each position on the field to get an understanding of how the game
of football is played. By the end of the lesson, each student will be able to name every position and what their
responsibility is at that specific position. Each day, students will have access to computers, their phones or any
other technology resource to write out what they think each position encompasses.
Estimated Duration:
This particular lesson will take three 50 minute class periods. Each session of 50 minutes will be broken down
smaller sessions that will require the student to learn different drills and positions.
Commentary:
I anticipate that not all students will want to get physical and sprint during the drills. This could be challenging
getting them to try their hardest on every drill. In order to get all students hooked, I will make it as fun as
possible by dividing the groups and making them learn something about one another each class period. In
addition, students will compete in a game against one another on the third and final day of the lesson, which
will certainly hook all students to have a blast!
Instructional Procedures:
Day 1:
On day one, I will provide each student with a sheet of paper that has every position in the game of football on

it. I will then divide the class in to groups of 5. Assuming the class size is about 25 students, we will have 5
groups of 5 students. The first 10 minutes of the class, students will be required to work in teams to use the
computer lab at school, their phones or other technology resources to research what they think each position in
the game of football requires and jot the information down on a piece of paper. Students will then gather in a
big circle and stretch for 5 minutes prior to starting the drills. After students gather this information and
stretch, they will go through a variety of drills that are common at a regular football practice in high school,
college and the professional level for the remainder of the class period (35 minutes). There will be 5 different
drills occurring simultaneously, and each group will rotate to the next drill after 7 minutes. Therefore, each
group will do each of the 5 drills for 8 minutes. There will be a stopwatch at each drill so students can track
their time at each station. Students will also be required to log their time(s) at each drill. For instance, one drill
is the 40-yard-dash. So, students will take stopwatch and time other students on how long it takes them to
sprint as fast as they can to the end of the 40 yards. The second drill consist of students lining up and running
10 yards and making a sharp turn left, or right and running another 10 yards while attempting to catch a
football. Students will rotate throwing at catching for the entirety of the drill. The third drill simply consist of 4
cones that make up a big square. Students are required to sprint to the first cone, shuffle their feet side to side
to the second cone, back pedal to the third cone and then bear-crawl to the final cone. The fourth drill simply
consist of teaching students how to block a defensive player. The fifth and final drill consist of how to cover a
receiver on defense and how to intercept a pass while on defense.
Day 2:
Day 2 will simply consist of breaking the class in half and placing each student on a team. The first 10 minutes
of the class, the students will learn how to line up on the offensive side and defensive side of the football. They
will then learn how to recognize the name of the positions they learned on day one by physically standing in
each position. The final 40 minutes of the class, students will just learn how to walk through plays and learn
the different assignments of each position. They will rotate from position to position every play. There are a
total of 22 players on the field at a time. So if there are 25 students in the class, 3 will sit out and take a water
break until the next play resumes. I will be using an Ipad, or smartboard, whichever is available through the
school to show students how plays are written up on paper during a game. Each student/player, will get an
understanding of how important each position is and how important teamwork truly is in order to score a
touchdown.
Day 3:
On the third and final day of this lesson, each student will get a belt that has 3 flags on it. Students will be
broken up in to 2 teams again just like day 2. There will be a scoreboard on the field to track the score of the
game and there will be regular timeouts so the students can rest and drink water. The first ten minutes of the
class, students will stretch in a big circle. The final 40 minutes of the class period, the students will engage in a
game of flag football! Each student will be tested on what position they are playing, and what their
responsibilities are at that position, along with teamwork, sportsmanship and effort. Each student will get an
equal opportunity to play every position for the same amount of time as the other students to get a general
concept of how the position is played in live-action.

Pre-Assessment:
One strategy of pre-assessment will simply consist of the opening assignment on day one. Each student is
required to take 10 minutes to describe the different positions in football and what their responsibilities are

during the game.

Scoring Guidelines:
The pre-assessment is only grading by completion. If a student fails to even attempt the assignment, it
will result in a zero for this part of the lesson. This lesson simply gives me a general idea of how each
student understands the game of football. The assessment consist of a sheet of paper that has every
position in football on it and students are just required to use a computer, phone or other technology
source to define the responsibility of that position.
The scoring guidelines after the pre-assessment simply consist of effort (50pts), teamwork (20pts),
sportsmanship (20pts), and knowledge of each position along with general awareness of how the game
of football works (how to win the game-10pts). This is a total of 100 points for the lesson.
Post-Assessment:
The post-assessment will simply consist of a class discussion about the game of football. The discussion will
just sum up everything we covered during the three days and what each student learned during that span.
Scoring Guidelines:
The scoring process for the post-assessment is simple. It is pass or fail based on participation. It is
worth 50 points, which is enough to force each student to participate in the discussion. Students must
answer at least 3 questions as thoroughly as possible verbally in front of the other students. As long as
each student answers the question to the best of the their ability, they will earn their 50 points.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated
students:
The instruction will not be changed or altered to meet the needs of the gifted or accelerated students. Every
student is equal, and groups will be divided up equally like mentioned before. If a gifted or accelerated student
is in a group, I will expect the other students to help the gifted or accelerated student to the best of their ability.
I will certainly help in any way I can as well If the students are unable to. This will demonstrate teamwork and
sportsmanship at its finest, as well as effort.
Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the
material:
If a student is struggling with this lesson, I will personally engage with them and walk them through whatever
it is they are struggling with. This lesson can certainly be broken down in to steps and I will be able to break it
down if I need to for a struggling student.

Extension
http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Ohios-Learning-Standards/Physical-Education
This link simply discusses the standards I have mentioned with Physical Education. Each student will be able
to check each one of these core standards off by the end of the lesson plan!

Homework Options and Home Connections

The only homework that is going to be assigned will consist of students memorizing each of the football
positions and what their responsibilities are in each position. This will not be graded on paper because it is a
part of the pre-assessment. The student will however be graded on their knowledge of these positions on day 3.

Interdisciplinary Connections
This lesson can be combined with History and Psychology. I will ask students in our post-assessment
discussion about how the game of football has changed over the years and how long it has been around. Most
teams didnt use to pass the football when the game first originated. However, if we look at a team last year,
the majority of their plays consist of strictly passing the football. As far as the Psychology portion goes, I
would ask students to tell me the Psychological effects of football. They will probably mention concussions
and other long lasting mental disorders after the game has been played.
Materials and Resources:

For teachers

I will need orange or colored cones for the drills, stopwatches, a smartboard and or
iPad.

For students

Students will need a stopwatch, access to a computer at the school, and or their phone
(if they have one with internet).

Key Vocabulary
Football, Offense, Defense, Special Teams, Field Goal, Touchdown, Punt, Kickoff
Positions: QB, WR, OL, RB, TB, FB, TE, T, G, C, DT, DL, OLB, MLB, ROLB, LOLB, S, CB, SS, FS, PR,
KR, LS, P, RT, LT, RG, and LG. These are all abbreviated for their real names. Students will be required to tell
me what they all stand for.