Week Four:
The Crossover
"Bold" and "Explosive" were two words I found to be true while reading The Crossover. This book was heart-warming and heart-wrenching at times. It is broken up into different quarters just like a basketball game. This book is filled with beautiful poems about "Josh Bell and his twin brother, Jordan" who are basketball stars and brothers. It deals with the the boys growing up-one meeting a new girl and the other feeling alone. He feels incredibly alone once his dad is in the hospital as well. His dad is not only his best friend but also his role model. This book is set up like a diary. I found this book to feel very relatable. This would be a great mentor text for students.
Affordances of reading a Verse Novel:
- Relatable to students
-A longer book but it is broken into different entries making it easier students to read
-Great model text for students to use in their Writers notebook
-Shows the reader that a Verse Poem Novel has more freedom for them to write their thoughts
- Allows for them to read the separate thoughts and feelings
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This chart from the article Writing, Redefined by Shawna Coppola explained the different stereotypes of "writers" and "struggling writers". These harmful assumptions can carry over into the classroom as unconscious biases if the teacher is not careful. The first one I wanted to address was the difference between "boys" and "girls". Gender should make no difference on a student being considered a great writer. Kwame Alexander acts as a wonderful example to break that stereotype. We see him write in free verse in the book, The Crossover, while also writing a story that readers do not want to put down. As a teacher it is important to keep this story in mind as you teach your students to be writers. There should be nothing in the way of your student becoming an incredible writer- certainly not "gender, race, ethnicity, class, or ability lines" (Coppola, 2019).
***Article linked to the chart picture. Go check it out!***
Mentor Poems based off of The Crossover
Additional Resources for Teaching The Crossover
