English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 1
TEACHER RESOURCE FOR THE CROSSOVER BY KWAME ALEXANDER
ANCHOR TEXT
THE CROSSOVER
(Copies available at the CCS Book Warehouse)
SHORTER LITERARY TEXTS
Available HERE
INFORMATIONAL TEXTS
MEDIA/VISUAL TEXTS
Available HERE
Available HERE
This resource with its aligned lessons and texts can be used as a tool to increase
student mastery of Ohio’s Learning Standards. It should be used with careful
consideraon of your students’ needs. The sample lessons are designed to target
specic standards. These may or may not be the standards your students need to
master or strengthen. This resource should not be considered mandatory.
OHIO’S LEARNING POWER STANDARDS
RESOURCE FOCUS
RL.7.1, RL.7.2, RL.7.3, RL.7.4, RL.7.5
Student learning will center on the analysis of theme including how key literary elements such as character, plot,
seng, and symbolism impact its development. Because The Crossover is a series of poems, students will also
examine the impact of gurave language and poec form on meaning.
SAMPLE LESSON 1
SAMPLE LESSON 3
SAMPLE LESSON 4
Prior to Reading
Pages 3-85: “Warm-Up”-“First Quarter”
“Second Quarter”
THEME STATEMENTS
SYMBOLISM/ALLUSION
FAST CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
THROUGH THEME
VOCABULARY LIST
VOCABULARY LIST
SAMPLE LESSON 5
SAMPLE LESSON 6
SAMPLE LESSON 7
SAMPLE LESSON 8
“Third Quarter”
“Fourth Quarter”-“Overme”
Aer Reading
Extension of Standards to New Material
PERSPECTIVE THROUGH VOCABULARY
CREATING LEGACY: THEME
DEVELOPMENT AND POETIC FORMS
BASKETBALL RULES
THEME ANALYSIS OF POETRY/SHORT
STORY
VOCABULARY LIST
VOCABULARY LIST
VOCABULARY LIST
VOCABULARY LIST
WRITING/SPEAKING PROMPTS (TASK TEMPLATES AND RUBRICS: LDC 2.0, LDC 3.0, ARGUMENT RUBRIC, INFORMATIONAL RUBRIC, NARRATIVE RUBRIC, LDC SPEAKING & LISTENING, SPEECH)
Argument
-Somemes, children make beer decisions than their parents. In the novel
The Crossover, Josh wishes his father would go to the doctor to get checked
for his medical condions. Write a well-defended paragraph that answers
the focus queson: “Should parents somemes have to listen to the advice
of their children?” Use evidence from the text to support your reasoning
and include your own perspecve.
-What movates jealousy? In a well-defended paragraph, analyze what
movates a character’s disloyalty and envy of the ones they love. Argue
whether or not the author should have included the sibling rivalry in the
novel. Was it necessary for the development of plot, theme and/or
characters?
-The Crossover won the Newbery Medal for Literature in 2015. Research
the criteria for The Newbery Medal and argue whether or not The
Crossover deserved to win this wring award.
Informave/Explanatory
-Listen to the NPR Interview with Kwame Alexander, the author of The Crossover,
and determine how his wring is making a dierence in the lives of young
people. Which target audience is he hoping to address? How is his wring
inuencing change?
- Using the poems “Second-Person,” “Third Wheel,” “p-ping point” (pages 114-
119), and any others from “Second Quarter,” determine Josh’s pping point.
Explain the connecon between his pping point and his character traits in the
novel. Explain the connecon between his pping point and a theme topic for
“Second Quarter.” Support your explanaons with evidence from the text.
-Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover contains ten basketball rules poems that
apply to life. Using those poems, determine a theme of the novel and analyze its
development throughout the text. Be sure you are using a theme statement and
not a theme topic. Use any of the following to support your analysis of theme
development: characterizaon, gurave language, word choice, symbolism,
poec form, etc.
Narrave
-Examine the symbolism and signicance of the way “crossover” was used
in the novel. Compare/contrast the use of the word from the beginning of
the novel to the end. Write a narrave poem from Josh’s dad’s perspecve
on the meaning of the word.
-Write a eulogy for Josh’s dad from the perspecve of another character.
How would Josh’s eulogy dier from J. B’s?
- Using any of the poems in The Crossover, have students create a story that
has all of the narrave elements including, dialogue, descripve language,
and acon.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 2
SAMPLE LESSON 1 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH PART A OF RL.7.2.)
Prior to Reading The Crossover
Be sure students understand that “theme” is the moral or lesson of the story and how it diers from main idea. You can use THIS CHART to demonstrate the dierence,
if needed. Sample Lesson 1: These Themes will be a reference point for students in determining and analyzing theme in subsequent secons of the novel.
THEME STATEMENTS
MINI-LESSON: Students need to understand the dierence between a theme topic and a theme statement.
Show "The Only Way You Will Ever Need to Teach Theme" video to the class. It illustrates how one teacher disnguishes between topics and themes and gives
instrucons for an acvity for geng textual supports for themes. The video contains four steps to use to determine a theme statement.
Next, hand out, share digitally, or have students copy the steps from the How to Write a Theme Statement in Six Steps document (below and HERE) into their own
notebooks. It broadens the four steps from the video into six steps that include a pre-step (Step 1) concerning knowing the dierence between theme topics and theme
statements and a nal step (Step 6) for supporng theme statements with text. When going over Step 1, you can connect to this extensive Theme Topic List online or
share a digital or hard copy with students to add to their notebooks for future reference.
Pracce the Six Steps together using a common story such as Frozen or by reading a picture book to students.
How to Write a Theme Statement in Six Steps
(…and not just a theme topic!)
1. Understand that a theme topic is NOT a theme statement.
Examples of Theme Topics: Love, Justice/Injustice, Family, Struggle, the American Dream, Wealth, Inhumanity
2. Finish a text OR a section of the text (not just a chapter).
Hint: Theme cannot be developed in just a chapter.
3. Create a list of theme topics that can be supported with evidence from the text and choose ONE topic that is best demonstrated by the text.
Hint: The great thing about theme is that there can be multiple theme topics that can be supported by the evidence.
4. Write a sentence about what the author believes about that topic.
Example: In
Finding Nemo
, the author believes that a person should learn how to trust themselves and others.
Hint: Don’t use character names or specific details…keep it universal by using “a person” or “one” instead!
Hint: Don’t be too vague! “Family is important” is not a theme statement, but “One should put family before all others” is a theme statement.
5. Cross out “the author believes that” and revise the sentence.
Example: In
Finding Nemo
, the author believes that a person should learn how to trust themselves and others.
Theme Statement: A person should learn how to trust themselves and others.
6. Support with evidence!
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 3
Hint: You should be able to support your theme statement with at least three details from the text to be a strong theme statement.
STUDENT WORKSHOP: Have students work in pairs to pracce wring a theme for a common text. Give each pair a blank sheet of paper and a dierent colored marker
or allow them to work in a shared Google doc. This acvity is detailed at the end of "The Only Way You Will Ever Need to Teach Theme" video.
Step One: Pass out or share digitally a dierent Disney/Pixar picture from the Choice Sheet (below on page 4 and HERE) or let pairs choose one they know.
Step Two: Have pairs write the movie tle at the top of a blank piece of paper or Google doc. They will need to use the steps from the How to Write a Theme
Statement in Six Steps document to create a theme statement for their movie choice. For Step Six, have them only add one support their theme statement. The
teacher can rotate around the room and check theme statements to make sure students are using the steps.
