The
Prologue | 8 | Module 1
The Power of Poetry
What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
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Prologue Module Overview
Prologue Module Focus
3
9
Arc A | “Exile”
Prologue to L3
• Learning Goal | Identify what happens in “Exile.”
• Language Progress | Use transition words and phrases to sequence events and signal shifts in time and place.
Prologue to L5
• Learning Goal | Determine messages about uprooting in “Exile.”
• Language Progress | Answer questions with relevant elaboration.
Prologue to L6
• Learning Goal | Use participles to add detail to the poem “Exile.”
• Language Progress | Use participles to add description or details.
12
18
24
Prologue to L7
• Learning Goal | Identify the sequence and purpose of narrative arc sections.
• Language Progress | Show knowledge of narrative arc elements and refer to specific examples.
Arc B | The Crossover
Prologue to L9
• Learning Goal | Determine key traits of the main character of The Crossover.
• Language Progress | Speak at a volume and rate others can understand.
Prologue to L10
• Learning Goal | Analyze the meaning and purpose of a metaphor in a poem from The Crossover
• Language Progress | Show knowledge of figurative language and refer to specific examples.
Prologue to L13
• Learning Goal | Support an emerging theme in The Crossover.
• Language Progress | Elaborate on the evidence you use to make clear connections and explain its significance.
Prologue to L14
• Learning Goal | Use infinitives to add details to a poem from The Crossover
• Language Progress | Use infinitives to add description or details.
36
42
48
54
Arc C | The Crossover
Prologue to L17
• Learning Goal | Use sensory details to convey character actions and experience.
• Language Progress | Use descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences.
Prologue to L19
• Learning Goal | Examine point of view in poems from The Crossover.
• Language Progress | Use a consistent point of view from which to develop characters and events.
Prologue to L22
• Learning Goal | Examine the elements and impact of poetic form in The Crossover
• Language Progress | Answer questions with relevant elaboration.
Prologue to L24
• Learning Goal | Develop precise language that adds detail and accuracy.
• Language Progress | Use descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences.
Prologue to L25
• Learning Goal | Discuss figurative language in The Crossover
• Language Progress | Show knowledge of figurative language and refer to specific examples.
Prologue to L26
• Learning Goal | Connect multiple speakers’ ideas about the meaning of crossover in The Crossover.
• Language Progress | Ask questions that connect ideas from multiple speakers.
60
66
74
Prologue to L27
• Learning Goal | Use gerunds to describe an action and add detail.
• Language Progress | Use gerunds to add description or details.
102
82
Arc D | “The Raven”
Prologue to L29
• Learning Goal | Describe the exposition of “The Raven.”
• Language Progress | Support what you say with relevant evidence from the text, including quotations.
Prologue to L31
• Learning Goal | Connect evidence to an emerging theme.
• Language Progress | Elaborate on the evidence you use to make clear connections and explain its significance.
110
118
88
94
Prologue to L33
• Learning Goal | Rehearse a fluency passage from The Crossover.
126
• Language Progress | Speak at a volume and rate others can understand.
Appendices
What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
PROLOGUE MODULE FOCUS
In module 1, Arts & Letters Prologue™ lessons focus on helping students deepen their understanding of the connections between narrative elements and poetry.
• Prologue lessons support reading development by exploring poetry that employs narrative elements. As students read and analyze poems, they deepen their understanding of the features of narrative poetry and build knowledge about the power of language.
• Prologue lessons support writing development by providing opportunities for students to practice using narrative elements to craft their own narrative poems. In addition, students employ precise language to convey accurate and specific details.
• Prologue lessons support speaking and listening development by providing more instruction and practice for the module’s speaking and listening goals: Speak at a volume and rate others can understand; answer questions with relevant elaboration; and ask questions that connect ideas from multiple speakers. Use the Module 1 Speaking and Listening Goal Tracker to track progress toward these goals.
• Prologue lessons support language development by focusing on vocabulary related to the module’s Knowledge Threads and essential question. Students explore the functions and uses of participles, infinitives, and gerunds for use in their writing.
PROLOGUE TEXTS
Book
Literary
• The Crossover, Kwame Alexander
Poetry
• “Exile,” Julia Alvarez
• “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe
KNOWLEDGE THREADS
• Writers of narrative poetry combine elements of storytelling, including characters, plot, and conflict, with the poetic form that best supports the content of their stories.
• Literary devices such as figurative language and point of view shape the meaning of narrative poems and readers’ responses.
• Narrative poets must use precise diction to convey complex emotions in condensed stories.
• Narrative poets consider how a poem will sound when it is read aloud and weave devices like rhyme and repetition into their stories.
• Poems that tell stories may preserve personal histories, convey life lessons, and reveal universal truths by describing external events that prompt internal changes in characters.
• The specific choices that writers and artists make about how to combine form with content shape the narratives they create.
PROLOGUE MATERIALS AND PREPARATION
Prepare the following materials for use throughout the module.
• Determine how to access module texts.
• Determine how to display Prologue reference charts, Prologue student resources, and select Learn book pages. These are listed in the Materials section of each lesson.
• Print or copy student resources from the Prologue Student Resources appendix. These are listed in the Materials section of each lesson.
• Determine how to access the Module 1 Speaking and Listening Goal Tracker from the Great Minds® Digital Platform.
• Ensure access to the module 1 Knowledge Cards.
• Ensure students have paper for short responses. They can use their journals or other paper.
• For a comprehensive list of all the materials used in the module, see the digital platform.
PROLOGUE ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS
Arts & Letters Prologue lessons for module 1 provide additional language support to develop the following English Language Development (ELD) standards. Educators should consult their state’s ELD standards and proficiency descriptors to identify the best ways to help multilingual learners reach the module’s learning goals. See the digital platform for a lesson-by-lesson breakdown of ELD standards.
WIDA Standards
ELD-SI.4-12.Narrate: Multilingual learners will
• Share ideas about one’s own and others’ lived experiences and previous learning
• Connect stories with images and representations to add meaning
• Identify and raise questions about what might be unexplained, missing, or left unsaid
• Recount and restate ideas to sustain and move dialogue forward
ELD-SI.4-12.Inform: Multilingual learners will
• Report on explicit and inferred characteristics, patterns, or behavior
• Sort, clarify, and summarize relationships
• Summarize most important aspects of information
ELD-SI.4-12.Explain: Multilingual learners will
• Generate and convey initial thinking
ELD-SI.4-12.Argue: Multilingual learners will
• Support or challenge an opinion, premise, or interpretation
ELD-LA.6-8.Narrate.Interpretive: Multilingual learners will interpret language arts narratives by
• Identifying a theme or central idea that develops over the course of a text
• Analyzing how character attributes and actions develop in relation to events or dialogue
• Evaluating impact of specific word choices about meaning and tone
ELD-LA.6-8.Narrate.Expressive: Multilingual learners will construct language arts narratives that
• Engage and adjust for audience
ELP Standards
Standard 1: An ELL can construct meaning from oral presentations and literary and informational text through grade-appropriate listening, reading, and viewing.
Standard 2: An ELL can participate in grade-appropriate oral and written exchanges of information, ideas, and analyses, responding to peer, audience, or reader comments and questions.
Standard 3: An ELL can speak and write about grade-appropriate complex literary and informational texts and topics.
Standard 4: An ELL can construct grade-appropriate oral and written claims and support them with reasoning and evidence.
Standard 7: An ELL can adapt language choices to purpose, task, and audience when speaking and writing.
Standard 8: An ELL can determine the meaning of words and phrases in oral presentations and literary and informational text.
Standard 9: An ELL can create clear and coherent grade-appropriate speech and text.
Standard 10: An ELL can make accurate use of standard English to communicate in grade-appropriate speech and writing.
PROLOGUE LANGUAGE CONNECTIONS
Students’ home languages and cultures are assets that everyone in the school setting should value and celebrate. Teachers can support the strategic use of home languages to facilitate activating background knowledge, acquiring ELA knowledge and world knowledge, and engaging with grade-level content. This can happen individually or in groups. Teachers should encourage students to draw explicit metalinguistic connections between English and their home language through cognates and morphological awareness.
Multilingual learners in the United States speak a variety of languages, but an increasing majority speak Spanish at home. In 2019, more than 75 percent of students identified as “English learners” spoke Spanish as a home language (National Center for Education Statistics). For this reason, we offer a number of supports for Spanish speakers.
Contrastive Analysis
This module focuses on helping students to use infinitives and gerunds correctly. Prologue lessons help students understand the function and uses of participles. For students who also speak other language(s), the grammatical rules of English may be confusing. Here are some grammatical differences for which students may need extra explanation and modeling of this structure. In addition to Spanish, we compare English to Arabic and Mandarin Chinese, the second and third most common languages spoken among multilingual learners in the United States (National Center for Education Statistics).
Language Similarity Difference
Spanish Infinitives, gerunds, and participles also exist in Spanish.
Use of gerund in progressive tenses is similar to English.
Infinitives can be used in two-verb constructions, like in English.
In Spanish, the gerund cannot be used as a subject, direct object, or object of a preposition.
In Spanish, most two-verb constructions take an infinitive as the second verb, although there are a few cases in which the second verb is a gerund.
In English, some two-verb constructions take the gerund while others take the infinitive.
Arabic There are different verbal forms and participles in Arabic.
Mandarin Chinese
There are no auxiliary or modal verbs in Arabic. Serial verb constructions are allowed.
There are no participles, gerunds, or infinitives in Chinese. Serial verb constructions use verbs in a simple form without any markings.
Spanish Cognates
Here are Spanish cognates for terms taught in module 1 Prologue lessons. Teacher notes in the lessons draw attention to Spanish cognates. Use an online Spanish dictionary for pronunciation guidance or to play a recording of the Spanish cognate for students.
Term Cognate
climax (n.)
exile (n.)
exposition (n.)
figurative language
form (n.)
internal conflict
clímax (s.)
exilio (s.)
exposición (s.)
lenguaje figurado
forma (s.)
conflicto interno
narrative arc arco narrativo
precise (adj.)
resolution (n.)
sensory details
theme (n.)
preciso (adj.)
resolución (s.)
detalles sensoriales
tema (s.)
MODULE PLAN
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
Arc A | “Exile”
Lesson 1
Opening Bookend
Lesson 2
Wonder “Exile” The Block Lesson 3
Organize “Exile” The Block Lesson 4
Reveal “Exile” The Block Lesson 5
Distill “Exile” The Block Lesson 6
= assessment = Prologue lesson
Know “Exile” The Block Lesson 7
Know “What Is a Narrative Poem? Definitions and Examples”
Arc B | The Crossover
Lesson 8
Wonder The Crossover
Lesson 9
Organize The Crossover Lesson 10
Organize The Crossover
Lesson 11
Organize The Crossover
Lesson 12
Reveal The Crossover Lesson 13
Distill The Crossover
Lesson 14
Know The Crossover
Lesson 15
Reading Comprehension Assessment 1 Lesson 16
Responsive Teaching
Arc C | The Crossover
Lesson 17
Organize
The Crossover
Lesson 24
Organize
The Crossover
Lesson 18
Organize The Crossover
Lesson 25
Reveal The Crossover
Lesson 19
Reveal The Crossover
Lesson 26
Lesson 20
Organize The Crossover Module Task 1 completed
Distill The Crossover Lesson 27
Know The Crossover
Lesson 21
Organize The Crossover
Lesson 22
Reveal The Crossover
Lesson 23
Know “How Julia Alvarez Wrote Her Many Selves into Existence”
Arc D | “The Raven”
Lesson 28
Wonder “The Raven” Lesson 29 Organize “The Raven”
Lesson 30
Reveal “The Raven” Lesson 31
Distill “The Raven”
Module Task 2 completed
Lesson 32
Know “Poetry and Football” “The Raven” “Exile” The Crossover
Lesson 33
Know “Exile” The Crossover “The Raven”
Lesson 34
Reading Comprehension Assessment 2
Lesson 35
Responsive Teaching
Module Finale
Closing Bookend
End-of-Module Task completed
Prologue to Lesson 3
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Students examine what happens in “Exile.” As they discuss the exile of the speaker and her family, students practice using a transition word or phrase to sequence events. This work prepares students to summarize the speaker’s literal journey in lesson 3.
Learning Goal
Identify what happens in “Exile.”
LEARNING TASK: Paraphrase an event in “Exile” by using a transition word or phrase.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Use transition words and phrases to sequence events and signal shifts in time and place. To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide an opportunity to practice using transition words to sequence events with a familiar topic (e.g., before school starts, ; during recess, ). To support students with intermediate English proficiency, share the following sentence: At home, Papi said we were going to the beach. Invite partners to develop a new sentence that begins with a transition word or phrase and describes what happens after the family leaves home (e.g., after we left the house, we learned we were going to the airport).
