The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
2014
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Lexile: 70750L
- Key words
Basketball, poetry, family, relationships, rhythm
Suggested delivery
- Independent read
Electronic resources
- http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/alexander is a video interview with the author, Kwame Alexander. Students that enjoy the book and want more information can watch this video.
- Twitter can be used to share the two word poems (https://twitter.com/twitter)
- Key Vocabulary
- Calamity- an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster
- Churlish- rude in a mean-spirited and surly way
- Crossover- a point or place of crossing from one side to the other. The process of achieving success in a different field or style
- Estranged- no longer close or affectionate to someone; alienated
- Hypertension- abnormally high blood pressure
- Profusely-excessive
- Starless– an of the heavenly bodies
Comprehension Reading Strategies
- Before Reading Strategy
Students can do a think aloud prior to starting the book. The teacher should assign students to small groups.
- During Reading Strategy
Students can take notes while reading. They can do split-page note taking. They should think about the character’s relationships (Josh, Jordan, Jordan’s girlfriend and their parents).
- After Reading Strategy
Students can write a two word poems. Students can choose what they want to write their poem about based off their interests. Students can use twitter to share their tweets with one another because the poems will be under 140 characters. Twitter is a social media outlet that the students are familiar with so it should increase motivation.
- Writing Activity
Students can write vocabulary poems like Josh. Students can choose their own topic to write their vocabulary poem about.
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