Step Three: Have each pair trade papers or share their Google doc with another pair to check the theme and add another piece of evidence. The new piece of
evidence should be wrien in a dierent color than the rst.
Step Four: Have each pair trade papers or share their Google doc with another pair to check the theme and add another piece of evidence. The new piece of
evidence should be wrien in a dierent color than the rst two.
Step Five: Then, trade papers or share docs again to check the theme and add another piece of evidence. The new piece of evidence should be wrien in a
dierent color than the rst three. There should be three newly added pieces of evidence (four total) for each theme statement.
Step Six: Finally, have the students tape the various theme statements to the wall or add them all to a shared digital folder to serve as model theme statements.
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Individually, have students compose a theme statement for a common text. This common text could be a lm choice from the
Choice Sheet they did not use earlier, a novel read together in class from earlier in the year, or a picture book read as a common text. Use the Theme Statement Rubric
(below on page 5 and HERE) to assess each student’s understanding of wring a supported theme statement. Each theme statement needs to be supported by one
piece of evidence.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 4
Disney/Pixar Movie Choice Sheet
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 5
Theme Statement Rubric
THEME STATEMENT –
NOT A THEME TOPIC
THEME IS UNIVERSAL
THEME IS SUPPORTED
BY EVIDENCE
TEACHER COMMENTS/
STUDENT GOALS
3
Clearly a theme
statement that is
based on a theme
topic
The theme statement is
connected to the text but
could be used for anyone
in any situation
Includes strong
evidence that clearly
links the theme to the
text
2
More a theme topic
than a theme
statement
The theme statement is
connected too much to
the text and not
applicable for anyone in
any situation
Includes evidence
that somewhat links
the theme to the text
1
A theme topic – not a
theme statement
The theme statement is
connected to the text
and not universal
Includes no evidence
or the connection
between the text and
the theme is weak.
TOTAL POINTS:
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 6
SAMPLE LESSON 2 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.4.)
Prior to lesson, students should read pages 3-25: “Warm-Up” and “First Quarter.”
The Mini-Lesson can be done to help introduce students to the gurave language that will be encountered in the novel and how the poet uses the language to paint a
picture. Before the Student Workshop, students should read pages 3-25 which spans the Warm-Up through the beginning of First Quarter.
THE POWER OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
MINI-LESSON: Have students watch three Def Poetry Jam videos: “I Wanna Hear a Poem” by Steve Coleman, “Somewhere There is a Poem” by Gina Loring, and “The
Ball, the Rim and Him” by Al Letson. Before watching each poem, ask students to listen to the way each poet uses language to paint the picture. Watch each video a
second me and ask the students to record any examples of gurave or rhythmic language (metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, alliteraon, repeon, personicaon,
hyperbole, rhyme/rhythm) that helps the reader “experience” the poem on a Def Poetry Jam Recording Sheet (below and HERE). Poems can be viewed in staons or in
small groups on Chromebooks or iPads or in whole class sessions. Note: This Mini-Lesson can be taught in three smaller mini-lesson sessions if you want to focus on the
specic types of gurave language in each lesson. You can also divide the mini-lesson into smaller chunks to be used in conjuncon with in-class reading of the novel.
Next, have students get into groups of three and choose a piece of gurave language displayed on their Def Poetry Jam Recording Sheet from any poem and analyze the
impact it has on the poem. For example, how does Gina Loring and Al Letson’s use of the onomatopoeia “shhhh” impact the poem? Ask each group to share their
analysis with the class.
Metaphor
Simile
Onomatopoeia
Alliteraon
Repeon
Personicaon
Hyperbole
Rhyme/Rhythm
example:
“small circular piece of
Olympia”
example:
“touching the ball like
an ancient relic of
Africa”
example:
“Shhhhh…”
“Slam”
example:
“rumble like a rumba”
example:
“I wanna hear a poem”
“and then, and then,
and then”
example:
“where ideas kiss
similes so deeply that
metaphors get jealous”
example:
“y with the gods”
example:
“This poem comes
from somewhere
deep Somewhere
where the angels
sleep Where pixies
dance and mermaids
weep”
STUDENT WORKSHOP: For this workshop, students will be using the following four poems from The Crossover: “Dribbling” on page 3, “Filthy McNasty” on page 10, “At
the End of Warmups, My Brother Tries to Dunk” on page 24 and “The Show” on page 30. Students can work in pairs, teams of three, or individually. The teacher can
assign one of the listed poems to each group or you can have the students choose one of the four poems.
Step One: Students should nd examples of gurave language used in their assigned/selected poem and analyze how the gurave language impacts the meaning.
Step Two: Students will pracce their poem as a Spoken Word poem – complete with hand gestures, emphasis, body language in preparaon for a class performance.
Step Three: Students will also create an inferenal queson for the class about the impact of one example of gurave language they found in their poem.
Step Four: Each group will perform their poem and “teach” the class about the impact of a piece of gurave language by posing an inferenal queson to them to
answer. Classmates not presenng should using this Spoken Word Rubric to score the performance. You can make copies of the rubric to hand out or share it digitally.
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Have students separate from their groups and respond to this prompt: How does Kwame Alexander use gurave language in
his poems to move the story forward (within single poem and/or collecvely). You can have students respond using spiral/digital notebooks or as a Google classroom
assignment.
*Note: This same lesson can be used at a later me in the reading of the novel with the addion of these poems: “Man to Man” on page 59, “Showo” on page 94, “Fast Break” on page 149,
“The Second Half” on page 181 and “The Last Shot” on page 221.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 7
SAMPLE LESSON 3 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.4.)
Prior to lesson, students should read pages 3-25: “Warm-Up” and “First Quarter.”
SYMBOLISM/ALLUSION
MINI-LESSON: Select a common text and have students pair up to draw and label all of the important objects from that common text. The common text could be
something you have read as a class this year or you can choose a movie from the Choice Sheet from the Sample Lesson 2. If students are unsure if an object is important,
tell them that items repeated or emphasized are generally important. An example from Ratatouille could be the chef’s hat or from The Lion King could be water or the
sun. Have students share their objects in a discussion and create a class list.
Next, pass out or share digitally Symbolism Made Easy (below and HERE). As a class, read through the document poinng out the examples from Cinderella.
As a class, choose one or two of the objects from the lists they created earlier and work through the steps listed in Symbolism Made Easy. It could be helpful to have
students use their Theme Topic List from the Sample Lesson 1 to see a list of ideas that can be linked to objects.
NOTE: This mini-lesson is based on Sarah Johnson’s The Only Way You Will Ever Need to Teach Symbolism video.
Symbolism Made Easy!
1. A SYMBOL is an idea that is represented by an object or thing. In other words, it is something ABSTRACT represented by something CONCRETE.
-Universal symbols exist in multiple texts from diverse times and authors.
Examples Universal Symbols: = Luck = Love = bright idea
-Text-specific symbols only exist in one text.
Example of Text-specific Symbols:
the apple in Snow White = death
2. Draw and label the important objects in a text.
Items repeated or emphasized are generally important.
3. Write down three sentences that show how the characters feel or react to the object.
HOWEVER THE CHARACTERS FEEL OR REACT TO THE OBJECT, IS HOW THEY FEEL OR REACT TO THE IDEA IT REPRESENTS.
Example from
Cinderella
:
The stepsisters desperately want the glass slipper to fit them.
The prince is searching everywhere for the owner of the glass slipper.
Cinderella loses her glass slipper in an attempt to leave before midnight.