Vocabulary
exile (n.)
Materials
TEACHER
• “Exile” (digital platform)
STUDENTS
• “Exile” (Learn book)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Practice Vocabulary
1. Display the map of the Dominican Republic and explain that the poem’s first setting is in the Dominican Republic. Instruct students to look for Ciudad Trujillo. When they are unable to find it, instruct them to identify the country’s capital.
2. Reinforce the correct response: Santo Domingo.
3. Explain that Ciudad Trujillo was the name of the Dominican Republic’s capital from 1936–1961 because the dictator Trujillo renamed the capital after himself while he was in power. The capital’s name was changed back to Santo Domingo when Trujillo died in 1961.
Teacher Note
Invite students with prior knowledge to explain why the city is named Ciudad Trujillo.
As needed, explain that a dictator is a person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel way.
4. Direct students to “Exile,” located in the Learn book, and direct attention to the line: Ciudad Trujillo, New York City, 1960. Ask this question:
What does this line reveal about when and where the poem’s events take place?
Key Ideas
• Ciudad Trujillo and 1960 reveal that the events take place when Trujillo was in power.
EXILE
• Ciudad Trujillo and New York City reveal that the events take place in two cities, one in the Dominican Republic and one in the United States.
5. Tell students that they will apply this historical context to examine what is happening in the poem.
Teacher Note
As needed, display a map of the Caribbean and identify the Dominican Republic and the United States as the two countries that are settings in the poem.
6. Introduce the vocabulary term exile by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term exile has a Spanish cognate: exilio. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
7. Echo Read lines 1 and 2 of “Exile.” Ask this question:
Based on the definition of exile, what do you think “the night we fled the country” means?
Key Ideas
• The speaker’s family was fleeing Trujillo’s dictatorship.
• The speaker’s family left in a hurry, maybe because they were in danger.
• The speaker’s family escaped Ciudad Trujillo for New York.
Teacher Note
Remind students that the narrator of a poem is called the speaker.
8. Tell students that they will read an excerpt that describes the family’s journey fleeing the country. They will also practice using transition words and phrases to sequence and connect events.
Definition
exile (n.): the state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine Events in “Exile”
1. Echo Read the first stanza of “Exile,” from “Something was off” to “for another decade.”
2. Ask this question:
What is the family doing in the first line?
3. Reinforce the correct response: They are driving in the car to the airport.
4. Ask this question:
How does their journey change when they pass the checkpoint?
5. Reinforce the correct response: The checkpoint is a turning point in their journey. Before the checkpoint, they were in danger, but past the checkpoint they can flee in relative safety.
6. Direct attention to lines 30–31, and read aloud from “my sisters crying” to “family beach house.”
7. Ask this question: What is happening in these lines?
8. Reinforce the correct response: The speaker’s sisters cried because they weren’t going to the beach house.
9. Echo Read lines 31–32 from “Mami consoling,” to “store for us!”
10. Ask this question:
What is happening in these lines?
11. Reinforce the correct response: Mami comforted them by saying there is something better to come.
12. Annotate the word Past in line 29. Think aloud to model how to explain the purpose of this transition.
13. Identify the transition word when in line 30 by annotating it on the class copy. Instruct students to respond to this question with a partner:
What is the purpose of the transition word when?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, help them identify the purpose of the transition by asking: What does when tell you about the sisters’ crying?
14. Reinforce the correct response: It tells the time at which the sisters started crying.
15. Display the transitions On the other side of and Beyond. Instruct students to work with their partner to paraphrase line 29 by using one of these transitions to begin the sentence.
Key Ideas
• On the other side of the checkpoint we hurried to the airport.
• Beyond the checkpoint, we rushed to the airport.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, prompt partners to create two responses: one that uses a transition word and another that uses a transition phrase.
Sample Think Aloud
In this line, Past is the transition word. It shows that the family moves from a dangerous place (before the checkpoint) to a safer place (after the checkpoint).
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Display the following sentence: When we turned off the road before reaching the beach house, my sisters cried.
2. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to paraphrase what happens in lines 31–32 of “Exile.” Tell them to begin their paraphrases with one of these transitions:
• Then
• Next
• After Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students paraphrase the lines accurately?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support paraphrasing, ask this question: Does your summary explain describe Mami’s response to the girls?
3. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• Then, Mami comforted us by saying there was a better surprise.
• Next, Mami soothed us with the promise of a new surprise.
• After the crying started, Mami consoled my sisters by promising a different surprise.
4. Summarize that writers use transitions to help the reader understand a sequence of events.
Prologue to Lesson 5
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students analyze evidence about the term uprooting in “Exile.” As they discuss the messages the poem conveys about uprooting, students practice answering questions with relevant elaboration. This work prepares students to participate in a discussion about themes in “Exile” in lesson 5.
Learning Goal
Determine messages about uprooting in “Exile.”
LEARNING TASK: Share a message about uprooting.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Answer questions with relevant elaboration.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide opportunities to practice elaboration with familiar topics. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, prompt pairs to share a complete elaboration sentence by using information from column 3 of the handout and this sentence frame: This evidence connects to uprooting because .
Vocabulary theme (n.) uproot (v.)
Materials
TEACHER
• “Exile” (digital platform)
• Uprooted Tree image (digital platform)
• class Messages About Uprooting (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
STUDENTS
• “Exile” (Learn book)
• Messages About Uprooting (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Practice Vocabulary
1. Display Uprooted Tree image.
2. Introduce the vocabulary term uproot by displaying the term and first definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
3. Explain that the verb uproot can also refer to people. Facilitate a brief discussion about this question:
What might it mean for a person to be uprooted?
Accept all reasonable responses.
4. Display and read aloud the second definition of uproot.
5. Tell students that they will analyze evidence in “Exile” to determine the poem’s message about uprooting.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, explain that the noun form of uproot is made by adding the suffix -ing.
LEARN
Determine
20 minutes
Messages About Uprooting
1. Direct students to “Exile,” located in the Learn book. Explain that the first step in determining messages about uprooting is to analyze evidence from the text. Ask these questions:
What is happening in the excerpt?
How does the evidence connect to uprooting?
Definitions uproot (v.):
1. to pull a plant and its root completely out of the ground
2. to make someone leave home and move to a different place
2. Direct attention to lines 33–36. Echo Read the stanza.
3. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner: What is happening in lines 34–36?
4. Reinforce the correct response: The speaker anticipates the loss of her home and senses a future filled with loss and danger.
Teacher Note
Remind students that the narrator of a poem is called the speaker.
5. Tell students that they will elaborate on the evidence from lines 34–36, and explain why that evidence is important to the larger idea of uprooting.
6. Think aloud to model how to elaborate a response to this question: How does the evidence from lines 34–36 connect to uprooting?
7. Display the class Messages About Uprooting, and distribute copies to students. Direct attention to the first box in row 1, which contains the idea they just discussed. Tell them that they will complete the first box in each of the next two rows for two new excerpts from the poem.
8. Direct attention to line 40 and remind students that the family is now at the airport. Choral Read lines 40–48.
Teacher Note
Based on your students’ needs, explain that cabin refers to the inside of the plane and define adrift with a synonym.
Sample Think Aloud
These lines are important in showing that the speaker’s imagination prepares her for what being forced from her home and living in a strange place might be like.
9. Pair students, and assign half of the pairs lines 43–44 and the other half lines 45–46. Instruct students to work with their partners to discuss these questions from the handout:
• What is happening in the excerpt you were assigned?
• How does the evidence connect to uprooting?
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to discuss the questions below.
For students with beginning English proficiency, scaffold the task by asking these questions:
• Lines 43–44—What is the experience of being forced from home? How does uprooting change the speaker’s and Papi’s identities? What does adrift mean?
• Lines 45–46—What is the experience of moving to a different place? What brings comfort in this unfamiliar place?
10. Invite a few students to share their responses, and reinforce the correct responses:
Lines 43–44
• happening—When the speaker and Papi board the plane, part of them floats away.
• connection to uprooting—They lose part of their identity when they leave their home.
Lines 45–46
• happening—As the speaker and Papi walk through New York City, Papi tries to explain all the unfamiliar things.
• connection to uprooting—Everything in America is new and strange, but Papi is still by the speaker’s side.
11. Model how to write key ideas from the responses on the class Messages About Uprooting (e.g., boarding plane, part of self floats away; in New York, Papi explains new things). Instruct students to write key ideas on their handouts.
12. Think aloud to model how to determine a message from the first entry on the handout.
13. Direct attention to row 2 of the handout, and instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
What is a message about uprooting from this example?
What can others learn about being uprooted from this example?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, scaffold the task by asking this question: What happens to a person’s identity when they are uprooted from their home?
Key Ideas
• A part of a person’s identity stays behind when they leave their homeland.
• When a person is forced to leave their home, they lose a part of themselves.
14. Add key ideas to the class Messages About Uprooting, and instruct students to write key ideas on their handouts.
15. Direct attention to row 3 of the handout, and instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
What is a message about uprooting from this example?
What can others learn about being uprooted from this example?
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, challenge them to develop a theme that begins with a dependent clause by completing this sentence frame: During times of uncertainty,
16. Introduce the vocabulary term theme by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term theme has a Spanish cognate: tema. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
Sample Think Aloud
What I learn from this example is that a person’s imagination can help them prepare to face difficult things in the future.
Definition
theme (n.): a universal idea or message conveyed by a text
17. Explain that understanding the messages that the text conveys helps readers identify a theme, or universal message.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to share a message—or theme—about uprooting with a partner.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students determine a theme by identifying a message about uprooting related to the textual evidence?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support determining a message or theme, ask these questions: How would the speaker’s experience be different if she was walking around New York by herself? What does Papi mean to her? How does Papi help her in this new place?
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• Loved ones provide a bridge between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
• During times of uncertainty, loved ones provide stability and comfort.
3. Summarize that students can determine a theme by analyzing a text and connecting evidence to a universal idea or message.
Prologue to Lesson 6
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students use participles to add details to “Exile.” As they expand lines of the poem, students practice using participles correctly. This work prepares them to write knowledge statements that use a participle to express the features of narrative poetry in lesson 6.
Learning Goal
Use participles to add detail to the poem “Exile.”
LEARNING TASK: Add detail to a line of “Exile” by using a participle.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module language goal: Use participles to add description or details.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide opportunities to practice converting verbs to adjectives by adding -ing or -ed to the noun form. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, share an example and nonexample of a participle (e.g., worried father and strong father) and ask this question: Which one is the participle? How do you know?
Vocabulary
none
Materials
TEACHER
• “Exile” (digital platform)
STUDENTS
• “Exile” (Learn book)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Build Knowledge About Participles
1. Display and read aloud these two sentences:
• The road curved in front of us.
• The curved road challenged the driver’s skills.
2. Ask this question: What is the verb in each sentence?
3. Reinforce the correct responses:
• first sentence—curved
• second sentence—challenged
4. Direct students to the word curved in the second sentence. Explain that curved is describing the noun road, so the verb is now an adjective. This type of word is called a participle.
5. Tell students that they will examine participles and their purpose.
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine and Practice Using Participles
1. Direct attention to the second Launch sentence. Read it aloud, and omit the word curved. Then read it again with the word curved.
2. Ask this question:
How does the participle change the meaning of the sentence?
Key Ideas
• It adds detail by telling what kind of road.
• It helps explain the relationship between ideas by telling why the road challenged the driver’s skills.
3. Direct students to “Exile,” located in the Learn book, and direct attention to lines 2–3. Remind students that the speaker is addressing her father. Read aloud the lines.
4. Direct attention to the word hurried, and emphasize that it is a verb because it describes Papi’s action. Papi is telling the speaker to move quickly.
5. Next direct attention to lines 12–13, and read them aloud. Ask this question: What is the participle in these lines?
How do you know?
6. Reinforce the correct responses:
• participle—hurried
• how I know—The word hurried is a verb acting like an adjective. It describes the noun bag by telling what kind of bag Mami is packing.
7. Think aloud to model how to show the purpose of the participle.
8. Tell students that they will now practice adding participles to other lines of the poem in order to add detail and show the relationship between ideas.
9. Explain that students first will examine how to create a participle by changing a verb to an adjective. Display and read aloud the following sentences with the verbs and participles underlined:
• The dogs bark. The barking dogs are loud.
• The river floods. The flooded river ruined crops.
Sample Think Aloud
The word hurried adds detail and description. Mami packs quickly, like she is in a hurry. But I wonder why she is in such a hurry if the family is just going to the beach?
The participle hurried adds a key detail and depth to show that Mami is tense and in a rush.
10. Ask this question:
What do you notice about how each verb has been changed to make a participle?
11. Reinforce the correct responses: One ends in -ing, and one ends in -ed.
Teacher Note
Based on your students’ needs, explain that participles come in two forms. Present particles end in -ing.
