The Mindset of a Champion
SETTING: A brightly lit school gym set up for a history show. There is a basketball hoop and a red sports jersey with the number 23 on a rack.
CHARACTERS:
HOLDEN: A ten-year-old student who is playing Michael Jordan in a school show.
MR. STERLING: The drama teacher who helps Holden practice.
[Holden is dribbling a basketball with high focus. He wears a large red jersey. Mr. Sterling enters holding a clipboard.]
MR. STERLING: We have twenty minutes before the doors open, Holden. Are you ready to act like the greatest of all time?
HOLDEN: [Stops dribbling and catches the ball.] Yes, Mr. Sterling. I have studied Michael Jordan for months. I watched his famous games, like the one where he played even though he was sick. I do not want to just act like him. I want to feel how focused he was.
MR. STERLING: [Nods with a smile.] Excellent. Most kids just focus on his shoes or his cool dunks. But you look deeper. What is the most important part of your final scene?
- Dribble:
- To bounce a ball repeatedly against the floor with one hand, as in basketball.
- Reader's Theater:
- A style of theater where actors read from a script and use their voices and simple movements to tell a story.
- Excellence:
- The quality of being outstanding or extremely good at something through hard work.
- Visualize:
- To form a picture of something in your mind.
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Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
Analyze what the author aims to do and how choices serve audience and purpose.
Structure
Analyze how sections and organizational choices build the text's ideas or effects.
Writing Prompts
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Where does this readers' theater play take place?
- 2Which famous athlete is Holden portraying in the school show?
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About this reader's theater passage for 4th Grade
“The Mindset of a Champion” is a reader's theater reading passage about Excellence, written for 4th Grade. It takes about 4 minutes to read (539 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.