4. Substitute an IDEA in for the object in each of the three sentences that fits the text.
Example from
Cinderella
: What does the glass slipper represent—what fits all three sentences? Power? Justice? Happy ending?
The stepsisters desperately want the happy ending to fit them.
The prince is searching everywhere for the owner of the happy ending.
Cinderella loses her happy ending in an attempt to leave before midnight.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 8
-So, glass slipper is a symbol from
Cinderella
that represents happy ending.
STUDENT WORKSHOP: For this workshop, students will be using the following six poems: “Five Reasons I Have Locks” on page 14-15, “The Bet, Part One” on page 32,
“Ode to My Hair” on page 33, “In the Locker Room” on page 38, “ca-lam-i-ty” on page 39 and “Missing” on page 43. Students can work in teams of three.
Step One: Have each team read the six poems twice. During the second read, ask them to pay parcular aenon to an object in all six of the poems: Hair.
Step Two: Ask each team to use the Symbolism Made Easy sheet to determine symbolism for hair. They should complete Steps 3 and 4. Then, ask them to
support the idea they chose as a symbol of hair in these poems with evidence from the text.
Step Three: Share or project the story of “Samson and Delilah.” Read through it as a class, asking the class to pay parcular aenon to the same object they
looked at in the poems: hair.
Step Four: Ask students to compare Josh’s hair to the role hair plays in the story of “Samson and Delilah.” Have students make a connecon between the story
of Samson and Josh. Ask them if they think that Josh’s hair is an allusion to Sampson’s hair, i.e. does Josh’s hair refer or connect to Sampson’s hair. Use the What
is an Allusion (Not Illusion) page to serve as reference for understanding the term “allusion.” It is included below and in a sharable version HERE.
What is an Allusion? (Not Illusion)
1. An ALLUSION is a reference within a text to something famous outside of that text such as a person, place, event, story, work of art, literature,
music or pop culture.
2. Why would an author use an ALLUSION?
Allusions allow readers to connect new information or ideas about characters, setting, plot, theme, etc., to something already known.
3. How can you pick out an ALLUSION?
If something doesn’t “fit” the rest of the text, it could be an allusion. (If it doesn’t fit, question it☺)
In
Aladdin
, the Genie says “Et tu Brute?” after talking about a Caesar salad. This a reference to a line spoken by Caesar in Shakespeare’s
Julius
Caesar
.
In
A Raisin in the Sun
, the line “Good night, Prometheus!” is a reference to a character in Greek mythology.
The entire movie of
Gnomeo and Juliet
is an allusion to Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet
.
4. What are the top three places from which authors pull allusions?
• The Bible
• Shakespeare
• Greek/Roman mythology
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Have students answer the following focus queson in their digital/spiral notebooks or in Google classroom: How does the
author use the symbol of Josh’s hair to represent him? Analyze what this symbol tells the reader about Josh’s character through both symbolism and allusion. Support
your answer with details from the text.
*Note: An extension for this lesson could be to compare Josh’s symbol of “hair” with the song “I Am Not My Hair” by India Arie featuring Akon.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 9
SAMPLE LESSON 4 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.2 AND RL.7.3.)
Prior to Lesson, students should read “Second Quarter.”
FAST CHARACTER DEVELOMENT THROUGH THEME
INTRODUCTION: Pass out, display, or share digitally the FAST Characterizaon Chart (below and HERE). Take me to go over the acronym FAST, explaining that it can be
used when determining characterizaon. Demonstrate to students on the SmartBoard, dry erase board, or shared document that Feelings and Thoughts are internal and
therefore hidden from the other characters using the Iceberg Characterizaon sheet. Explain that characters have an internal life (Feelings and Thoughts) and an external
life (Acons/Behaviors and Sayings/Dialogue). They are like icebergs where only part of their “character” is seen (external) and the rest is hidden beneath the water
(internal). As a class, list Feelings, Acons, Sayings, and Thoughts from The Crossover for Josh on the FAST Characterizaon Chart.
Aer lling in the FAST Characterizaon Chart for Josh, have the students turn and talk to a partner. During their talk, they are to come up with three character traits for
Josh using what the class added to the FAST Characterizaon Chart. To disnguish between character traits and character emoons, you can display, hand out, or share
digitally the Character Emoons vs Character Traits Chart (below and HERE). Some examples of character traits that dene Josh could be: loyalty, determinaon,
egoscal, etc. This INTRODUCTION can be done individually, in pairs, triads or as a whole class.
STUDENT WORKSHOP: This workshop will examine character development through theme analysis in the “Second Quarter” secon of The Crossover. Based on what
they have discovered about Josh’s character traits in the INTRODUCTION, have the students make a class list of all possible Theme Topics for the “Second Quarter” of
The Crossover and have students evaluate the list to determine the BEST three Theme Topics. Examples of BEST Theme Topics for this secon of the novel could be:
family, identy, loss of innocence, etc. It could be helpful to have students use their Theme Topic List from the Sample Lesson 1.
Choose One of These Opons:
• Evidence Carousel: Write each Theme Topic (you can use more than three if desired) at the top of a sheet of chart paper or have them at the top of an
electronic document. Place the charts or electronic devices with open documents around the room. Have students work in teams of two or three. Give each
team a dierent color of Post-It or assign them a dierent color of text. Tell them to refer to their FAST Characterizaon Chart and the novel to write down any
evidence that supports the theme topic. You can make this a med acvity and have a “winner” with the most evidence that supports or assign dierent teams
dierent topics.
• Pass-Around Rotaons: This opon depends on the size of your class and works well if you don’t have access to the chart paper and Post-Its. For a large class
(28 or more) divide the class into 4 secons and have a “recorder” in each secon write each theme topic on a piece of printer paper or on a shared document
if using electronic devices. For a smaller class, you can divide it into thirds or in half and follow the same process. In each secon, you can distribute dierent
colored pencils or pens and have students work in pairs or trios to write down evidence to support the theme topic at the top of the paper. Aer 5 minutes,
have each team switch and repeat the process unl all groups have seen all three theme topics.
Have the whole class look at the theme topic sheets to determine the BEST evidence used support each theme topic. Ask them to explain the connecon of each theme
to Josh’s character traits. To deepen students’ understanding, have them determine a symbol for this secon of the novel that best exemplies Josh’s character
development and the theme development. Some examples could be: sweet tea, doughnuts, the color green (jealousy), bloody nose, etc. Aer choosing a few symbols
for this secon of the novel, ask them to decide which of the three theme topics would this symbol best represent?
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Using the poems “Second-Person,” “Third Wheel,” “p-ping point” (pages 114-119), and any others from “Second Quarter,”
determine Josh’s pping point. Explain the connecon between his pping point and his character traits in the novel. Explain the connecon between his pping point
and one of the theme topics for “Second Quarter.” Support your explanaons with evidence from the text.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 10
FAST Characterizaon Chart
Feelings the character has Acons the character does
Sayings the character says Character Name Thoughts the character has
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 11
Character Emoons vs Character Traits
EMOTIONS
TRAITS
Emoons describe how a character fees at a certain me.
Traits describe the character’s personality.
Ask: How does the character feel right now?
Ask: How does the character usually behave?
Examples:
Scared
Surprised
Angry
Upset
Embarrassed
Jealous
Excited
Impaent
Calm
Loved
Abandoned
Jused
Inferior
“Like a Boss”
Appreciated
Examples:
Kind
Bossy
Determined
Shy
Outgoing
Mean
Friendly
Reckless
Brave
Generous
Selsh
Energec
Condent
Compassionate
Hardworking
From TeacherTrap.com
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 12
SAMPLE LESSON 5 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.4.)