Past participles typically end in -ed but can also end in -en, such as the words stolen and broken.
12. Direct attention to line 62. Remind students that the setting is New York and that the speaker is describing her and Papi’s reflection in the Macy’s store window. Read aloud lines 62–68.
13. Instruct students to work with a partner to use a participle to add detail to the noun swimmers in line 62. Tell them to make one of the following verbs into an adjective by adding the specific suffix:
• dare (-ing)
• bend (-ing)
• focus (-ed)
• puzzle (-ed)
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to complete the task.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, prompt them to add two participles, one that ends in -ed and another that ends in -ing
14. Invite students to share their participle and noun and briefly explain why they chose it. Emphasize that students should explain how the participle relates to the details in lines 65–68.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, encourage them to support their explanation by asking this question: What important information about the noun swimmers does the participle add?
Key Ideas
• daring swimmers: They are brave to dive into the unknown waters.
• bending swimmers: They get very close to the water and that’s how they see their reflections.
• focused swimmers: They concentrate on the big task in front of them.
• puzzled swimmers: They have several different feelings about diving into the water.
15. Direct attention to line 67, and ask this question: What is the noun in this sentence?
16. Reinforce the correct response: faces.
LAND
5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Direct attention to line 67. Instruct students to work with a partner to add detail to the noun faces by using a participle. Tell them to briefly explain how the participle they chose relates to what is happening in lines 65–68.
Teacher Note
Remind students that a participle is an adjective with a root word that can also be a verb. Provide an example and nonexample, if helpful.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, provide a word bank of verbs: confused, questioning, surprised, wondering, worried.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students add a participle that adds detail and shows a relationship to an idea in the final lines of the poem?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support creating a participle, ask these questions: How do you think the speaker is feeling right now? What do the words afraid, eager, and not yet sure in line 68 tell you about how their faces might look? Can the root form of your adjective function as a verb?
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• confused: shows that the two swimmers are both afraid and eager
• questioning: shows that they don’t know what is in the future
• surprised: shows that they didn’t expect to see their own expressions in the reflections
• wondering: shows that they are curious about what is next
• worried: shows that they are concerned about diving in
Teacher Note
If students respond with the -ing form when the -ed form is correct (e.g., they use surprising rather than surprised), explain that the -ing form usually describes a person or thing that causes the feeling (e.g., “the surprising gift”), while the -ed form usually describes the way someone feels (e.g., “the surprised teacher”).
3. Summarize that writers use participles to add detail and to show the relationship between ideas in a concise way.
Prologue to Lesson 7
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students explore the sections of the narrative arc. As they discuss the purpose and sequence of the sections, students practice referring to specific examples. This work prepares students to identify events that represent sections of the narrative arc in lesson 7.
Learning Goal
Identify the sequence and purpose of narrative arc sections.
LEARNING TASK: Explain why an example from “Exile” represents a specific narrative arc section.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Show knowledge of narrative arc elements and refer to specific examples.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, display an image of an arc and show how its shape supports understanding of a story’s progress: It begins at the bottom, climbs to the highest point, and then descends to a different point at the bottom.
To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to work with a partner to explain how the sample sentence from each Knowledge Card illustrates its narrative arc section. Provide this sentence frame: The sentence represents the section because .
Vocabulary
climax (n.)
exposition (n.)
falling action
narrative arc
resolution (n.)
rising action
Materials
TEACHER
• “Exile” (digital platform)
• Knowledge Cards: narrative arc, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
• Narrative Organizer (Prologue Reference Charts appendix)
STUDENTS
• “Exile” (Learn book)
• “Exile” Narrative Arc Cards (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
Preparation
• Make one narrative arc card for each student by cutting out the cards from the Prologue Student Resources appendix page. See the Learn section for details.
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Practice Vocabulary
1. Facilitate a brief discussion of these questions:
Which part of a story is most important: beginning, middle, or end? Why?
2. Reinforce the correct response: All sections of a story are important. Emphasize that each section makes a specific contribution to the shape of a story.
3. Introduce the vocabulary term narrative arc by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term narrative arc has a Spanish cognate: arco narrativo. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
4. Tell students that they will examine the purpose and sequence of the story sections that comprise the narrative arc.
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine Narrative Arc Sections
1. Display the Narrative Organizer. Read aloud the section titles. Tell students that they will examine a brief story to build understanding of the purpose and sequence of the sections.
Teacher Note
Prepare to use the Narrative Organizer twice in this lesson: in Learn, to display the sample sentences from the Knowledge Cards; and in Land, to display the sentences from “Exile” that represent each section.
Definition narrative arc: the shape a story takes from exposition to resolution
2. Direct attention to the top of the organizer, and read aloud the sample sentence, which is from the Knowledge Card for narrative arc. Then Echo Read the sample sentence in the Exposition box. Ask this question:
Based on this sentence, what do you think is the purpose of a story’s exposition?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, pause to define the word glory with a synonym.
3. Use responses to emphasize the correct definition of exposition. Introduce the vocabulary term exposition by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term exposition has a Spanish cognate: exposición. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
4. Direct attention to the Rising Action box, and Choral Read the sample sentence. Ask this question: How does the rising action sentence develop the exposition of the knight’s story?
5. Reinforce the correct response: The sentence suggests that the dragon will have something to do with how the knight seeks glory.
6. Introduce the vocabulary term rising action by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
7. Direct attention to the Climax box, and Choral Read the sample sentence. Ask this question:
What difference do you notice between the events in the rising action and the climax?
Encourage students to refer to the definition of rising action to support their thinking.
Definition
exposition (n.): the beginning of a story, in which background information about characters or setting is presented
Definition
rising action: the events that follow and complicate the exposition and eventually lead to the story’s climax
8. Reinforce the correct response: The event in the rising action introduces a new character (the dragon), but not much happens between the two characters. By contrast, the event in the climax is much more exciting. The knight and the dragon interact. And the fight has a specific outcome: The knight wins.
9. Introduce the vocabulary term climax by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term climax has a Spanish cognate: clímax. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to explain how the sample sentence illustrates the story’s climax by using words from the definition. Provide a sentence frame, such as: The sentence represents the climax because .
10. Direct attention to the Falling Action and Resolution boxes, and Choral Read the sample sentences. Ask this question:
What difference do you notice between the events in these two sections of the knight’s story?
11. Reinforce the correct response: The falling action is related to the climax because the knight announces to the king that he has solved their most important problem, but the resolution is related to the exposition because the celebration shows that the knight has achieved the glory he was seeking.
12. Introduce the vocabulary terms falling action and resolution by displaying the Knowledge Cards. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term resolution has a Spanish cognate: resolución. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
Definition
climax (n.): the point in a story at which characters either face or solve their most important problem
Definitions falling action: events that occur after a story’s climax and before the conclusion resolution (n.): the point in a story at which the main conflict is solved or ended
13. Direct students to “Exile,” located in the Learn book.
14. Distribute one “Exile” narrative arc card to each student. Tell students that each card contains either a narrative arc term and definition or a sentence summarizing an event from “Exile.”
15. Instruct students to find a partner who has the match for their card. Explain that if they have the card for the term exposition, for example, they need to find someone who has the sentence that describes the exposition in “Exile.” Tell students that they will talk to as many partners as needed until they find the correct match.
Teacher Note
Alternatively, instruct students to work with a partner to match each “Exile” narrative arc card with its corresponding narrative arc section.
LAND
5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Instruct students to line up with their matched partners in the order of the narrative arc sections.
2. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to discuss this prompt with their partner: Briefly explain why your sentence about “Exile” represents a narrative arc section.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, encourage them to use this sentence frame: This sentence represents the section because .
Teacher Note
As students share, post each sentence about “Exile” in the appropriate narrative arc section on the Narrative Organizer.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students demonstrate understanding of the purpose of their narrative arc section?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support explaining their example, prompt them to review the definition of their narrative arc section to support their explanation.
3. Reinforce the correct responses:
• The speaker’s family lives in Ciudad Trujillo in 1960 when Trujillo is the dictator.—This sentence represents the exposition because it introduces the characters and setting.
• During the night, Papi and Mami hurry everyone out of the house to go to the beach.—This sentence represents the rising action because it complicates the exposition by showing a change in setting.
• The family drives to the airport instead of the beach, where a plane takes them away.—This sentence represents the climax because it shows that the speaker’s family is fleeing the country and that the speaker must face leaving her homeland.
• Weeks later, the speaker wanders New York with her father.—This sentence represents the falling action because it takes place after the family has left their homeland, but how the speaker feels about her new home remains unclear, so the narrative is not finished.
• Looking at herself in the Macy’s window, the speaker reflects on her new future.—This sentence represents the resolution because even though the speaker is unsure of what will happen, she is focused on her future.
4. Summarize that a narrative arc organizes events in a sequence that shows the shape of a story from beginning to end.
Prologue to Lesson 9
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students analyze a poem to determine character traits. As they discuss what is important to Josh Bell, students practice speaking at a volume and rate others can understand. This work prepares students to describe characters and their traits literally and figuratively in lesson 9.
Learning Goal
Determine key traits of the main character of The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Explain how an original drawing of Josh shows his character traits.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Speak at a volume and rate others can understand.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, model an exchange by speaking softly or quickly and encouraging students to use strategies for communicating that they cannot hear or understand you. Then adjust your volume or rate in response to their feedback. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite partners to develop a question, a request, and a nonverbal signal to use when they need a peer to speak more slowly.
Vocabulary
trait (n.)
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
• journal
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Discuss Prior Knowledge
1. Direct students to their journals. Assess and activate prior knowledge by asking these questions:
Who is the main character?
How old do you think he is?
Who are the members of his family?
Where does most of the story take place?
Instruct students to work with a partner to write their answers as quickly and accurately as possible.
2. Reinforce the correct responses:
• main character—Josh Bell
• age—13 or 14
• family—twin brother JB (Jordan), Dad, Mom
• where—basketball court, home
3. Tell students that they will examine the poem “Five Reasons I Have Locks” to explore Josh’s character.
LEARN 20 minutes
Analyze Character Traits
1. Direct students to The Crossover, and direct attention to “Five Reasons I Have Locks” (pages 14–15). Choral Read the poem.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, ask this question: What do you notice about the form of the poem?
2. Introduce the vocabulary term trait by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
3. Tell students that even though “Five Reasons I Have Locks” seems to be about hair, it conveys several of Josh’s traits.
4. Instruct students to write in their journals this heading: What Is Important to Josh. Tell them to write the numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 in a column underneath the heading.
5. Think aloud to model how to complete the row for reason 5, and add responses to a class chart.
6. Tell students that they will follow the instructional routine Jigsaw to closely study something about the text and share their learning with students who studied something different. Explain how this routine works. First, you assign each student to an expert group to study their assigned text. Next, students work in their expert groups to gain a deep understanding of their assigned text. Then, you form new groups that include at least one student from each expert group. Finally, students take turns sharing their learning about their assigned text.
Teacher Note
If the class size is too small for a Jigsaw instructional routine, pair students, and assign each pair one reason to study and share with the whole group.
Definition trait (n.): a quality that makes one person or thing different from another
Sample Think Aloud Josh’s dreadlocks are the same hairstyle as those of his favorite rappers. So music is important to him. One trait about rappers that comes to mind is that they are famous performers. Josh likes performing. And I think it’s important to him to become famous. I will write “music, performing, becoming famous” in the row for reason 5.
7. Before students begin the Jigsaw, remind them that it is important to speak at an appropriate volume and rate during group discussions. Ask this question:
What can you do if you can’t hear or understand a classmate during discussion?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, provide and model an example of each strategy:
• question—Can you speak up?
• request—Please speak a little louder.
• nonverbal signal—Hold hands in front of you, palms up, and raise them toward the ceiling.
Key Ideas
• Ask them to speak up or slow down.
• Request that they adjust their rate or volume.
• Use a nonverbal signal to show how you need them to adjust their speaking.
8. Direct attention to “Five Reasons I Have Locks” (pages 14–15). Begin the Jigsaw by assigning each student to an expert group to study one of these text sections:
• reason 4
• reason 3
• reason 2
9. Instruct students to discuss what the evidence suggests about what is important to Josh. Remind them to refer to the definition of trait to support their thinking. Listen for students to address key ideas in their discussions.
Key Ideas
• reason 4: getting special treatment, like royalty; having power over people; people looking up to him
• reason 3: being unique; standing out in a group
• reason 2: being recognized for himself; being different from JB
10. Form new groups that include at least one student from each expert group. Instruct students to take turns sharing their learning about each text section. Listen for students to share the key ideas they distilled from their expert groups.
11. Direct attention to reason 1, and ask this question: What does the evidence suggest about what is most important to Josh?
