THE CROSSOVER:
Making Poetry Approachable
The Crossover is not your average chapter book. Packed with poems from the perspective of a young African American boy who loves his family, basketball, and music, this book brings poetry to reluctant readers in a relatable way. Josh Bell's life revolves around the game of basketball and the book models that. Each "chapter" is broken up like the timeline of a basketball game. Starting with a warm up to the final quarter to overtime. I loved this organization tactic and found it even better way for young students to relate to reading. Josh experiences a lot of tough things throughout the book that many children also go through. From dealing with watching his father go through health problems and ultimately passing away to jealousy with his twin brother, Josh's basketball game of life is everything but easy. The short poems make the text easy and quick to read. I felt a connection to Josh, his family, and each poem held such powerful messages. I can't wait to offer this text as an invitation to children in my classes to connect to poetry and reading in a way they didn't know they could. This text acts as the perfect mentor text for students to use as a model for their own entries in their writing notebooks. Verse poetry provides freedom and opportunity that other types of writing do not. For upper elementary to high school students there is endless potential for their writing in verse poetry form that might be intimidating to younger students.
Organization examples from text.
This book acted as an inspiration and mentor text for my own writing this week. The rhythm and structure of these poems allowed me to create my own version with ease.
THIS WEEK, I...
3 REASONS I TEACH
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: TEACHING USING THE CROSSOVER
When using this text in the classroom it is helpful to bring in additional resources to amplify the reading of the text and to help build comprehension.
This website provides an audiobook reading of The Crossover. Listening to this book being read aloud will allow students to hear the intentional rhythm, pauses, and emotion in the words.
This book also written by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson showcases some athletes and other prominent African Americans. This text could go hand in hand with The Crossover to highlight certain athletes that might have been an inspiration to Josh Bell and different forms of writing.
Salt in His Shoes By Deloris Jordan and Roslyn Jordan is book about Michael Jordan and his dream of being a basketball start from a young age.
This video brings The Crossover to life. For our visual learners and creative minds this video can help put the text into perspective.
Explore more fun facts about the game of Basketball. Encourage students to do more research or play basketball that week.