Prior to this lesson, students should read “Third Quarter.”
PERSPECTIVE THROUGH VOCABULARY
MINI-LESSON: For this mini-lesson, students will see how the connotaon of a word or phrase can change based on the character’s perspecve. This lesson will be based
on the following poems (and any others students choose from the beginning of the book through the “Third Quarter”:
• “Josh Bell” pages 4-5
• “How I Got My Nickname” pages 6-7
• “At rst” pages 8-9
• “Filthy McNasty” page 10
• “Boy walks into a room” page 112
• “I run Into Dad’s room” pages 165-167
Have students reread these poems with this focus queson in mind: How does each character view Josh’s nickname? While they are reading, you can play the song
that inspired Josh’s nickname “Filthy McNasty.” Have the following characters wrien on the board or in a shared electronic document HERE: Josh, J.B., Dad, Mom, Miss
Sweet Tea, and The Team/Coach. Have students write on the board, on Post-Its, or type into shared document to answer the focus queson for each character. Below is
an example for each character with supporng text. You can also nd these examples in the shared electronic document HERE.
Josh
J. B.
Dad
Mom
Miss Sweet Tea
The Team/Coach
Example:
He views his nickname as a
moniker for his basketball skills.
“Folks call me that / ‘cause my
game’s acclaimed”
Example:
He views the nickname as a way
to make fun of Josh.
“my nickname / some dirty
punchline”
Example:
He views the nickname as
greatness personied.
“I’m dedicang this next song to
you . . . / Only the best song. /
“FILTHY McNASTY.”
Example:
She views the nickname literally.
“it ts you perfectly . . . / You
never clean your closet”
Example:
She views he nickname as a
joke.
“and my nickname, some dirty
punch line”
Example:
They view the nickname as a
rallying cry.
“My teammates gather around /
to salute. / FILTHY, FILTHY,
FILTHY, FILTHY, they chant.”
In a class discussion, examine how the perspecve of Josh’s nickname changes based on the character. Support each perspecve with evidence from the text. You could
do this in a scored discussion where the students get one or two pieces of tape each. They write their names on the pieces of tape. When a student is able to give
evidence from the text for a given perspecve, the teacher takes one of their pieces of tape and awards them points. The example is then wrien under the character’s
perspecve.
As a wrap-up of the MINI-LESSON and a pre-cursor to the STUDENT WORKSHOP, have students pracce determining the connotaon of words based on the perspecve
of dierent people. Tell the students that just as Josh’s nickname had a dierent meaning depending upon character perspecves, regular everyday words have diering
connotaons depending upon whose perspecve is using them. Use these two examples to make your point. Have students discuss how the meaning of the words
change based on the perspecves of the groups listed.
• Snow Day-perspecves of students, parents, teachers, superintendent, principals
• Money-perspecves of someone who is rich, someone who is broke, an adult, a kid, someone who was robbed, the robber
STUDENT WORKSHOP: This lesson will examine the connecon between dierent characters’ perspecve and the author’s vocabulary choice. Throughout this novel,
the author presents us with many words or phrases that are seen through a parcular character’s perspecves. This workshop allows students to see the same words
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 13
through other characters’ perspecves. Although the word may only appear in the text in the perspecve of one or two of the characters, students will have to nd text
that could oer an idea of how that same word would be seen in other characters’ perspecves. Pass out the Perspecve Through Vocabulary sheet (below or HERE).
Using the example of “volcanic,” add evidence from the text for each character that supports the denion/connotaon for that word from their perspecve. There are
many ways to use this sheet with students:
• Cut the sheet into strips and give teams one strip to write their connotaon and support it with evidence. This could be a jigsaw acvity where each team
teaches their word/phrase through dierent perspecves.
• Have a team of students work on one character. They would need to focus on one character to explain that person’s connotaon of all of the words. This could
also be a jigsaw acvity to teach to the class.
• You can have students make an inference of their word connotaon and then trade papers to add the evidence to support.
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Reect on Josh’s relaonship with his dad. In a journal entry, have the students write about the type of father Chuck Bell is. Do
the words “father,” “dad,” and “daddy” mean the same when used to describe Chuck? What connotaons do those words have for you? If some students are
struggling with the nal queson due to absent father gures, you can show them the poem “Knock Knock.” This poem is very empowering for students. You can have
them compare/contrast Chuck Bell with the father in this poem instead
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 14
PERSPECTIVE THROUGH VOCABULARY
Word/Phrase
Josh’s
Connotaon/
Perspecve
J. B.’s
Connotaon/
Perspecve
Mom’s
Connotaon/
Perspecve
Dad’s
Connotaon/
Perspecve
J. B. ‘s girlfriend’s
Connotaon /
Perspecve
Volcanic (137)
Example:
festering
The silence in the car is
heavy and gurgling like hot
lava below the surface just
waing to explode.
Example:
erupng
The blood coming from his
nose aer Josh’s foul
Example:
connually heated
Her frustraon with Dad
because he’s not taking care
of his health
Example:
hot-tempered
His temper during the
games when he is yelling at
the referees
Example:
Avoidance, like hot lava
Her disgust with Josh over
hurng J. B.
Churlish (138,
142, 143, 175)
Wildre (148)
Ironic (153)
Profusely (153,
154)
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 15
Words/Phrases
Josh’s
Connotaon
J. B.’s
Connotaon
Mom’s
Connotaon
Dad’s
Connotaon
J.B.’s Girlfriend’s
Connotaon
empty as red
cannons (156)
bier (sweet)
(170)
Pulchritudinous
(171)
Estranged (186,
187)
Pulse (196)
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 16
SAMPLE LESSON 6 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.2 AND RL.7.5.)
Prior to this lesson, students should read “Fourth Quarter” and “Overme.”
CREATING LEGACY: THEME DEVELOPMENT AND POETIC FORMS
MINI-LESSON: This MINI-LESSON will connue this resource’s focus on Standard 2. Have students respond to the journal queson: What is a “legacy” and how does a
person create a legacy? Then, have students use that journal entry to create a class list of adjecves that describe a “legacy” or a “legend” on the board and generate a
class list of verbs that explain the acons of creang a legacy. Have students conduct a Think/Pair/Share to answer this queson: Has the character Chuck “Da Man”
Bell created a legacy? To do this, each student will independently write a response to the queson below their journal entry. Then, they will turn to a partner and share
each of their responses and nally, they will share out as a class.
Next, have students work through Steps 4 through 6 from the How to Write a Theme Statement in Six Steps using the theme topic “Legacy.” Remind them to add
evidence to support their theme statement. This can be done individually for a student check for understanding or in partners or small groups for struggling students. To
model best themes, have students leave their names o their theme statements; instead have each student write their Student ID number on the paper. Place students
in Read-Around Groups of 3-5 depending on the size of your class and randomly pass out the student-wrien theme statements. Tell students not to shout out if they
see their own paper or a friends’ paper. Be sure students can also access the Theme Statement Rubric from Lesson 1 to use as reference of the criteria that makes a
good theme statement. Have each group rank the theme statements they were given from “best” to “needs improvement.” They can use Post-Its to write suggesons to
improve the theme statement/evidence or make specic praises about the theme statement/evidence. Have each team share out their “winning” theme statement and
explain to the class what made it so successful. This strategy will give your struggling students an exemplar model for theme that you can copy and have them add to
their notebook and will give your higher-level learners ways to make their theme statements/evidence stronger and more specic.