Key Ideas
• being like Dad
• becoming independent
• doing great things
• being better than everyone else
Teacher Note
Based on your students’ needs, explain that posterizing is basketball slang that refers to the act of embarrassing someone by dunking the ball over their head—the dunk is so spectacular that it will end up on a basketball poster.
12. Instruct students to work with a partner to draw an image that represents one or more of Josh’s traits. Encourage them to support their thinking by referring to the information they wrote in their journals about what is important to Josh.
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to complete the task.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to work with a different partner to explain how their original drawing of Josh Bell shows his character traits.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, provide this sentence frame: Josh is like a(n) because Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students make a specific and relevant connection between Josh’s traits and the image they draw?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support coming up with an image, instruct them to use their findings to brainstorm adjectives that describe Josh. Ask this question: What’s an example of an object that could illustrate, or show, that trait?
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• Josh is like a crown because he is king of the court.
• Josh is like a unicorn because he is unique.
• Josh is like a mountain in the desert because he stands out in his surroundings.
• Josh is like the North Star because he sparkles, sits high above everyone else, and is on a mission.
3. Summarize that writers use figurative language to express key traits of characters.
Prologue to Lesson 10
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students analyze a metaphor in a poem from The Crossover. As they discuss the metaphor’s meaning, students practice explaining the purpose of figurative language. This work prepares students to explain narrative choices in lesson 10.
Learning Goal
Analyze the meaning and purpose of a metaphor in a poem from The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Explain the use of a narrative choice in a poem from The Crossover.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Show knowledge of figurative language and refer to specific examples.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, model how to explain what a metaphor or simile shows by using an example from The Crossover (e.g., the simile “like a king” in “Five Reasons I Have Locks” [pages 14–15]). To support students with intermediate English proficiency, prompt students to work with a partner to explain what the metaphor “your family is the court” shows in “Basketball Rule #1” (page 20) from The Crossover.
Vocabulary
figurative language
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
• Knowledge Card: figurative language
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Build Knowledge About Figurative Language
1. Direct students to “JB and I” (page 23) in The Crossover, and Choral Read the poem.
2. Review the vocabulary term figurative language by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term figurative language has a Spanish cognate: lenguaje figurado. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
3. Remind students that a metaphor is an example of figurative language, and ask this question: What is being compared in the first line of the poem?
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to discuss this question.
4. Reinforce the correct response: the twins and two basketball goals at opposite ends of the court.
5. Tell students that they will examine the meaning and purpose of the metaphor in “JB and I.”
LEARN 20 minutes
Analyze a Metaphor
1. Form two groups, and instruct each group to take their copies of The Crossover and stand at opposite ends of the room. Tell students to imagine that they are identical basketball goals and that the room is the basketball court.
Definition
figurative language: language that expresses meaning in a nonliteral way to create an image or effect
2. Instruct students to discuss the following questions in their groups:
How does the metaphor show that JB and Josh are the same?
What word reinforces that they are similar?
3. Reinforce the correct responses:
• metaphor—by comparing them to two basketball goals that share the same court
• word—“identical”
4. Instruct students to discuss the following questions in their groups:
How does the metaphor show that JB and Josh are different?
What word reinforces that they are different?
5. Reinforce the correct responses:
• metaphor—by comparing them to two basketball goals that are on different sides of the court, facing each other from a distance
• word—“opposite”
6. Tell students that they will now examine how the poem develops these two ideas.
7. Instruct students to discuss the following question in their groups:
Based on the rest of the poem, in what ways do you think Josh and JB are identical?
8. Invite students from each group to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• They both love basketball.
• Both are good at basketball.
• They love each other.
• Both are competitive.
• They work well with each other.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, ask these questions: What detail do you think most effectively shows that the twins are identical? Why?
9. Ask these questions:
What is the most important difference between Josh and JB?
How do you know?
10. Reinforce the correct responses:
• difference—Unlike Josh, JB is more interested in girls than in basketball.
• how to know—The author writes “GIRLS” in all caps to emphasize its importance.
11. Instruct students to discuss the following questions in their groups:
How does Josh feel about JB’s interest in girls?
Why do you think he feels that way?
Key Ideas
• feeling: Josh doesn’t like JB’s interest in girls.
• why: JB’s interest in girls means that JB is less interested in basketball.
• why: Basketball bonds the twins, and Josh wants that bond to stay the same.
• why: If JB is less interested in basketball, he might also be less interested in Josh.
• why: Josh fears he will be alone if JB prioritizes girls.
12. Ask this question:
What important information does the metaphor provide?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, scaffold the task by providing this sentence frame: The metaphor makes me wonder .
Key Ideas
• It suggests that the twins might stay connected or that they might grow apart.
• It introduces the idea that Josh’s world is about to change.
• It implies that JB might stop playing basketball, which would affect Josh.
• It suggests that Josh is not as confident or in control as he seems.
• It suggests a conflict between the twins.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to explain the author’s narrative choice by completing this sentence frame in writing: The author uses the metaphor “two basketball goals at opposite ends of the court” to show .
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, explain that narrative choice refers to the use of figurative language, such as metaphors and similes.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students write what the metaphor shows about Josh’s character?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support explaining the purpose of a narrative choice, ask this question: What do you learn about Josh from this metaphor?
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• that the twins are both the same and opposite
• that Josh and JB are connected but also distant from each other
• that Josh has conflicted feelings about his twin brother
• that Josh loves basketball
3. Summarize that writers use figurative language, such as metaphors, to show complex background information about characters.
Prologue to Lesson 13
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students explore an emerging theme in The Crossover. As they discuss the emerging theme of unexpected changes, students practice elaborating on evidence to make clear connections and explain its significance. This work prepares students to share emerging themes in The Crossover during a class discussion in lesson 13.
Learning Goal
Support an emerging theme in The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Explain how a piece of evidence from The Crossover supports an emerging theme.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Elaborate on the evidence you use to make clear connections and explain its significance.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide opportunities to practice elaboration with a familiar topic. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite partners to take turns with this process: Partner 1 shares a piece of evidence; partner 2 asks, “How does that connect to Josh’s response to unexpected change?”; partner 1 completes this sentence frame: The evidence illustrates .
Vocabulary emerging theme theme (n.)
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
• Talking Tool (Learn book)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH 5 minutes
Discuss Prior Knowledge
1. Assess and activate prior knowledge by asking this question:
What is the most important thing that has happened to Josh so far?
Key Ideas
• loses his hair in a bet
• learns that his father has hypertension
• brother JB gets a girlfriend
• gets called to the principal’s office
2. Add responses to a class list (e.g., on chart paper) with the title Character.
3. Explain that identifying important details about a character can help students learn about the bigger message of a text.
4. Review the vocabulary term theme by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term theme has a Spanish cognate: tema. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
5. Explain that an author often communicates a theme early in a text.
6. Review the vocabulary term emerging theme by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
7. Tell students that they will practice collecting evidence for an emerging theme in The Crossover.
Definition theme (n.): a universal idea or message conveyed by a text
Definition emerging theme: a broad umbrella theme from which more detailed and complex themes develop across a text
LEARN 20 minutes
Connect Evidence to an Emerging Theme
1. Direct students to the class Character list. Tell them that the details can be grouped under the emerging theme of unexpected change.
2. Ask this question:
Why can these details be grouped under the emerging theme of unexpected change?
Key Ideas
• The details all describe events that create changes in Josh’s routines.
• The details all describe events that surprise Josh and disrupt his life.
3. Direct students to page 77 of The Crossover, and Echo Read “To fall asleep.” Define unknown words such as strands and beneath.
4. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner: What does the detail “the thirty-seven strands” refer to?
5. Listen for students to determine the correct response: Josh’s dreadlocks.
6. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner: How does the detail “strands of my past” relate to unexpected change?
7. Listen for students to address key ideas in their discussions.
Key Ideas
• Josh no longer has his dreadlocks, and they remind him of how he used to be.
• Josh thinks his present life is different from what it was before.
8. Tell students that they will now examine a new poem and discuss how it supports the emerging theme of unexpected change. Direct students to “Gym class” (pages 84–85), and instruct students to partner read the poem.
9. Ask this question: What happens in this poem?
10. Listen for students to determine the correct response: Josh goes to gym class and is surprised that the gym teacher has planned something other than exercise. He watches JB and Alexis pass notes to each other. Then the gym teacher calls Josh to the front of the room to show everyone how to give CPR to a dummy.
11. Instruct students to discuss this question with their partners:
How does Josh respond to unexpected change?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, read aloud the portion of page 85 from “one day I’ll” to “dummy’s sweaty mouth.” Ask these questions: How does Josh feel about JB’s new relationship with Alexis? How does Josh respond to this change?
Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• Josh is jealous.
• Josh is angry at JB.
• Josh feels left out.
12. Instruct students to follow along as you read aloud the portion of pages 84–85 from “Josh, why don’t” to “dummy’s sweaty mouth.” Tell students to work with their partners to identify text details or evidence of how Josh responds to unexpected change. Encourage them to annotate the text.
13. Tell students that they will now choose a piece of evidence and briefly explain how it connects to the emerging theme of unexpected change.
Direct students to the Talking Tool, located in the Learn book. Explain that they will use the following sentence frames to share their thinking: In the text, . This evidence illustrates .
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, prompt them to use a direct quotation for their evidence.
14. Think aloud to model how to use the sentence frames to describe how Josh responds to change in “To fall asleep” (page 77).
LAND
5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to use the sentence frames to share with a partner a piece of evidence from “Gym class” (pages 84–85) and to explain how that evidence connects to the emerging theme of unexpected change.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students identify relevant evidence connected to the emerging theme of unexpected change?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support choosing and explaining evidence, direct them to the last stanza on page 85, and ask these questions: What details show how Josh feels? What is Josh’s response to JB getting a girlfriend?
Sample Think Aloud
In the text, Josh counts the strands of his dreadlocks to fall asleep.
This evidence illustrates that Josh responds to unexpected change by finding comfort in the way things were in the past.
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• In the text, Josh says that if life were fair, he would get a girlfriend and JB would be the one kissing a dummy. This evidence illustrates that Josh responds to unexpected change by thinking that life is unfair.
• In the text, Josh hopes that one day “JB will have to squash his lips / on some dummy’s sweaty mouth.” This evidence illustrates that Josh responds with anger at JB for getting a new girlfriend.
3. Summarize that emerging themes help readers identify important details early in the text and can be developed into more complex themes across a text.
Prologue to Lesson 14
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Students use infinitives to add details to a poem from The Crossover. As they expand lines of the poem, students practice using infinitives correctly. This work prepares students to explain how an infinitive affects the meaning of a knowledge statement in lesson 14.
Learning Goal
Use infinitives to add details to a poem from The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Share a revised line of poetry that uses an infinitive to add detail.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module language goal: Use infinitives to add description or details.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, invite them to practice using infinitives with a familiar topic by completing this sentence frame: I like . Model how to use the sentence frame by thinking aloud: I like to cook; I like to play the drums; I like to do gymnastics. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to work with a partner to use an infinitive to complete the following sentence frame from the point of view of each Bell family member (Josh, JB, Dad, and Mom): During basketball games, I like .
Vocabulary
none
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
Preparation
• Determine how to display terms and sentences. See the Launch and Learn sections for details.
LAUNCH 5 minutes
Build Knowledge About Infinitives
1. Assess and activate prior knowledge by asking this question:
What does JB like?
Key Ideas
• to bet
• to play basketball
• the new girl
• his brother
2. Display these sentences:
• JB likes the new girl.
• JB likes to bet.
Teacher Note
Substitute comparable student responses if possible. Then adjust instruction in Launch steps 3–4 to use phrases from student responses.
3. Annotate “the new girl” and “to bet,” and explain that both phrases play the same role: They each provide a detail that describes what JB likes.
4. Explain that the detail “to bet” is an example of an infinitive. Tell students that an infinitive consists of the word to plus a verb (e.g., bet). Display this equation: to + verb.
5. Tell students that they will examine infinitives and practice using them to add detail to a poem.
LEARN 20
minutes
Examine Infinitives
1. Direct students to page 26 of The Crossover, and Echo Read “The Sportscaster.”
2. Instruct students to work with a partner to identify the infinitives in the first stanza. Remind them to refer to the displayed equation to support their thinking.
3. Listen for students to determine the correct responses: to taunt, to do. Explain that taunt means “to challenge someone with insulting remarks.” Emphasize that the infinitives provide details of how JB and Chuck act during a basketball game.
4. Ask this question: How do JB and Chuck act toward opponents during the basketball game?
5. Reinforce the correct response: They insult them.
6. Direct attention to the portion of page 26 from “like Dad / used” to “when he played.” Instruct students to underline the infinitive to do.
7. Display these words:
• insulting
• cheer
• tease
Echo Read the words, and explain their meanings.
8. Instruct students to discuss the following prompt with a partner:
Replace the infinitive to do with a word from the list to add more detail to the poem.
