Middle School PE Lesson Ideas

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Name of Activity: Shooting Basketball Stars

Purpose of Activity: To assist students in adapting to different basketball shooting ranges, from lay-ups to outside shots.

Prerequisites: Proper basketball shooting technique e.g. eyes on target; shooting elbow in, at right angle and shoot with one hand; hips square to the target; back straight; knees bent.

Suggested Grade Level: 6-8

Materials Needed: One basketball for each child, 4 goals, Cardboard stars-4 different colors, 4 Star collectors-boxes.

Description of Idea

Variations:

If a student makes a shot, they may choose to leave the star there for others to try, then pick another star of equal point value somewhere else to place in their box. This way all students have all the shooting spots to choose from all the time.

Give the students a fixed number of shots allowed to take to reduce the competition aspect.

Instead of teams, have students keep track on their own about how many points they get.

Use cones with a sheet of paper and pencil instead of stars. Students sign the paper when they make the shot, then move on. Score cards could be used as well for students to mark which shots they've made.

Use a variety of balls or other objects for shooting. Use lower baskets, where appropriate.

Assessment Ideas:

Assess proper shooting technique using PE Central's Teachers Cue Checklist Sheet.

Upon completing this game several times, have the students play an actual game of basketball and assess whether their shooting accuracy has increased.

Teaching Suggestions:

The stars enable the students to select their own difficulty levels, creating teaching by invitation. In addition, there is a component of interdisciplinary approach with mathematics already built in to this activity.