STUDENT WORKSHOP: Throughout the novel, there are many dierent poec forms, styles, and structures used by the author to tell the story. Among these are:
• Epistolary Poem & Apology Poem: “Dear Jordan” (159)
• Free Verse Poems: “On the way to the game” (13), “At the End of Warm-Ups, My Brother Tries to Dunk” (24–25), “The game is ed” (36), “Missing” (43),
“Sundays Aer Church” (50)
• List Poems: “Five Reasons I Have Locks” (14–15), “Things I Learn at Dinner” (172), “Mom, since you asked, I’ll tell you why I’m so angry” (204)
• Tanka Poem: “Tanka for Language Arts Class” (212)
• Tercet: “JB and I” (23)
• Text Poems: “Text Messages from Mom, Part One” (179–180), “Text Messages from Vondie” (205), “Text Messages from Mom, Part Two” (218)
• Two Word Poem: “At Noon, in the Gym, with Dad” (194–196)
• Unrhymed Couplets: “Conversaon” (17, 123) “Suspension” (138)
Display and share digitally the Poetry in The Crossover slides. Talk through each of the poem types, explicitly showing their dening aributes. Have students choose one
type of poem type from the slides and read and reect on the poem(s) wrien in that form/structure. Ask them to choose one of the theme topics of this novel to create
a poem in the type they have chosen. It could be helpful to have students use their Theme Topic List from the Sample Lesson 1 and/or direct them to lists that were
created in class from previous lessons or journal entries. You can choose to have students use vocabulary words from The Crossover (HERE and HERE) in their poems.
They could have a designated number of words, e.g. three you choose and three a partner chooses, that must be include in their poems in order to add depth of
vocabulary and use of gurave language. If students are struggling with adding gurave language into their poems, teach them to web the vocabulary words (see
example below and HERE). Students’ should follow the Poetry Analysis Rubric (shown below and HERE) to be sure they are meeng the required elements.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 17
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Have students write a modied Generave Sentence. Explain that they will need to write one sentence that contains exactly 15
words and includes the words “legacy” and “father” and answers this focus queson: Explain why the author ends Fourth Quarter with a basketball game. This is a
modied Generave Sentence because you are not specifying the locaon of the words they must include.
Webbing Words to Produce Figurative Language
Web a Vocabulary Word
black
can write with it hard
charcoal
leaves a stain used to light res
Which Use/Purpose of the Word BEST Fits the Poem
If the poem was about love….
He wrote his inials in charcoal on my heart
If the poem was about abandonment…
She le my soul as black as charcoal
If the poem is about anger…
His words were charcoal…smoldering a re of hate in my
chest
Think Outside the Box
• A heart can be “stched” together with
“needle” and “thread”
• An enemy can pretend to be your best friend
by delivering a “bouquet” of “bullets”
• The “dusk” can melt into the ocean like a
child’s unwanted “popsicle”
• Lies can taste like bier fruit.
Poetry Analysis Rubric
RELATES TO THE TOPIC
ASSIGNED
INCLUDES FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
EXPLORES A POETRY
TYPE
COMMENTS/THINGS TO
CONSIDER
3
The poem completely
connects to one of the
theme topics
The poem has ample
figurative language
based on the Vocabulary
lists
The poem is clearly
modeled after one of
the poetry types
2
The poem somewhat
connects to one of the
theme topics
The poem has some
figurative language
based on the Vocabulary
lists
The poem is loosely
based on one of the
poetry types
1
The poem does not
connect to one of the
theme topics
The poem is missing
figurative language
The poem is not
related to any of the
poetry types.
TOTAL POINTS:
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 18
SAMPLE LESSON 7 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.2 AND RL.7.3.)
Prior to this Lesson, students should have completed the novel.
BASKETBALL RULES
MINI-LESSON: Throughout the novel, the author uses basketball to teach life lessons. Pass out the compilaon of the Basketball Rules Poems from The Crossover (below
and HERE) for student use during this lesson. This lesson will help students see the connecon between plot and characters. For each basketball rule poem, students will
connect a plot event and the character(s) associated with the rule using the Basketball Rules Chart (below and HERE). On the Chart, there is an example you can work
through as a whole class. There are dierent ways you can use this mini-lesson to reinforce how literary elements interact:
• Students can work individually to choose a Basketball Rule and make the connecon between plot event and characters & support with evidence.
• Students can rotate through staons with each Basketball Rule poem at a staon to complete in small groups or with partners.
• Students can complete the plot event and character connecon in teams and trade with other teams to provide evidence to support the connecons.
Students can share their connecons and evidence as a whole class through a jigsaw or quiz each other about the connecons.
WRITING WORKSHOP: This workshop will ask students to determine a theme in The Crossover using the items from the MINI-LESSON. Have students take out their
completed Basketball Rules Chart (below and HERE), the Basketball Rules Poems from The Crossover (below and HERE), their Theme Topic List from the Sample Lesson 1,
the How to Write a Theme Statement in Six Steps document, and any other items they have worked on during their reading of The Crossover that deal with theme. They
will use them to answer the following prompt in a fully developed essay. They should write this essay electronically in their CCS WRITING PORTFOLIO folder.
• Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover contains ten basketball rules poems that apply to life. Using those poems, determine a theme of the novel and analyze
its development throughout the text. Be sure your theme is a theme statement and not a theme topic. Use any of the following to support your analysis
of theme development: characterizaon, gurave language, word choice, symbolism, poec form, etc.
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Have students evaluate their essays using the LDC Reading Standard Rubric for RL.7.2. This will show them if their essay is
meeng or not meeng the Grade 7 Standard Reading Literature Standard for Theme. Aer they nish revising, use your eding tools in Google docs to give them
feedback. (Note: If you also want to assess their essays for Wring Standard 2, you will need to add addional Wring Workshops with mini-lessons addressing what
aspects of Wring Standard 2 you will be assessing. You may want to use a Summary Document and LDC Informave Explanatory Rubric to help with progress and
assessment.)
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 19
Basketball Rules Poems from The Crossover
Basketball Rule #1
In this game of life
your family is the court
and the ball is your heart
No maer how good you are,
no maer how down you get,
always leave
your heart
on the court.
Basketball Rule #2
(random text from dad)
Hustle dig
Grind push
Run fast
Change pivot
Chase pull
Aim shoot
Work smart
Live smarter
Play hard
Pracce harder
Basketball Rule #3
Never let anyone
lower your goals,
Others’ expectaons
of you are determined
by their limitaons
of life.
The sky is your limit, sons.
Always shoot
for the sun
and you will shine.
Basketball Rule #4
If you miss
enough of life’s
free throws
you will pay
in the end.
Basketball Rule #5
When
you stop
playing
your game
you’ve already
lost.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 20
Basketball Rule #6
A great team
has a good scorer
with a teammate
who’s on point
and ready
to assist.
Basketball Rule #7
Rebounding
is the art
of ancipang
of always being prepared
to grab it.
But you can’t
drop the ball.
Basketball Rule #8
Somemes
you have to
lean back
a lile
and
fade away
to get
the best
shot.
Basketball Rule #9
When the game is on
the line,
don’t fear.
Grab the ball.
Take it
to the hoop.
Basketball Rule #10
A loss is inevitable,
like snow in winter.