Remind students that the infinitive should relate to the meaning of the excerpt.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, refer them to the equation “to + verb” to support their thinking, and ask this question: Which word relates to the meaning and follows the model in the equation?
9. Listen for students to determine the correct response: like Dad used to tease when he played.
10. Ask this question:
Why are the other words incorrect?
11. Reinforce the correct responses:
• Insulting is an adjective, but the verb form, insult, would be correct.
• Cheer means the opposite of “taunt” and “trash talk,” so it does not relate to the meaning of the excerpt.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, ask this question: Is “to myself” (line 16) an infinitive? Why or why not?
12. Direct attention to the portion of page 26 from “When I walk” to “Watch / React / Surprise.” Ask these questions:
Why does Josh prefer to be quiet when he plays basketball? How do you know?
Key Ideas
• The verb “watch” shows that Josh is quiet so he can focus on what his opponents are doing.
• The verbs “react” and “surprise” show that Josh doesn’t want to draw attention to himself because that means he can surprise his opponents with his move to the hoop.
13. Display these verbs and sentence frame:
• watch
• react
• surprise
• During a basketball game, Josh wants .
14. Instruct students to work with a partner to complete the sentence frame by using one of the verbs to create an infinitive that adds detail. Model how to use the sentence frame by thinking aloud.
Emphasize that the infinitive should add relevant detail.
LAND
5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to share a new line that adds detail by using an infinitive for the poem “The Sportscaster” (page 26).
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students create an infinitive that adds detail and uses the “to + verb” form?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support creating an infinitive, ask these questions: Why does Josh want to watch his opponent? What skills would Josh use to react? How would Josh surprise his opponent? Does your infinitive consist of the word to plus a verb?
Sample Think Aloud
During a basketball game, Josh wants to watch his opponent so he can learn their moves.
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• I want to watch quietly so I can focus.
• I want to react with a crossover.
• I want to surprise my opponent with a move to the hoop.
3. Summarize that writers use infinitives to add detail.
Prologue to Lesson 17
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students examine how and why authors use sensory language. As they discuss the effect of sensory language on meaning, students practice using such details to convey character actions and experiences. This work prepares students to develop sensory language that describes an event in lesson 17.
Learning Goal
Use sensory details to convey character actions and experience.
LEARNING TASK: Share lines of poetry that use sensory language to describe Josh’s actions and experiences.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Use descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, show them an image that evokes sensory language (e.g., students eating in a cafeteria), and ask this question: What sounds, smells, tastes, or touches might you experience in this scene? Use follow-up questions (e.g., How would the students’ voices sound?) to guide students to provide specific sensory language. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite students to work with a partner to develop a new line that uses sensory language to show how Christy Bell might describe the hummus.
Vocabulary
sensory details
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
• class Sensory Language
(Prologue Student Resources appendix)
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
• Sensory Language
(Prologue Student Resources appendix)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Practice Vocabulary
1. Direct students to pages 96–98 of The Crossover, and read aloud “Mom calls me into the kitchen.” Instruct students to follow along and write down the sights, smells, tastes, touches, and sounds they imagine.
2. Invite a few students to share the sensory language they imagine most clearly.
Key Ideas
• taste of macaroni and cheese
• smell of fried chicken
• the look Mom gives Josh when he wants to leave
• hearing Josh ask about his victory dinner
3. Introduce the vocabulary term sensory details by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term sensory details has a Spanish cognate: detalles sensoriales. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
4. Tell students that, in order to build understanding of how sensory language affects meaning, they will examine and experiment with sensory language in “Mom calls me into the kitchen.”
Definition sensory details: words or phrases that relate to the five senses
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine and Experiment with Sensory Details
1. Direct students to “Mom calls me into the kitchen” (pages 96–98) of The Crossover, and instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What happens in the poem?
Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• Josh walks into his family’s kitchen expecting a victory dinner because his team won the basketball game.
• Mom has not made Josh’s favorite foods.
• When Josh sees hummus and pita bread, he senses something is wrong.
• Mom says that the family’s history of heart problems means they are going to start eating better.
• Mom tells Josh he has to help keep Dad from eating fried foods.
2. Read aloud the portion of page 96 from “Normally she wants” to “greasy and / stuff.” Instruct students to follow along.
3. Then reread the lines, replacing the word cheesy with good and the word greasy with bad.
4. Instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
How would you describe the difference between the first and second set of adjectives?
Why might the author have chosen to use the words cheesy and greasy rather than good and bad?
Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• difference: The adjectives in the first set (cheesy, greasy) are specific, and the ones in the second set (good, bad) are general.
• why: Cheesy and greasy help readers imagine what the food smells and tastes like.
• why: Cheesy and greasy show how much Josh loves macaroni and cheese and fried chicken, and how excited he is to eat them.
5. Emphasize that the author uses sensory language to support meaning. Explain that the words cheesy and greasy show how much Josh loves macaroni and cheese and fried chicken, foods he also associates with celebration. Tell students that the sensory language helps set up how disappointed Josh will be when he gets only hummus.
6. Tell students that they will practice using sensory language to write new lines of poetry that describe Josh’s actions and experiences in this scene.
7. Display the class Sensory Language, and distribute copies to students. Tell students that they will complete the stanza by choosing the appropriate sensory language under each blank.
Teacher Note
Students tend to use visual words for sensory language. The words under each blank support their use of details related to the other senses.
8. Think aloud to model how to complete the first blank. Add response to the class Sensory Language.
Sample Think Aloud
I remember from The Crossover that italics indicate dialogue. I need a sound word that describes how Mom says to sit down. Sit down sounds like an order, so I don’t think Christy mumbles Commands describes how she might say these words. I’m going to use the word commands to complete the line.
9. Instruct students to work with a partner to read the stanza and to choose the appropriate sensory language under each blank to compete the line.
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to complete the task.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to work with a partner to create an additional line that describes Josh’s actions or experiences by using sensory language, either from the table or of their own.
10. Invite three students to share the completed first three lines of the stanza. Prompt them to explain why they chose the sensory language to complete the lines.
LAND
5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to share with a partner the lines of poetry they completed by choosing sensory language that conveys Josh’s actions and experiences.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students choose appropriate sensory language?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support choosing appropriate sensory language, invite them to complete the blank in the second line by experimenting with the two sound words to choose one that supports the meaning of the line.
2. Highlight a few responses.
Key Ideas
Sit down, Mom commands She taps her fingernails against the countertop, right next to some slimy-looking hummus. Our family has a history of heart problems, she says. We need to eat better Okay, I whine, I will try the hummus. My tongue pushes around the bland hummus. How can it be so slimy!
All I want are crispy fried chicken and gooey mac and cheese for my victory dinner. And for my dad to win his battle.
3. Summarize that authors use sensory language to develop characters’ actions or experiences.
Prologue to Lesson 19
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students examine the characteristics of different points of view. As they discuss examples of Kwame Alexander’s use of point of view in The Crossover, students practice using a consistent point of view from which to develop characters and events. This work prepares students to analyze Alexander’s use of second-person point of view in lesson 19.
Learning Goal
Examine point of view in poems from The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Share two or three original lines of poetry that express a moment from Dad’s first-person point of view.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Use a consistent point of view from which to develop characters and events.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, model how to use first-, second-, and third-person point of view to describe a familiar moment, such as what happens when the bell rings at the end of the school day. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, direct students to “Josh Bell” (pages 4–5), and instruct them to work with a partner to explain why the poem represents Josh’s first-person point of view.
Vocabulary
point of view
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
• Knowledge Card: point of view
• Point of View (Prologue Reference Charts appendix)
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
Preparation
• Determine how to display terms and sentences. See the Launch section for details.
• Cut out each page of the Point of View Chart, and decide how to display them in different areas of the room. See the Learn section for details.
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Discuss Prior Knowledge
1. Display and Echo Read the following sentences:
• I play basketball with my brother, JB.
• Josh plays basketball with his brother, JB.
• You play basketball with your brother, JB.
2. Ask this question: How are these lines the same and different?
3. Reinforce the correct responses:
• They are all about how Josh and JB play basketball together.
• They each show a different point of view.
4. Tell students that they will examine the characteristics and purpose of different points of view.
5. Review the vocabulary term point of view by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
LEARN 20
minutes
Examine and Experiment with Point of View
1. Remind students that Josh is the narrator of The Crossover, and most of the text is written from his first-person point of view. Explain that some poems use a different point of view. Tell students that they will examine examples that represent first-, second-, and third-person points of view.
Definition point of view: the narrative perspective from which a story is told
2. Display each Point of View Chart in a different part of the room. Direct attention to the First person chart, and read aloud the characteristics and example.
3. Think aloud to model explaining why the example represents first-person point of view.
4. Direct attention to the Second person chart, and read aloud the characteristics and example. Ask this question:
Why is this an example of second-person point of view?
138
First person
• uses the pronoun I or we (my, our, me)
• shares personal thoughts and feelings
• narrator is usually main character
• Example: “Now I’m laughing too, / but only / on the outside.” (102)
5. Reinforce the correct responses: uses the pronoun you; addresses the reader directly.
6. Direct attention to the Third person chart, and read aloud the characteristics and example. Ask this question:
Why is this an example of third-person point of view?
7. Reinforce the correct responses: uses the pronoun they; the reader doesn’t learn the internal thoughts or feelings of the Red Rockets basketball team.
Explain that third-person point of view often has a wider perspective that observes characters and events. Tell students that the example sounds like an observer’s perspective.
8. Tell students that they will now examine excerpts from The Crossover that focus on the character Dad.
Pair students. Assign them one of the following excerpts:
• “Basketball Rule #3” (page 66)
• the portion of pages 17–18 from “Boy, I saved” to “coaching this house”
• the portion of page 101 from “And suddenly he” to “no sound comes”
9. Instruct students to work with their partner to read the excerpt and identify the point of view by reviewing the characteristics and examples on the point of view charts. Tell students to move to the chart with the point of view that represents their excerpt.
Sample Think Aloud
The first thing I notice is that the contraction I’m, which is short for I am, contains the pronoun I. Josh is the narrator, and when he admits that he is laughing only on the outside, the reader learns the truth about how he feels inside.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, scaffold the task by asking these questions: Who is the excerpt about? What kind of information (e.g., their own feelings; observations about them) do we get from the excerpt?
10. Beginning with the students by the First person chart, invite students to read aloud their excerpts and explain why they represent their chosen points of view.
11. Reinforce the correct responses:
First Person
• excerpt from pages 17–18
• uses pronouns I and my
• shares Dad’s personal thoughts and feelings about his current job (taking care of his family)
Second Person
• Basketball Rule #3 (page 66)
• uses the pronoun you
• seems to address the reader (with advice about how to live)
Third Person
• excerpt from page 101
• uses pronoun he
• doesn’t share internal thoughts or feelings
• shares the way Dad looks and acts (coughs, clutches his chest)
• sounds like an observer
Teacher Note
As needed, explain that second-person point of view can use the pronoun you to refer both to the reader and to one or more characters in the text, such as Dad’s sons. In “Basketball Rule #3,” Dad addresses the reader and his sons with his advice about life.
12. Instruct students to address the following question with a partner who worked on the same excerpt:
What do you learn about Dad from your excerpt?
Key Ideas
First Person
• He is proud.
• He misses basketball.
• He is happy taking care of his family.
Second Person
• He considers family to be the most important thing.
• He loves his sons.
Third Person
• He has a heart problem.
• He is surprised by the heart attack.
• He seems scared.
Teacher Note
To support student thinking, add responses to a class chart and refer students to the chart when assigning the task in step 14.
13. Invite a few students to share their answers.
14. Direct attention to the third-person excerpt, which is the portion of page 101 from “And suddenly he” to “no sound comes.” Instruct students to respond to this prompt with a partner:
Write two to three new lines from Dad’s first-person point of view to express what he might say in the moment described in the excerpt.
Language Supports
For students with beginning English proficiency, scaffold the task by instructing them to brainstorm the thoughts and feelings that Dad might have in this moment.
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to complete the task.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, encourage them to review “Conversation” (pages 17–18) and include words or phrases of dialogue that capture Dad’s speaking style.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. With a different partner, share two to three original lines of poetry that express a moment from Dad’s first-person point of view.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students create lines that demonstrate an understanding of Dad’s character and first-person point of view?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support drafting lines of poetry using first-person point of view, refer them to the First person chart and ask these questions: How might Dad be feeling in this moment? What might he be thinking? Based on his personality, what might he say to his sons?
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
3. Summarize that authors use point of view to show different perspectives of characters and events.
Prologue to Lesson 22
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students examine elements of form in poems from The Crossover. As they discuss how form impacts meaning, students practice answering questions with relevant elaboration. This work prepares students to explain how poetic form contributes to meaning in excerpts from The Crossover in lesson 22.
