Satch and Me

 

Satch and Me Student Project Possibilities:

Verbal/Linguistic

Create two journal entries that Satch might have made that tell about his life before being allowed to play in major league baseball and two entries for after he was allowed to play.  The entries may include feelings, statistics, descriptions of how players were treated, what the games were like, etc.  

Visual/Spatial

Design an illustration series of six or more topics from the story.  Include detailed background.  Examples:  Kansas City Monarchs, radar guns, Josh Gibson, baseball cards, etc.  May create a Keynote or MediaBlender presentation or display on a tri-fold.

Logical/Mathematical

Create a timeline of events for the Negro Baseball League with the Inspiration program.  Summarize what happened during each period of time.  Share how you think baseball would have been different if  there hadn’t been separate leagues. 

Look for statistics about Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and two or three other players from the Negro League. Make a spreadsheet.  Analyze the data and compare to some of today’s great’s by looking on the internet or in the World Almanac. 

Naturalist 

Satchel Paige is considered one of the fastest pitchers in the history of baseball.  What kind of pitch did he throw the most?  What are some other kinds of pitches?  Explain the physics behind each of these kinds of pitches.  

Musical 

Record your voice saying some of Satchel Paiges’s colorful sayings.  Tell what you think they mean in your own words.  Use GarageBand to put music with the words; create a podcast which includes photos of Satch.

OR... compose a song at least one minute long that is a ballad about Satch’s life.  Use sound effects like crowd cheering, etc.

Bodily/Kinesthetic 

Stage and film an iMovie scene that is at least two minutes long and includes related dialogue from the scene when Satch and Josh Gibson face off on the baseball diamond.  

Intrapersonal 

Negro League’s Art Pennington lost treasured memorabilia recently in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa flood.  Have you ever lost something important to you in a flood or tornado?  Can you relate to how Art Pennington must feel?  Write a story about what happened to you and what you learned from it. 

Interpersonal 

What happened in chapter 7 when the black baseball team tried to order hamburgers?

Design a service learning project that could educate students about bigotry, racial prejudice, and discrimination.  This might include designing a brochure, a Keynote slide show, or a tri-fold display that could be shown in the media center. 

Additional Resources of Interest:

Web sites-

Do Something About Discrimination-
http://www.dosomething.org/causes/discrimination

Satchel Paige:  The Official Web Site
http://www.satchelpaige.com/index.html

Leroy Robert “Satchel Paige” was Born...
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/progress/jb_progress_satchel_1.html

Negro League History 101-
http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/history101.html

History of the Negro Baseball Leagues
http://www.blackbaseball.com/history/index.htm

A History of Negro League Baseball
http://baseball.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_birth_of_negro_league_baseball

Welcome to the Bullpen (Physics of different kinds of pitches)
http://www.blackbaseball.com/history/index.htm

The Baseball Almanac
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/

 

Student Resources:

Questions for discussion-

Possible student poll questions for unique topics uncovered in the book:

Do you collect baseball cards?  Tell what interests you about this activity.

Do you think there is less racial discrimination in the United States today?  In Grand Island, Nebraska?

If you liked this book, get a partner to read, “Finding Buck McHenry” by  Alfred Slote.  Discuss the similarities and the differences between the two stories.  Create a Venn’s diagram to share with others.