True champions
learn
to dance
through
the storm
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 21
Basketball Rules Chart: Connecng Plot and Character in Poetry
Basketball Rules
Connecon to Plot Event
Connecon to Character
Evidence to Support
#1
The connecon to the plot event is the
author introducing Josh’s family to the
reader. It shows how important his family
is to him.
He uses basketball to describe his family
because he loves basketball.
This poem connects to Josh’s enre
family: Josh, J. B., Mom, and Dad.
“My job now is to take care of this family”
(17).
“. . . but honestly, right now I’m fine
coaching this house and keeping up with
you and your brother” (18).
“You boys ought to treasure your mother’s
love” (16).
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 22
SAMPLE LESSON 8 (THIS LESSON IS ALIGNED WITH RL.7.2, RL.7.3, AND RL.7.4.)
Extension of Standards to New Material: This lesson will allow students to demonstrate mastery with the standards of determining theme, interpreng and applying
symbols and analyzing the impact of gurave language using text not related to The Crossover.
EXTENSION OF STANDARDS
INTRODUCTION: The aim of this lesson is for students to apply the skills developed through this unit by analyzing new material. Many of the lessons have focused on
determining theme, interpreng and applying symbols, and analyzing the impact of gurave language. This lesson will expand students’ ability by having them apply
these skills to a Maya Angelou poem, compare that Maya Angelou poem to a William Wordsworth poem, and analyze the short story “The Gi of the Magi”.
Have students read the poem “Sll I Rise” by Maya Angelou at least twice to get a good understanding of the poem. They may mark up the poem to fully analyze it using
any protocols you used during the reading of The Crossover or this Unlocking Poetry sheet. HERE is the poem in a sharable doc. Individually, have students refer to their
How to Write a Theme Statement in Six Steps and their Theme Topic List. Have them use the six steps to write a theme statement for the poem. Using this theme
statement, have them complete the Literary Elements Theme Connecon Sheet (below and HERE). Having students complete this individually will allow you to
determine if students have achieved mastery on these standards.
Have students write their theme statements around the room. Students can conduct a gallery walk and evaluate the theme statements of their classmates. Students
should be able to see that there can be more than one correct theme statement, as long as it can be supported by the text. Have students take down the theme
statements and group theme statements that are the same or similar. You can use hula hoops, tape, or draw circles on your board or on a shared doc to make visuals for
students to group connected theme statements. When all theme statements are grouped, students can work in pairs or triads to support them with evidence from the
text. These can be wrien as an assignment in Google Classroom, on paper/post-its, on a shared doc, etc.
STUDENT WORKSHOP: Have students read the poem “Daodils” by William Wordsworth three mes. HERE is the poem in a sharable doc. Have students refer to the
Quizlet Vocabulary for this poem during a rst reading. During a second reading, have students determine what the symbol of a daodil represents based on the use in
the poem. A third reading should have students using the personicaon in the poem to determine the meaning the poet intends. Hold a class discussion for students to
demonstrate their understanding of the poem aer the three readings. They may mark up the poem to fully analyze it using any protocols you used during the reading
of The Crossover or this Unlocking Poetry sheet.
Have students use this discussion to write a theme statement for the poem in small groups. The theme statement should be created based on their How to Write a
Theme Statement in Six Steps and students’ Theme Topic List. The theme should be supported by evidence from the text.
Students should compare the theme statements from “Sll I Rise” by Maya Angelou (sharable version) to Daodils” by William Wordsworth (sharable version). How are
the poems similar in meaning and technique? In what ways are the themes related? In what ways do the themes dier? How can you prove this analysis?
REFLECTION/FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: As an assessment, have students read “The Gi of the Magi” by O. Henry (below and HERE) and respond to the Literary
Elements quesons at the end of the text.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 23
LITERARY ELEMENTS THEME CONNECTION SHEET
THEME/FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE/SYMBOLISM
POSSIBLE THEME TOPICS
THE AUTHOR BELIEVES THAT ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THEME STATEMENT: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE FROM THE TEXT THAT SUPPORTS THE THEME STATEMENT
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How does this gurave language support the theme statement?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYMBOL FROM THE TEXT THAT SUPPORT THE THEME STATEMENT
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How does this symbol support the theme statement?
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 24
O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi
(1) One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and
the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della
counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is
made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did
not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also
appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
(5) The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the
income was shrunk to $20, the letters of "Dillingham" looked blurred, as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D.
But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young,
already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence
in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she
could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87
to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling - something
just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 Bat. A very thin and very agile person may, by
observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty
seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his
father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang
out of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in
the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
(10) So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a
garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn
red carpet. On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out
of the door and down the stairs to the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: 'Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.' One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too
white, chilly, hardly looked the 'Sofronie.'
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."
Down rippled the brown cascade.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 25
(15)"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practiced hand.
"Give it to me quick" said Della.
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.
She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them
inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious
ornamentation - as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him.
Quietness and value - the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 78 cents. With that chain
on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the
old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.
When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work
repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task dear friends - a mammoth task. Within forty minutes her head
was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and
critically.
(20) "If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do -
oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"
At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops. Jim was never late. Della doubled
the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the
first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she
whispered: "Please, God, make him think I am still pretty."
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two - and to be burdened with a
family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that
she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared
for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face. Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you
a present. It'll grow out again - you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You
don't know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."
(25)"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet, even after the hardest mental labour.
"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"
Jim looked about the room curiously. "You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you - sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the
hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on,
Jim?"
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in
the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year - what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi
brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
(30) Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table. "Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's
anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you
had me going a while at first."
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears
and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 26
For there lay The Combs - the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-
shell, with jeweled rims - just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and
yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were
gone.
But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" And then
Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to {lash with a reflection
of her bright and ardent spirit.
(35) "Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see
how it looks on it."
Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.
"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money
to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."
The magi, as you know, were wise men - wonderfully wise men - who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas
presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related
to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a
last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are
wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
Connection Question
Explain the connection between the “wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the
manger” and the couple, Jim and Della. Support your answer with a detail from the text.
Character Question
What aspect of the couple’s character is revealed in this passage? Support your answer with a detail from the text for
each character.
Theme/Setting Question
Identify the theme of this text. Explain how the setting helps the reader identify the theme. Support your answer
with a detail from the text that would connect the theme to the setting.
Plot Question
In paragraph 10, how do the following words/phrases “nervously and quickly,” “faltered,” “tear,” and “on went her
old brown hat” all move the plot of the story forward? Support your answer with a detail from the text.
Symbolism Question
Determine how “magi” is a symbol in this text. Support your answer with details from the text.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 27
SHORTER LITERARY TEXTS FOR PAIRING
“Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in ight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
Nature’s rst green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a ower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Excerpt from “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
I had assumed that my talent-show asco meant that I would never have to
play the piano again. But two days later, aer school, my mother came out of
the kitchen and saw me watching TV. "Four clock," she reminded me, as if it
were any other day. I was stunned, as though she were asking me to go
through the talent-show torture again. I planted myself more squarely in front
of the TV. "Turn o TV," she called from the kitchen ve minutes later.
I didn't budge. And then I decided, I didn't have to do what mother said
anymore. I wasn't her slave. This wasn't China. I had listened to her before, and
look what happened she was the stupid one. She came out of the kitchen and
stood in the arched entryway of the living room. "Four clock," she said once
again, louder.
"I'm not going to play anymore," I said nonchalantly. "Why should I? I'm not a
genius. She stood in front of the TV. I saw that her chest was heaving up and
down in an angry way. "No!" I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self
had nally emerged. So this was what had been inside me all along. "No! I
won't!" I screamed.