Learning Goal
Examine the elements and impact of poetic form in The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Share one way that poetic form impacts meaning on pages 179–180 of The Crossover.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Answer questions with relevant elaboration.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, model elaboration with a familiar topic by providing a piece of evidence and explaining how it connects to a topic. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite partners to ask and answer the following question: Can you say more about how an element of form relates to the poem’s meaning?
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
• Knowledge Card: form
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
• Poetic Form Organizer for The Crossover (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
Preparation
• none
Vocabulary form (n.)
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Discuss Prior Knowledge
1. Direct students to page 142 of The Crossover.
2. Echo Read the poem “chur·lish” (pages 142–143), and ask this question:
What is the poem about?
Key Ideas
• Josh reflects on his recent behavior, specifically his development of a bad temper.
• Josh wonders how he can apologize to his brother for his bad temper, which caused him to hurl a ball into JB’s nose.
3. Ask this question:
What do you notice about the form of the poem, or the way the poem looks?
Key Ideas
• The poem includes a dictionary entry with pronunciation, part of speech, and a definition.
• The word churlish is italicized.
• Most of the stanzas begin with the same phrase: as in.
• The last stanza consists of a question.
4. Tell students that they will examine how the form of a poem impacts its meaning.
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine Elements of Poetic Form
1. Review the vocabulary term form by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term form has a Spanish cognate: forma. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
2. Display the Poetic Form Organizer for The Crossover, and distribute copies to students.
3. Instruct students to add the title of the poem, “chur·lish,” and its page numbers to the first box of a new row.
4. Direct students to the Description of Form column. Model adding and instruct students to add to the appropriate box a summary of what they noticed about the form of the poem or how the poem looks.
Key Ideas
• dictionary layout with pronunciation, part of speech, and word definition
• italicized font
• repetition of the phrase as in
• use of a question
Definition
form (n.): the shape or structure used in a story or poem to express knowledge or meaning
5. Direct attention to the third column and Choral Read the header: How Form Impacts the Poem’s Meaning.
6. Direct attention to the stanzas in “chur·lish” that begin with the phrase as in, and ask this question:
In these stanzas, what comes after the phrase as in?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, ask these questions: Why does the word churlish appear in each stanza? How is that a clue to what is described in each stanza?
7. Reinforce the correct response: an example of the definition of churlish.
8. Explain that the word definition means “the act of making clear.”
9. Ask this question:
Based on this meaning, what do you think is the poem’s purpose?
Key Ideas
• Josh is reflecting on one thing to try to define it, or make it clear.
• Josh is trying to make sense of something new that is happening to him.
10. Ask this question:
How does ending the poem with a question support this purpose?
Key Ideas
• The question shows that Josh is still trying to define what is happening.
• The question shows that Josh struggles to make sense of something new.
11. Instruct students to write in the appropriate box in the third column their responses to the two questions. For example:
• The definition and multiple examples show Josh is trying to make sense of something unfamiliar.
• The question at the end shows that the answer is still not clear to him.
12. Direct students to page 179 of The Crossover, and tell them that they will now analyze the form of a new poem.
13. Read aloud “Text Messages from Mom, Part One” (pages 179–180). Instruct students to add the poem’s title and page number to a new row on the poetic form organizer.
14. Ask this question:
What do we learn from Mom’s text messages?
Key Ideas
• Dad is not feeling well.
• Dad and Mom step outside and then decide to go home.
15. Instruct students to answer the following question with relevant elaboration:
What details convey how Josh feels as he receives texts from Mom?
Key Ideas
• The poem doesn’t include Josh’s texts, but Mom writes, “Y’all hang in there. The second half will be better” (179), which implies that Josh is anxious about the game not going well.
• When Mom writes, “Yes, Dad’s okay. I think” (179), I can tell that Josh is worried about his dad not feeling well.
16. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What details convey information about how Dad is feeling?
Key Ideas
• Dad asks the score, which suggests he feels okay.
• Mom says, “Dad’s okay” (179).
• Then Mom says, “I think” (179), which suggests that he might not be okay.
• Dad tells a joke, which suggests he feels okay.
17. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What do you notice about the form?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, ask this question: What do you notice about how the poem appears on the page?
Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• Time stamps start each stanza.
• The poem includes only Mom’s texts.
• The poem consists of short lines with few words.
• Some sentences are broken up over two stanzas.
• White space appears between stanzas.
18. Instruct students to write their responses in the appropriate box on the poetic form organizer.
19. Read aloud the poem. Invite students to reflect on the form by asking this question:
How do the time stamps, blank spaces, and pauses between stanzas convey a sense of important things happening away from Josh?
20. Reinforce the correct response: Reading only Mom’s words puts the reader in Josh’s shoes. The reader senses the anxiety and uncertainty that Josh must be feeling.
21. Direct students to the third column. Instruct them to use their responses from the Description of Form column to discuss the following questions with a partner:
How might the form of the poem create tension?
How might the form contribute to the poem’s pace?
Language Supports
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to discuss these questions.
For students with beginning English proficiency, ask these questions: What do the times in the time stamps tell you about the pace of the poem? Does Mom send the texts over a long period of time, or are they sent in quick succession?
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite partners to read aloud a section of the poem and slow the pace by pausing for the white space.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to share one way that poetic form impacts meaning on pages 179–180 of The Crossover.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students demonstrate an understanding of how elements of form contribute to the pace and tension of the poem?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support explaining how form contributes to meaning, direct them to an element of form (e.g., the large white spaces between stanzas), and ask this question: How does this element create tension? Repeat with a question about how another element of the form (e.g., the time stamps) contributes to the pace.
Key Ideas creates tension
• Large white spaces between stanzas suggest that even a minute between texts feels like a long time.
• A sentence broken up between two stanzas creates a time delay with Josh waiting to hear the full thought.
• A partial thought can have more than one meaning. contributes to pace
• Time stamps suggest that things in Josh’s life are changing by the minute.
• Short lines with few words suggest Mom is too busy to go into detail.
2. Instruct students to write responses in the appropriate box in the third column.
3. Summarize that writers use form to support the meaning of a poem.
Prologue to Lesson 24
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students analyze examples of precise and imprecise language. As they discuss strategies that writers use to create precise language, students practice using precise words and phrases to add details. This work prepares students to write a stanza of narrative poetry that uses precise words and phrases in lesson 24.
Learning Goal
Develop precise language that adds detail and accuracy.
LEARNING TASK: Share strategies to make a sentence more precise.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Use descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, review each strategy on the Precise Language Strategies handout, and collaborate with students to develop a new example for each one. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite students to work with a partner to develop at least one additional line that uses precise language.
Vocabulary
precise (adj.)
Materials
TEACHER
• class Precise Language Strategies (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
STUDENTS
• Precise Language Strategies (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH 5
minutes
Build Knowledge About Precise Language
1. Display these sentences:
• He went there.
• He rushed down the basketball court.
2. Ask this question:
What is the difference between these two sentences?
3. Reinforce the correct response: The second sentence is more detailed.
4. Explain that the additional detail makes the second sentence more precise.
5. Introduce the vocabulary term precise by displaying the word and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term precise has a Spanish cognate: preciso. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
6. Emphasize that the word rushed is more precise than went and that basketball court is more precise than there.
7. Tell students that they will practice using precise language to add detail.
Definition precise (adj.): very accurate and exact
LEARN 20 minutes
Create Precise Language
1. Display the class Precise Language Strategies, and distribute copies to students.
2. Direct attention to the Strategy, Imprecise Language, and Precise Language columns. Read aloud the imprecise language sentence: He went there.
3. Explain that the prefix im- means “not,” so the sentence is not precise, or accurate and exact.
4. Read aloud the precise language sentence: He rushed down the basketball court.
5. Ask this question:
What makes the second sentence more precise?
6. Reinforce the correct response: The second sentence uses specific and vivid words.
7. Add use specific and vivid words to the first column. Then add the first sentence to the Imprecise Language column and the second sentence to the Precise Language column. Instruct students to do the same. Explain that authors use this strategy to make their descriptions more precise. Tell students that they will learn about two more strategies.
8. Display these sentences:
• He is playing well.
• He is on fire!
9. Ask this question: Which sentence is more precise?
10. Reinforce the correct response: the second sentence.
11. Ask this question:
How is the second sentence more precise?
Key Ideas
• The metaphor on fire shows more emotion than the word well
• The metaphor shows that the player is having an especially good game.
12. Add use metaphors and similes as the second strategy in the first column. Then add the first sentence to the Imprecise Language column and the second sentence to the Precise Language column. Instruct students to do the same.
Teacher Note
Based on your students’ needs, explain that a metaphor is a phrase that compares two things by saying that one thing is the other. Tell students that a simile is a phrase that uses the word like or as to compare two similar things.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, explain how the Precise Language sentence illustrates the strategy. For example, tell students that the word fire illustrates the intensity and enthusiasm of the player’s game.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to share another sentence that uses fire as a metaphor.
13. Display these sentences:
• He threw the ball.
• He threw the orange basketball.
14. Instruct students to answer this question with a partner:
Which sentence is more precise?
15. Reinforce the correct response: the second sentence.
16. Ask this question:
How is the second sentence more precise?
17. Reinforce the correct response: The second sentence is more precise because it includes the color (orange) and the type of ball (basketball).
18. Add use adjectives as the third strategy in the first column. Then add the first sentence to the Imprecise Language column and the second sentence to the Precise Language column. Instruct students to do the same.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, remind them that an adjective modifies or describes a noun.
19. Display this sentence: He looked at the player.
20. Instruct students to make the sentence more precise.
21. Direct attention to the Word Bank section of the handout.
22. Tell students that they may use the word bank to make the sentence more precise. Define unknown words as needed.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to share their revision of the imprecise sentence and the strategy they used to make the sentence more precise.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students use one of the strategies to accurately revise the sentence?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support revising imprecise language, direct them to a strategy for making sentences more precise.
Key Ideas
• He stared at the guard. (I replaced the imprecise word looked with the vivid word stared and the imprecise word player with the vivid word guard.)
• He glared at the player like a bull. (I replaced the imprecise word looked with the vivid word glared and added the simile like a bull.)
• He glared at the aggressive player. (I replaced the imprecise word looked with the vivid word glared and added the adjective aggressive.)
• He stared at the talented player. (I replaced the imprecise word looked with the vivid word stared and added the adjective talented.)
• He stared at the star. (I replaced the imprecise word looked with the vivid word stared and added the metaphor star.)
2. Summarize responses, and emphasize that writers use precise language to show actions, experiences, and events with accurate and exact details.
Prologue to Lesson 25
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students analyze figurative language in The Crossover. As they discuss multiple meanings of key vocabulary, students practice showing knowledge of figurative language and referring to specific examples. This work prepares students to analyze figurative language in The Crossover in lesson 25.
Learning Goal
Discuss figurative language in The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Share one reason The Crossover is a good title for the text, and support your response with evidence.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this expectation for the End-of-Module Task: Show knowledge of figurative language and refer to specific examples.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, direct them to page 81 of The Crossover, and read aloud the stanza that starts with “I’m a fly.” Ask these questions: What is the figurative language in this stanza? How do you know? To support students with intermediate English proficiency, direct attention to page 228, and instruct students to work with a partner to discuss why the phrase “crossed / over” is figurative, not literal, language.
Vocabulary crossover (n.)
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
• Knowledge Card: crossover
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Practice Vocabulary
1. Direct students to The Crossover, and direct attention to “Article #2 in the Daily News (January 14)” (pages 225–226). Explain that this poem is written in the form of a newspaper article announcing Chuck Bell’s death.
2. Echo Read the portion of page 226 from “Known for his” to “the late nineties.” Ask this question: What does the word crossover describe in the line “Known for his dazzling crossover”?
3. Reinforce the correct response: Chuck Bell’s dribbling skill.
4. Review the vocabulary term crossover by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
5. Reinforce that the author uses the word crossover in the novel to describe the literal action of dribbling the ball. Tell students that they will now look at examples in which the author uses the nearly identical term cross over (two words rather than a compound word) as figurative language.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, remind them that literal language directly addresses what happens in reality and figurative language expresses meaning in a nonliteral way to create an image or effect.
LEARN 20
minutes
Analyze Figurative Language
1. Direct students to “Where Do We Go from Here?” (pages 227–228). Tell students that in this poem Josh describes Dad’s funeral.
Definition crossover (n.): a simple basketball move in which a player dribbles the ball quickly from one hand to the other
2. Read aloud the portion of page 228 from “The preacher says” to “crossed / over. Amen.” Ask this question: Who is the preacher talking about?
