The Crossover

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Copyright: 2014

Citation: Alexander, K. (2014). The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

Literary Awards, Honors, and/or Nominations

1. 2015 John Newbery Medal: Winner
2. 2015 Coretta Scott King Award: Honor

Reading Level:
Grade Level Equivalent: 5
Lexile: 750L
Guided Reading: Z

-Original description of the book
Kwame Alexander wrote a phenomenal and original story using verse about basketball, family, and growing up. The vocabulary that he uses is extremely descriptive and his decision to vary the text sizes, unique line sizes, along with his rhyme scheme makes this an exceptionally fun read.

-Corresponding Common Core State Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. (Activity that addresses the standard: Inferential Writing Comprehension Activity)

-Suggested delivery
1) Independent Read

-2 electronic resources
1) The Crossover book trailer
2) This website Common Core-aligned activities include researching sports figures, exploring rhyme and rap, and interpreting and performing poems from the novel.

-3 teaching suggestions for grades 4-6
1) This Cultures and Connections book kit uses the discussion questions to support critical reading and encourage students to engage with the text.

2) This blog contains a hyperlink for another Educator’s Guide on how to use The Crossover in the classroom. The guide consists of literary activities that are aligned with the ELA Common Core State Standards. There are inferential comprehension activities, vocabulary activities, and text to world activities.

3) This website offers teachers a variety of lessons to teach students about the many types of poetic forms and styles, how to read and write poetry.  It also helps students learn about the rhythms in poetry and how they can write funny poetry.

-Key vocabulary
1) Acclaim: enthusiastic and public praise
2) Dubious: hesitating or doubting
3) Calamity: an unexpected, undesirable event; often physically injurious
4) Pulchritudinous: having great physical beauty and appeal
5) Hypertension: a disease otherwise known as high blood pressure
6) Solemn: not cheerful or smiling; serious
7) Deranged: mad; insane
8) Churlish: having a bad temper, and being difficult to work with
9) Flagrant: shockingly noticeable or evident; obvious

-An inferential comprehension writing activity
Main character Josh Bell talks about his nickname in four poems (“Josh Bell”, “How I Got My Nickname”, “At First”, “Filthy McNasty”). What’s the nickname and who gave it to him? How does he feel about it at first? Why does he change his mind? How does he feel the nickname fits him in the last poem of those four? As a classroom discussion, ask students if they have a nickname. Is it a shortening of their real name? A characteristic? How do they feel about it? Has that feeling changed over time? As a classroom writing, ask students to write a name (could be an actual name or a nickname) that they would like to be called. Why does this name fit them better, perhaps, than their real name? (This could be a paragraph or a poem.)

-Before Reading Comprehension Activity: Students will pair up and do a think-pair-share to discuss any schema about what they think the book will be about. Students will write down their ideas and then share with the class. The teacher will make an overall list of what they students have shared, so the students can look at it if they need to.

-During Reading Comprehension Activity: While students are reading, use a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) to guide students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading to confirm or refute their predictions. The DRTA process encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their comprehension.

-After Reading Comprehension Activity: Have students write a synopsis of The Crossover. The students must include a sequence of events, problems, solutions, and how the story progresses.

-Writing Mini-Lesson: Found Poems

• The objective of this mini-lesson is to have students understand one of the various poems that are used during this book and to generate their interests for learning about other types of poems.

We are currently working on our poetry unit in writing. There are many poems that can be used while writing: acrostic poems, apology poems, found poems, free verse poems, haiku's, and unrhymed couplet just name a few. Today we will focus on just one form of poetry that Kwame Alexander used in The Crossover. He uses found poems in this book in the form of newspaper articles where we receive information about the character. Can anyone tell me what they believe a found poem is based on what Kwame Alexander did?
(Students will make hypotheses about what a found poem, but if no one answers correctly, explain what a found poem is and how to make one.)

A found poem is a poem that is created solely by words found in a source of text and rearranging them as poetry. The poem doesn’t have to rhyme but the words must resemble the structure of a poem. Now I am going to give you all a page from a book and you will find the words that stick out to you and create a poem using only those words.

(Pass out pages to students.)

You may illustrate your poem if you decide to, you may use and illustrate the page that I give you, or you can copy it onto a separate piece of paper. Now I am going to give you all a page from a book and you will find the words that stick out to you and create a poem using only those words. You may illustrate your poem if you decide to, you may use and illustrate the page that I give you, or you can copy it onto a separate piece of paper.
(Give students time to work on this.)

Now that we have just learned what a found poem is, I’d like it if you all created another found poem using a book of your choice that we can hang up in our classroom. There are no limits as to how many words must be in it but you must cite the book that you used.