She snapped o the TV, yanked me by the arm and pulled me o the oor. She
was frighteningly strong, half pulling, half carrying me towards the piano as I
kicked the throw rugs under my feet. She lied me up onto the hard bench. I
was sobbing by now, looking at her bierly. Her chest was heaving even more
and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased that I was
crying. "You want me to be something that I'm not!" I sobbed. " I'll never be
the kind of daughter you want me to be!"
"Only two kinds of daughters," she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are
obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can
live in this house. Obedient daughter!"
"Then I wish I weren't your daughter, I wish you weren't my mother," I
shouted. As I said these things I got scared. It felt like worms and toads and
slimy things crawling out of my chest, but it also felt good, that this awful side
of me had surfaced, at last. “Too late to change this," my mother said shrilly.
And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking point. I wanted see it spill
over. And that's when I remembered the babies she had lost in China, the ones
we never talked about. "Then I wish I'd never been born!" I shouted. “I wish I
were dead! Like them." It was as if I had said magic words. Alakazam!-her face
went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she backed out of the
room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf…
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 28
Excerpt from “Hoops” by Walter Dean Myers
One of the things my father used to say was how his days were piling up on him. When I
told him I didn’t know what that meant, he said one day I would.
“Right now,” he said, “you got your days lled up with playing and going to school. Then
aer a while you gonna start dreaming about this and that, and you gonna lay your days
out in front of yourself like an imaginary road. That’s what I did.”
“Then what happened?” I asked.
“Then they started piling up on me,” he said. He looked away and didn’t say anything
else, and I knew the conversaon was over. When he looked away like that, there
wasn’t any use to keep on talking.
Aer he split, I stayed around the house a lot. I did most of the things I was supposed to
do, like making the school scene and helping out around the house. I got a lile job at
the Grant, a lile run-down hotel, when I got to be sixteen. That was really okay. I could
earn a few bucks, and I could crash there when my moms got on my back too much. By
my senior year she was on my back just about all the me, too. Something had come up
between us that put an edge on everything we did. It wasn’t anything I could really lay
out and say, “Hey, there it is,” as much as it was a feeling. I’d be sing in the kitchen
eang and she’d come in and make some remark about how late I was staying out or
something, and I just wouldn’t want to hear it. So I’d nish eang as soon as I could and
then bust over to the Grant to spend the night there and cool out.
When I thought about it, I knew it wasn’t so much that I had changed, or even that she
had changed, but the situaon was dierent than it had been, and we couldn’t talk
about it. When I was younger, I used to tell myself I was going to do this or do that and I
believed it. Now I didn’t know. For a long me Moms hung on to that old stu, about
me going to college and making something of myself. When I would lay in bed at the
Grant, waing for the next day to roll around, I was also waing for something to
happen, something to change my life. It was like I was running in a marathon and
suddenly forgot where the nish line was. But I knew I sll had a place to get to, even if
I couldn’t see it, and I knew I was scared to stop running.
All along, though, I had my game. My game was my fame, and I knew it was together.
From the rst me I played basketball in grade school I was good. I was good, but I was
short then. Some of the older guys used to call me runt. “You got a sweet game for a
kid, runt,” they’d say.
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 29
INFORMATIONAL TEXTS FOR PAIRING
“Helping boys become respecul men through their love of basketball” a
NewsELA.com arcle
“Dads, daughters on rm foong at these dances” a NewsELA.com arcle
“Leers Between a Black Father and Son” a Time Magazine arcle
“I Am Sll The Greatest” a This I Believe essay from Muhammed Ali
MEDIA/VISUAL TEXTS FOR PAIRINGS
YouTube video of basketball crossovers
Kwame Alexander homepage
PBS Newshour interview with Kwame Alexander
The art of Father’s Day
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 30
OHIO’S LEARNING STANDARDS-CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS-READING LITERATURE, GRADE 7
CITE SEVERAL PIECES OF
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE TO
SUPPORT ANALYSIS OF WHAT THE TEXT
SAYS EXPLICITLY AS WELL AS
INFERENCES DRAWN FROM THE TEXT.
Essential Understanding
-Reading comprehension
-Draw inferences
-Cite specific textual
examples and details to
support inferences and text
meaning
-Analyze the text
-MLA formatting for in-text
citations and works cited
pages
*Extended Understanding
-Evaluate the strength
textual citations
Academic
Vocabulary/Language
-analyze/analysis
-cite
-drawn
-explicit
-inference
-MLA formang
-several
-textual evidence
CCR ANCHOR: READ CLOSELY TO DETERMINE WHAT THE TEXT SAYS
EXPLICITLY AND TO MAKE LOGICAL INFERENCES FROM IT, CITE SPECIFIC
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE WHEN WRITING OR SPEAKING TO SUPPORT
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE TEXT.
ULTIMATE LEARNING
TARGET TYPE:
REASONING
BROAD LEARNING TARGET:
The student can cite several pieces of textual evidence to support an analysis of what the text says and
inferences it makes.
Underpinning Knowledge Learning Targets:
The student can recognize textual evidence.
The student can recognize inferences.
Underpinning Reasoning Learning Targets:
The student can analyze text to cite textual evidence that is explicitly stated.
The student can analyze text to cite textual evidence that is inferred.
Underpinning Product Learning Targets:
The student can use correct MLA format for in-text citaons.
The student can use correct MLA format for works cited pages.
RL. 7. 1
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 31
OHIO’S LEARNING STANDARDS-CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS-READING LITERATURE, GRADE 7
ANALYZE LITERARY TEXT
DEVELOPMENT.
A. DETERMINE A THEME OF A TEXT AND ANALYZE ITS
DEVELOPMENT OVER THE COURSE OF THE TEXT.
B. INCORPORATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A THEME AND
OTHER STORY DETAILS INTO AN OBJECTIVE SUMMARY
OF THE TEXT.
Essential Understanding
-Reading comprehension
-Recognize and understand
theme
-Trace and analyze theme
development
-Summarize a theme of a text by
including development and story
details.
-Avoid putting opinion or
judgment into objective
summaries
*Extended Understanding
-Types and uses of details,
literary elements, and figurative
language
Academic
Vocabulary/Language
-analyze
-central idea
-details
-determine
-development
-incorporate
-judgment
-objecve
-opinion
-story details
-summarize/summary
-theme
CCR ANCHOR: DETERMINE CENTRAL IDEAS OR THEMES OF A TEXT AND
ANALYZE THEIR DEVELOPMENT; SUMMARIZE THE KEY SUPPORTING
DETAILS AND IDEAS.
ULTIMATE LEARNING
TARGET TYPE:
REASONING
BROAD LEARNING TARGETS:
The student can analyze literary text development.
The student can determine a theme and analyze its development over the course of the
text.
The student can incorporate the development of a theme and other story details into an
objecve summary of the text.
Underpinning Knowledge Learning Targets:
The student can dene, understand, and recognize theme and summary.
The student can follow the progression of theme in a text.
The student can recognize story details to be included in a summary.
The student can summarize the theme in a text.
Underpinning Reasoning Learning Targets:
The student can disnguish between textual facts and opinions.
RL. 7. 2
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 32
OHIO’S LEARNING STANDARDS-CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS-READING LITERATURE, GRADE 7
ANALYZE HOW
PARTICULAR ELEMENTS OF
A STORY OR DRAMA INTERACT (E.G.,
HOW SETTING SHAPES THE CHARACTERS
OR PLOT).