3. Reinforce the correct response: Dad.
4. Tell students that some basketball terms in the text have multiple meanings. Display the term crossover and then divide it into two words: cross over. Explain that the author uses the second version of the term to create new meanings.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, provide an example of another basketball term with multiple meanings, such as “clock running down” (page 220), and explain its literal and figurative meanings.
5. Demonstrate the literal meaning of cross over by stepping from one side of something, such as a threshold or yardstick, to the other. Ask this question:
What literal action does cross over describe?
6. Reinforce the correct response: to move, or change, from one side to the other.
7. Direct attention to the phrase crossed over on page 228, and ask this question:
What does the preacher mean when he says that Dad “has crossed / over”?
8. Reinforce the correct response: Dad has crossed over from life to death.
9. Elaborate that the phrase cross over is figurative language that expresses a change, or transition, from life to death.
10. Emphasize that in the novel the phrase cross over (or crossed over) has both a literal and a figurative meaning. Post the multiple meanings of crossover and cross over in a visible place:
• crossover (n.)—a basketball move; a change or transition
• cross over (v.)—to move from one place to another; to change or transition
11. Direct attention to “Free Throws” (pages 234–237). Remind students that this is the last poem of the novel. Read aloud the poem, modeling fluent reading.
12. Direct attention to pages 234–235, and ask these questions:
What is Josh doing in this part of the poem? Why?
13. Reinforce the correct responses:
• what—shooting free throws
• why—to feel closer to Dad
14. Direct attention to page 237. Echo Read the portion of the page from “Hey, I shout” to “crossing over / us.”
15. Direct attention to the last two lines of the poem.
Teacher Note
Explain that the author chooses the phrase crossing over to end the novel, which can be a hint that it is important.
16. Instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
What is the literal meaning of “crossing over” in this line?
17. Reinforce the correct response: that the basketball passes over the twins on its way to the hoop.
18. Instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
What might the ball crossing over Josh and JB mean figuratively?
Encourage students to support their thinking by referring to the displayed multiple meanings of crossover and cross over.
19. Think aloud to model how to begin brainstorming about this question.
20. Invite a few students to share their thinking.
Key Ideas
• The phrase crossing over suggests that Josh and JB are connected again.
• Josh and JB fought and split apart. Now the memory of Dad brings them back together.
• Crossing over can mean to change or transition. Before Dad died, Josh thought mostly about himself and being a basketball star. He has changed. Now he cares not just about himself but also about JB; he wants to show support for his twin brother.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, prompt them to think about what was important to Josh earlier in the novel and what is important to him now. Ask these questions: Has Josh changed? How so?
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Display these sentence frames: The Crossover is a good title for the text because . In the text, .
2. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to share with a partner one reason The Crossover is a good title for the text. Prompt them to support their responses with evidence.
Encourage students to look at the displayed meanings of crossover and cross over to support their thinking.
Sample Think Aloud
It is important that Josh doesn’t say the ball is crossing over me. Instead, as he did in his comment “We da man,” Josh uses a pronoun, us, that shows that he and JB are together. Therefore, the image of crossing over must suggest something about the relationship between Josh and JB.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students share a reason that demonstrates understanding of at least one use of the term crossover or cross over?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support identifying a reason that The Crossover is a good title for the text, ask these questions: Why is the literal action of the crossover important in the novel? How does the meaning of crossover as a change from one thing to another relate to the story? How does it relate to Josh’s experience?
3. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• The Crossover is a good title for the text because it is the basketball move that makes Josh a basketball star. In the text, JB tells Josh that his crossover “was wicked” (236).
• The Crossover is a good title for the text because it is the basketball move that connects Josh with Dad. In the text, an article says that Dad is “known for his dazzling crossover” (226), and he teaches it to his sons.
• The Crossover is a good title for the text because the novel is about changing from one thing to another. In the text, Josh changes from being focused on his own feelings to wanting to support JB.
• The Crossover is a good title for the text because it describes Dad’s death, an event that causes a change in Josh. In the text, the preacher says that Dad has “crossed / over” (228).
4. Summarize that writers can use multiple meanings of a term to express both literal and figurative ideas.
Prologue to Lesson 26
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students connect ideas about the meaning of the term crossover in The Crossover. As they discuss the literal and figurative uses of the term, students practice asking questions that connect ideas from multiple speakers. This work prepares students to share themes in The Crossover during a class discussion in lesson 26.
Learning Goal
Connect multiple speakers’ ideas about the meaning of crossover in The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Connect multiple speakers’ ideas about the importance of the literal and figurative meanings of crossover by asking and answering questions.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Ask questions that connect ideas from multiple speakers.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide a statement (e.g., The Crossover is about Josh’s internal conflicts), and prompt students to use the Crossover Discussions handout and the Talking Tool to ask a question that develops the discussion. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, provide additional opportunities to practice asking and answering questions with a different discussion question other than what is provided (e.g., Is The Crossover about internal or external conflicts?).
Vocabulary
crossover (n.)
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
• Knowledge Card: crossover
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
• Crossover Discussions (Prologue Student Resources appendix)
• Talking Tool (Learn book)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH 5 minutes
Build Knowledge About Effective Discussions
1. Review the vocabulary term crossover by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
2. Remind students that in The Crossover, the term crossover has multiple meanings, literal and figurative. Emphasize that they just looked at the literal meaning of the term crossover.
3. Explain that the author uses crossover figuratively to express how the characters experience transitions, change, and connection.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, remind them that literal language directly addresses what happens in reality and that figurative language expresses meaning in a nonliteral way to create an image or effect.
4. Ask this question:
Which is more important to Josh, the literal or figurative meaning of crossover?
5. Emphasize that although students can answer the question with just one word or with a short answer, in effective discussions speakers connect ideas and provide evidence.
6. Tell students that they will practice having effective discussions about the literal and figurative meanings of crossover by asking and answering questions to connect ideas from multiple speakers.
Definition
crossover (n.): a simple basketball move in which a player dribbles the ball quickly from one hand to the other
LEARN 20 minutes
Connect Ideas from Multiple Speakers
1. Display Crossover Discussions, and distribute copies to students. Direct attention to the question: Which is more important to Josh, the literal or figurative meaning of crossover?
2. Tell students that they will read two different discussions that answer the question. Instruct students to decide who will be Student A, Student B, and Student C and to read Discussion 1 and Discussion 2.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite three fluent students to read aloud the conversations for the whole class.
3. Ask these questions:
How are these two discussions the same?
How are they different?
Key Ideas
• same: They both address the topic of the literal meaning of crossover.
• same: They both have three people talking.
• different: The first conversation is short.
• different: The second conversation is longer than the first.
• different: The second conversation includes questions, but the first does not.
4. Ask this question:
Which discussion does a better job of answering the question?
5. Reinforce the correct response: Discussion 2.
6. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What do these three students do to have a good discussion?
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to discuss the question.
Key Ideas
• ask questions
• share the definition of the vocabulary term
• use sentence frames such as “I agree,” “I will add,” “In the text,” and “For example”
• stay on topic
• use textual evidence, including direct quotations
7. Emphasize that in Discussion 2, the speakers connect ideas from multiple speakers by staying on one topic, providing more evidence, and asking each other questions to build their ideas.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, reinforce each key idea by annotating each feature identified (e.g., underline the questions, bracket the definition, circle the sentence frames, check off comments that stay on topic or use evidence) on the displayed handout. Prompt students to annotate their copies.
8. Direct students to the Talking Tool, located in the Learn book. Explain that these sentence frames can help speakers connect ideas from multiple speakers. Echo Read these sentence frames:
• Can you elaborate on ?
• What evidence supports your idea?
• How does your idea relate to ?
9. Tell students that they will use these sentence frames to practice connecting ideas with two partners in response to the discussion question.
10. Tell students that they will first examine evidence for their discussion.
11. Direct students to The Crossover, and direct attention to “cross·o·ver” (page 29). Instruct students to listen for evidence about the meaning of crossover as you read aloud the portion of the page from the poem’s title to “to the other.”
12. Ask this question:
Is the word crossover used literally or figuratively in this poem?
13. Reinforce the correct response: literally.
14. Read aloud the portion of page 29 from “As in: When” to “the hard crossover.” Instruct students to Think–Pair–Share to answer this question: Why is the literal crossover important to Josh?
Key Ideas
• It’s a basketball move that can be powerful and effective against opponents.
• It’s a move that great players—including Dad—have used to demonstrate their skill.
• Dad taught Josh how to do it.
• Josh cannot talk about the crossover without thinking about Dad.
15. Direct attention to “Where Do We Go from Here?” (pages 227–228). Remind students that Josh describes his father’s funeral in this poem. Instruct students to listen for evidence about the meaning of crossover as you read aloud the portion of page 228 from “The preacher says” to “crossed / over. Amen.”
16. Instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
What is the figurative meaning of cross over?
How does it relate to Josh’s experiences?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, demonstrate the literal meaning of cross over by stepping from one side of something, such as a threshold or yardstick, to the other. Explain that the phrase is used as figurative language to express a change, such as from life to death.
17. Reinforce the correct responses:
• figurative meaning—to change from one thing to another, such as from life to death
• how it relates—reflects the many changes that Josh experiences (from being a twin to being alone, from having a father to losing him, from being separated from JB to reconnecting with him in a new way)
Teacher Note
Post strong responses in a visible place for students to refer to as they develop discussions in the Land section.
18. Think aloud to model how to make a connection between the evidence and how the figurative meaning of crossing over is important to Josh.
19. Form groups of three. Instruct students to use textual evidence to discuss this question in their groups:
Which is more important to Josh, the literal or figurative meaning of crossover?
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, direct them to the portion of page 237 from “Hey, I shout” to “crossing over / us,” and instruct them to explain the figurative meaning of crossing over in the example.
Sample Think Aloud
The phrase crossed over describes Dad’s death—another example of the big transitions that Josh is experiencing. This event causes Josh to realize that his life has changed forever and that nothing, including his relationship with JB and his passion for basketball, will ever be the same as it was.
LAND
5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to ask and answer questions in order to connect multiple speakers’ ideas about the importance of the figurative and literal meanings of crossover.
Encourage students to use textual details, the Talking Tool, and Discussion 2 from the Crossover Discussions handout to guide their small group discussion and connect each other’s ideas.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students connect each other’s ideas by asking and answering questions?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support asking and answering questions, direct them to Crossover Discussions, and instruct them to make a connection after stating the initial response. Then guide the small group in creating a response to the question: What do you mean?
2. Listen for students to use these conversation strategies in their discussions:
• asking questions
• using sentence frames, such as “I agree,” “I will add,” “In the text,” and “For example”
• sharing additional details
• explaining how evidence relates to the topic
3. Summarize that students can connect speakers’ ideas and learn more about a topic by asking questions during a class discussion.
Prologue to Lesson 27
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students use gerunds to add detail to poems from The Crossover. As they expand lines of a poem, students practice using gerunds to add description or details. This work prepares students to include a gerund in a knowledge statement about the elements of narrative poetry in The Crossover in lesson 27.
Learning Goal
Use gerunds to describe an action and add detail.
LEARNING TASK: With a partner, develop a new line for a poem by adding a descriptive phrase that includes a gerund.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module language goal: Use gerunds to add description or details.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, invite them to practice using gerunds with a familiar topic by completing this sentence frame: I like . Model options that include phrases (e.g., I like running fast; I like cooking with my grandma; I like playing the guitar). To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to work with a partner to use a gerund to complete the following sentence frame from the point of view of each member of the Bell family (Josh, JB, Dad, and Mom): During basketball games, I like .
Vocabulary
none
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover
STUDENTS
• The Crossover
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Build Knowledge About Gerunds
1. Display and read aloud these two sentences:
• Josh dribbles the basketball.
• Josh likes dribbling the basketball.
2. Ask this question: What is the verb in each sentence?
3. Reinforce the correct responses:
• first sentence—dribbles
• second sentence—likes
4. Direct students to the word dribbling in the second sentence. Tell students that dribbling is a detail that describes the activity Josh likes. Explain that a gerund consists of a verb (e.g., dribble) plus the suffix -ing. Display this equation: verb + -ing.
5. Tell students that they will examine gerunds and practice using them to add detail.
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine Gerunds
1. Direct students to The Crossover, and direct attention to “Basketball Rule #5” (page 93). Echo Read the poem.
2. Ask this question:
What is the literal meaning of this poem?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, ask this question: What does the poem say about playing basketball?
Key Ideas
• When you don’t follow your plan, you lose the game.
• If you play halfheartedly, you won’t win.
3. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What is the figurative meaning of the poem?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, ask this question: What advice does the poem give about life?
Key Ideas
• When you stop being yourself, you lose everything.
• Trust your beliefs to succeed.
4. Read aloud the first three lines of the poem, and instruct students to follow along.
5. Ask this question: Which word is the verb in these lines?
6. Reinforce the correct response: stop.
7. Instruct students to underline the word playing. Tell students that playing describes the activity that stops. Explain that playing is a gerund because it consists of a verb plus the suffix -ing. Direct attention to the displayed equation: verb + -ing.
