"I Wanted My Life Back"

Essential questions: Why is it important to wear a helmet? What is grit? How do people recover from serious injuries?

Preview the vocabulary. (5 minutes)

Project or distribute the Vocabulary Words and Definitions. Review the words as a class. (Optionally, assign the activity for homework.) Highlighted words: coma, deteriorate, feats, invincible, preposterous, sustains

Set a purpose for reading. (5 minutes)

Invite a student to read aloud the As You Read box on page 5. Encourage students to underline passages that demonstrate how Nick overcame his injuries.

Read the article. Read “I Wanted My Life Back” as a class. Then have students work in groups to discuss the following questions:

Close-Reading Questions

What is the mood of the first paragraph? Why might author Kristin Lewis have started the article this way? (mood, author’s craft) The mood is frightening—a kid wakes up in a hospital with no idea how he got there or what happened to him. Lewis likely starts this way to draw the reader into Nick’s story.

How does Lewis characterize Mark Schultz? (character traits) Lewis characterizes Mark Schultz as quick-thinking and capable. She notes that he is a volunteer firefighter in addition to being a ski patroller. She describes how he responded quickly by getting oxygen to Nick within a minute of his crash—and how he helped treat Nick in the snow.

On page 7, Lewis writes that “it was as if someone had disconnected every wire in [Nick’s] head.” What does this imagery help the reader understand? (figurative language, key ideas) This imagery helps the reader understand how serious Nick’s condition was—that Nick’s brain wasn’t functioning.

What do the sidebar and the call-outs in the blue circles add to the story? (text features) The callouts contain information about helmets and brain injuries. The sidebar contains a list of do’s and don’ts for helmet use. These text features provide context for Nick’s story; they establish that Nick is not alone in suffering a brain injury; and that his life was likely saved by the helmet he was wearing. They also serve as a reminder of the importance of wearing a helmet while participating in certain sports.

How does Lewis develop the idea that Nick has determination? (analyzing the development of an idea) Lewis develops the idea that Nick has determination by describing how hard Nick worked to recover after his accident. On page 7, she includes a quote from a ski patroller that describes Nick’s perseverance. On page 8, she includes details about how hard Nick worked every day, balancing hours of physical therapy with his homework, to achieve his ambitious goal of being able to snowboard again.

Think about the headline, “ ‘I Wanted My Life Back.’ ” How does it relate to the article? Why might the author have chosen this quotation as the headline? (text structure) The headline is part of a quotation from Nick that appears in the article on page 8. The author may have chosen this quotation as the headline because it tells the reader that something happened that drastically changed Nick’s life, and it also refers to Nick’s drive and determination during his recovery.

Bring the class back together to answer the following critical-thinking questions.

Critical-Thinking Questions (5 minutes)

What does Nick’s story tell you about how a person can overcome an obstacle? Nick’s story tells you that a person can overcome an obstacle through sustained and determined effort, by setting goals, and by holding on to hope. The importance of sustained effort and hard work becomes clear on page 7 when Lewis explains that Nick sometimes felt frustrated but never gave up, and that, according to ski patroller Sherry Hartel, he showed determination and never stopped fighting. How setting a goal can help someone overcome an obstacle is shown on page 8, when Lewis writes that Nick “realized that what he wanted more than anything was to snowboard again.” Once Nick had set that goal, he had something specific and exciting to work toward. That Nick held on to hope is shown by the fact that he never gave up and that he set a goal that might seem “preposterous” for someone in his condition (p. 8).

Are you surprised that Nick wanted to return to snowboarding after his accident? Why do you think it was important to him to return to snowboarding so quickly? Answers will vary. Students may suggest that it was important to Nick to return to snowboarding as soon as possible because doing so would show him that his life was getting back to normal (his quote on page 8 suggests this), or that he didn’t want to let fear ruin something he loved. Maybe he thought the longer he waited, the harder it might be to go back. Or maybe he simply missed snowboarding and wanted to get back to doing something he enjoyed.

Why might Nick want to share his story with others? Nick might want to share his story to inspire others to overcome the obstacles that they encounter in their own lives. By telling others about the tremendous obstacles that he overcame, he shows them that they, too, can overcome even enormous difficulties. Additionally, Nick might want to share his story to encourage others to wear helmets and other safety gear.

Featured Skill: Applying Ideas (15 minutes)

Have students work in groups to complete the activity Applying Ideas: What Makes a Hero? It will prepare students to respond to the prompt on page 8. For alternative culminating tasks, see the boxes below.

1. As a class, explore the CDC’s HEADS UP campaign website to learn more about TBIs and sports safety. You’ll find fact sheets, infographics, personal stories, and videos. Here are two of our favorite resources from the site:

• Video: Concussion Animation
• Fact Sheets: Sports Helmets

2. Divide students into groups and have them create PSAs about the importance of wearing a helmet while participating in sports. Students can draw on information from the article, the resources above, and their own research. The PSAs can be in the form of a poster, video, or Powerpoint presentation and should include information about what TBIs are, why it’s important to wear a helmet, and how to ensure you are wearing the right helmet for your sport.