Essential Understanding
-Understand and identify
author’s choices in regards
to literary elements such as
plot line & characterization
-Understand and identify
varied literary elements and
storytelling techniques
-Analyze the impact of
author’s choices on
development of and
relationships between
literary elements in a story
or drama
Academic
Vocabulary/Language
-analyze
-develop
-gurave language
*See your adopted
textbook’s glossary for
grade-level appropriate
literary elements as they
are too numerous to list
here.
-impact
-literary elements
(plot, theme, seng, tone,
dicon, characterizaon, etc.)
CCR ANCHOR:ANALYZE HOW AND WHY INDIVIDUALS, EVENTS, AND IDEAS
DEVELOP AND INTERACT OVER THE COURSE OF A TEXT.
ULTIMATE LEARNING
TARGET TYPE: REASONING
BROAD LEARNING TARGETS:
The students can analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to
develop and relate elements of a story or drama.
Underpinning Knowledge Learning Targets:
The student can understand and idenfy varied literary elements (plot, theme,
characterizaon, etc.) and storytelling techniques (deus ex machina, unreliable narrator,
ashback, etc.) in a text.
Underpinning Reasoning Learning Targets:
The student can analyze how elements of a story or drama are developed and/or
interrelated.
RL. 7. 3
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 33
OHIO’S LEARNING STANDARDS-CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS-READING LITERATURE, GRADE 7
DETERMINE THE MEANING OF WORDS
AND PHRASES AS THEY ARE USED IN A
TEXT, INCLUDING FIGURATIVE AND
CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS; ANALYZE
THE IMPACT OF SPECIFIC LANGUAGE CHOICES, SUCH AS
SENSORY WORDS OR PHRASES, ON MEANING AND TONE,
INCLUDING RHYMES AND OTHER REPETITIONS OF SOUNDS
(E.G., ALLITERATION) ON A SPECIFIC VERSE OR STANZA OF A
POEM OR SECTION OF A STORY OR DRAMA.
Essential Understanding
-Interpret words and phrases
-Determine figurative and
connotative word meanings in
a text
-Identify and analyze varied
sound repetitions in poetry
and prose
-Understand how word choice
(diction), figurative language,
and sound repetition impact
meaning and tone
-Interpret sensory words and
phrases
*Extended Understanding
-Identify and analyze rhetorical
repetitions
Academic
Vocabulary/Language
-analyze
-connotaon/denotaon
-dicon
-gurave language
(See your adopted textbook’s glossary
for grade-level appropriate gurave
language devices or
hps://literarydevices.net/gurave-
language/.)
-phrases
-sensory language
-sound repeon (rhyme, rhyme
scheme, alliteraon, assonance,
anaphora, epistrophe, epanalepsis,
sibilance, etc.)
-stanza
-verse
CCR ANCHOR: INTERPRET WORDS AND PHRASES AS THEY ARE USED IN
A TEXT, INCLUDING DETERMINING TECHNICAL, CONNOTATIVE, AND
FIGURATIVE MEANINGS, AND ANALYZE HOW SPECIFIC WORD CHOICES
SHAPE MEANING OR TONE.
ULTIMATE LEARNING
TARGET TYPE:
REASONING
BROAD LEARNING TARGETS:
The student can determine the gurave, literal, and connotave meanings of words and phrases based on how
they are used in a text.
The students can analyze the impact of specic language choices, such as sensory language on meaning and tone.
The student can analyze the impact of rhymes and other repeon of sound on a specic verse or stanza of a
poem or secon of a story or drama.
Underpinning Knowledge Learning Targets:
The student can idenfy words and phrases that have connotave and gurave meaning used in a text.
The student can idenfy repeons of sound and sensory language in a text.
The student can idenfy tone in a text.
Underpinning Reasoning Learning Targets:
The student can determine, interpret, clarify, or verify the gurave, literal, and connotave meanings of words and phrases
by using context clues, applying knowledge of Greek/Lan axes and roots, and/or consulng reference materials.
RL. 7. 4
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 34
OHIO’S LEARNING STANDARDS-CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS-READING LITERATURE, GRADE 7
ANALYZE HOW A
DRAMA’S OR POEM’S
FORM OR STRUCTURE (E.G.,
SOLILOQUY, SONNET) CONTRIBUTES TO
ITS MEANING.
Essential Understanding
-Identify and understand
drama structures/forms
-Identify and understand
poetic structures/forms
-Understand and analyze
how dramatic and poetic
structure contributes to
meaning in a text
*Extended Understanding
-Close reading
Academic
Vocabulary/Language
-analyze
-drama and poetry
structures (aside, comedy,
plot line, scene, verse, line,
soliloquy, stanza types,
tragedy, etc.)
-poetic forms (lyric-elegy,
ode, sonnet; narrative-epic,
ballad; dramatic;
open/closed-free verse,
blank verse; light verse-
limerick, epigram; etc.)
CCR ANCHOR: ANALYZE THE STRUCTURE OF TEXTS, INCLUDING HOW
SPECIFIC SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS, AND LARGER PORTIONS OF THE
TEXT (E.G., A SECTION, CHAPTER, SCENE, OR STANZA) RELATE TO EACH
OTHER AND THE WHOLE.
ULTIMATE LEARNING
TARGET TYPE:
REASONING
BROAD LEARNING TARGETS:
The student can analyze how a drama’s form and structure contributes to its meaning.
The student can analyze how a poem’s form and structure contributes to its meaning.
Underpinning Knowledge Learning Targets:
The student can identify poetic elements of form and structure.
The student can identify dramatic elements of form and structure.
The student can identify the form and structure of various types of poetry and drama.
Underpinning Reasoning Learning Targets:
The student can determine the meaning of a drama or poem.
RL. 7. 5
English Language Arts 6-12 Curriculum, https://www.ccsoh.us/English6-12 35
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TEACHER RESOURCE WRITERS
This Teacher Resource was created during the summers of 2017/2018 as
part of an iniave to increase textual choice for teaching Ohio’s
Learning Standards. It is part of a series of Teacher Resources for the
following newly adopted supplemental literature. Note: Please adhere to
the grade level chosen for each tle to avoid textual overlap for our
students.
Grade Six
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
(No Fear Shakespeare Edion)
Hello, Universe by Erin Kelly
Grade Seven
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Grade Eight
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
(No Fear Shakespeare Edion)
Grade Nine
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Grade Ten
Othello by William Shakespeare
(No Fear Shakespeare Edion)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Grade Eleven
The Help by Kathryn Stocke
Grade Twelve
Twelh Night by William Shakespeare
(No Fear Shakespeare Edion)
Carla Mae Phillips, Lead 6-12 Curriculum Coordinator
Tracie Helmbrecht, NBCT Arts Impact Middle School
Gina McGowan
Pam Reed, NBCT Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls
Lynn Taylor, NBCT
Melanie Thompson
Supplemental Resources for The Crossover _______________________
NOTE: The lessons included in these supplemental resources may not be
aligned to Ohio’s Learning Standards or the Common Core. Please make
choices about using any of the lessons and ideas included here based
upon how they can help students meet and exceed learning targets.
Choose to Read Ohio Book Kit
Educator’s Guide from HMH
Literary Fusion Ideas
ALA Acvies/Discussion Guide
Poetry for Children Blog
Poetry Prompts for The Crossover
The Crossover Google Classroom/Narrave Wring Unit (Created by
Sibyl Barber, CCS Teacher) Join Code Ef6n4y