8. Display these verbs and this sentence frame:
• perform
• follow
• When / you stop / / your game
9. Instruct students to respond to this prompt with a partner:
Complete the sentence frame by creating a gerund with one of the verbs. Encourage students to refer to the equation to support their thinking.
10. Reinforce the correct responses: When you stop following your game; When you stop performing your game.
11. Display the following poem, and tell students that “Basketball Rule #5” is a model for this poem: When you start trying your best you’ve already won.
12. Direct attention to the first three lines, and instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
Which word is the verb?
Which word is the gerund?
Encourage students to refer to the equation to support their thinking.
13. Reinforce the correct responses:
• verb—start
• gerund—trying
Explain that trying describes the activity that starts and that your best adds more detail to the activity.
Instruct students to annotate the verb, gerund, and additional detail in the poem.
14. Display these phrases:
• share the ball
• listen to others
15. Instruct students to respond to this prompt with a partner:
Replace the detail trying your best by using one of the phrases to create a new detail.
Remind students to make the verb into a gerund.
16. Invite a few students to share their revised poems.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to add details to the phrases.
17. Reinforce the correct responses: sharing the ball; listening to others.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Display these verbs and this sentence frame:
• dribble
• pass
• Dad takes us / to the Rec / to practice .
2. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to work with a partner to develop a new line by adding a descriptive phrase that includes a gerund created from one of the displayed verbs.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, provide an example that shows the difference between adding just a gerund (e.g., dribbling) and adding a descriptive phrase (e.g., dribbling for three hours).
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students develop a descriptive phrase that includes a gerund that adds detail and uses the “verb + -ing” form?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support developing a line, model how to complete the sentence frame by creating a gerund from the verb dribble and adding phrases that give information about when, what, and how.
3. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• dribbling the basketball
• dribbling with one hand
• dribbling fast
• passing the ball
• passing to each other
• passing for a layup
4. Summarize that writers use gerunds to add detail.
Prologue to Lesson 29
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students examine the exposition of “The Raven.” As they discuss information about characters and internal conflict, students practice supporting what they say with relevant evidence from the text, including quotations. This work prepares students to summarize the narrative arc of “The Raven” in lesson 29.
Learning Goal
Describe the exposition of “The Raven.”
LEARNING TASK: Share the internal conflict introduced in “The Raven.”
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Support what you say with relevant evidence from the text, including quotations.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, model how to use specific words and phrases in “The Raven” as evidence to support a discussion about the speaker’s feelings and actions. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, respond to their statements by saying, “How do you know that? Show me the evidence from the text.”
Vocabulary
exposition (n.)
internal conflict
Materials
TEACHER
• “The Raven”(digital platform)
• Knowledge Cards: exposition, internal conflict
• class “The Raven” Exposition
STUDENTS
• “The Raven” (Learn book)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH
5 minutes
Practice Vocabulary
1. Display “The Raven” and direct students to the page in their Learn book. Read aloud lines 1–2.
2. Ask these questions: What is the point of view of the poem?
How do you know?
3. Reinforce the correct responses:
• point of view first person
• how I know—uses the pronoun I Annotate the pronoun I on the displayed copy of “The Raven.”
4. Review the vocabulary term exposition by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term exposition has a Spanish cognate: exposición. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
5. Reminds students that they have started to identify background information. Display the class “The Raven” Exposition. Read aloud the titles of both columns: Character, Internal Conflict. Add to the Character column the information that students have shared so far about character.
6. Tell students that they will examine the speaker’s internal conflict in the beginning section of “The Raven.”
Definition exposition (n.): the beginning of a story, in which background information about characters or setting is presented Character Internal Conflict “The Raven” Exposition
feelings
actions
speaker
LEARN 20 minutes
Examine the Beginning of “The Raven”
1. Read aloud lines 1–12 of “The Raven.”
Teacher Note
In this lesson, students examine lines 1–12 of “The Raven,” which are part of Fluency Practice for the poem. However, students use the version of the poem in their Learn book so that they can access the glossary.
2. Ask this question:
What do you learn about the setting in lines 1–2?
Language Support
To support students with beginning English proficiency, remind them that the setting consists of where and when the events take place.
3. Reinforce the correct response: It is midnight.
4. Direct attention to lines 1–2. Display and Echo Read these questions:
• How does the speaker feel?
• What is the speaker doing?
5. Direct attention to the glossary in the left margin. Tell students that the definitions can help them respond to these questions. Think aloud to model how to use the glossary to answer the questions.
Language Support
To support students with beginning English proficiency, encourage them to annotate the glossary with drawings and definitions in their home language.
6. Add “the speaker” to the Character column of the class exposition chart.
7. Add the following details below “the speaker” in the Character column:
• feelings—weak, tired
• actions—thinking, reading a book of stories
8. Direct attention to lines 3–4, and Echo Read the lines. Model fluent reading by using facial and body expressions to support comprehension.
9. Ask this question: What is the speaker doing?
10. Reinforce the correct responses: falling asleep, hearing a knock on the door. Add responses to the Character column.
11. Direct attention to lines 5–6, and Echo Read the lines.
12. Ask this question: What happens in these lines?
Sample Think Aloud
The glossary says weary means “lacking energy because of a need for sleep.” That shows that the speaker is tired. So the speaker feels weak and tired. Now, I need to understand what the speaker is doing. The glossary says ponder means “to think about,” so the speaker is thinking about something. The glossary defines volume as “a book” and lore as “stories.” I think the speaker is reading a book of stories.
13. Reinforce the correct response: The speaker thinks the tapping noise is a visitor.
Add the responses to the Character column.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to work with a partner to summarize what happens in lines 1–6 by completing these sentence frames: The speaker reads . Then he hears . He thinks . Encourage students to refer to the class exposition chart to support their thinking.
14. Direct attention to lines 9–10, and Echo Read the lines.
15. Read aloud from “vainly I had” to “the lost Lenore,” replacing select words from the poem with words from the glossary: Without success, I had sought to borrow / From my books an ending of sorrow for the lost Lenore.
Tell students that sorrow means “a feeling of sadness or grief.”
16. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
Why is the speaker reading his books?
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, explain that sought to borrow means “hoped to get.”
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, ask these questions: What do you think “the lost Lenore” refers to? How does the capital letter L provide a clue?
17. Encourage students to point to specific lines of the poem to support their answers.
18. Reinforce the correct response: The speaker hopes that reading will end his sadness, or grief, for Lenore, who is lost.
Emphasize that he reads to try to distract himself from his sadness.
19. Review the term internal conflict by displaying the Knowledge Card. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
Language Support
The term internal conflict has a Spanish cognate: conflicto interno. Share this language connection with students whose home language is Spanish.
20. Tell students that they will examine the speaker’s internal conflict about Lenore. Direct attention to lines 11–12, and Echo Read the lines.
Explain that maiden means “a young woman” and that rare and radiant means “unique and beautiful.”
21. Create a new section for Lenore in the Character column of the class exposition chart, and add the following details to the chart:
• characteristics—young woman, unique, beautiful
22. Summarize that the speaker thinks Lenore is a unique and beautiful young woman. Direct attention to the phrases “lost Lenore” and “whom the angels name Lenore.” Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What do you learn about why the speaker feels sadness, or grief, for Lenore?
Key Ideas
• That Lenore is lost means that she is no longer with the speaker; maybe she is missing.
• If the angels call her Lenore, and angels are in heaven, maybe Lenore is dead.
Add responses to the Character column.
Definition internal conflict: a conflict a character faces within their mind
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to work with a partner to identify the speaker’s internal conflict.
Encourage students to refer to the class exposition chart to support their thinking.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, scaffold the task by providing this sentence frame: The speaker struggles .
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students identify the speaker’s sadness, or grief, about Lenore as his internal conflict?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support identifying the internal conflict, direct them to the class exposition chart, and ask these questions: How does the speaker feel? Why does he read books? What does he struggle with in his mind?
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• The speaker struggles to accept his loss of Lenore.
• The speaker struggles to escape his grief over Lenore’s absence.
• The speaker feels depressed after losing Lenore.
• The speaker cannot find comfort after losing Lenore.
• The speaker cannot get away from his “sorrow for the lost Lenore.”
Add strong responses to the Internal Conflict column of the class exposition chart.
3. Summarize that understanding a character’s feelings and actions can help readers identify the character’s internal conflict.
Prologue to Lesson 31
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students elaborate on evidence they collect from “The Raven.” As they discuss how evidence supports an emerging theme, students practice elaborating on the evidence they use to make clear connections and explain its significance. This work prepares students to share themes about the poem in lesson 31.
Learning Goal
Connect evidence to an emerging theme.
LEARNING TASK: Explain how a piece of evidence supports the emerging theme of grief in “The Raven.”
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Elaborate on the evidence you use to make clear connections and explain its significance.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide opportunities to practice elaboration with familiar topics. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite students to use each sentence frame from the Talking Tool to develop their elaboration statements.
Vocabulary
emerging theme
Materials
TEACHER
• “The Raven” (digital platform)
• Talking Tool (digital platform)
STUDENTS
• “The Raven” (Learn book)
• Talking Tool (Learn book)
Preparation
• none
LAUNCH 5
minutes
Build Knowledge About Elaboration
1. Review the vocabulary term emerging theme by displaying the term and definition. Engage students in Vocabulary Exploration.
2. Display and Echo Read the following emerging theme and piece of evidence from “The Raven”:
• Emerging theme—grief
• Evidence—“I had sought to borrow / From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—”
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, reinforce that grief means “deep sadness caused especially by someone’s death.” Remind students that surcease of sorrow means “an ending of sadness or grief.”
3. Display and read aloud the following sentences:
• Sentence 1 This evidence illustrates that the speaker tries to escape his grief over losing Lenore.
• Sentence 2 The speaker feels sad.
4. Ask this question: Which sentence does a better job of helping you understand how the evidence supports the emerging theme?
5. Reinforce the correct response: sentence 1.
Definition emerging theme: a broad umbrella theme from which more detailed and complex themes develop across a text
6. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
What does sentence 1 include that makes it effective?
Language Support
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to discuss this question.
7. Listen for students to address key ideas in their discussions.
Key Ideas
• uses a sentence frame: This evidence illustrates .
• summarizes some of the evidence
• connects the evidence to the theme by naming the emerging theme (grief) in the sentence
8. Tell students that they will practice connecting evidence to the emerging theme of grief.
LEARN
20 minutes
Elaborate on Evidence from “The Raven”
1. Direct students to “The Raven,” located in the Learn book, and direct attention to lines 76–96. Tell students that in this part of the poem they will examine repeated words and phrases that show the speaker’s grief.
Display and read aloud this list:
• “velvet lining” (lines 76, 77)
• “Lenore” (lines 82, 83, 94, 95)
• “Nevermore” (lines 84, 90, 96)
2. Read aloud lines 76–78, starting with “On the cushion’s.”
3. Provide a brief summary of the lines, noting that the speaker describes light shining on an empty velvet cushioned seat. Explain that press means “sit on.” The speaker is saying that she, meaning Lenore, will not sit on the cushion again.
4. Think aloud to model how to connect the evidence to the emerging theme of grief.
5. Read aloud lines 82–83, starting with “Respite—respite.” Use the glossary to share the meaning of nepenthe. Instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
What does the speaker want to do? Why?
6. Reinforce the correct responses:
• what—He wants to forget his memories of Lenore.
• why—She is lost, or gone away from him.
7. Read aloud lines 94–95, starting with “It shall clasp,” and ask this question:
What does the repeated phrase “whom the angels name Lenore” suggest about Lenore?
8. Reinforce the correct response: that she is dead.
9. Instruct students to discuss these questions with a partner:
Why do you think the speaker repeats Lenore’s name?
How does the repetition connect to the speaker’s grief?
Sample Think Aloud
The word velvet describes the cushion that Lenore sat on. The cushion reminds the speaker that Lenore will never sit there again. That causes his grief.
10. Listen for students to address key ideas in their discussions.
Key Ideas
• why: She is gone, and he cannot forget her.
• how: Repeating her name comforts him in his sadness.
• how: Repeating her name shows that he can think of nothing but his grief.
11. Direct attention to line 84, and Echo Read the line. Direct attention to lines 90 and 96 to show that the entire line repeats as the last line of stanzas.
12. Ask these questions:
What does quoth mean?
What does nevermore mean?
Remind students that the glossary provides definitions of some unfamiliar terms. As needed, direct attention to the location of these words in the glossary.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to paraphrase the line using words from the definitions in the glossary.
13. Reinforce the correct responses: Quoth means “said,” and nevermore means “never again.”
14. Instruct students to discuss this question with a partner:
How does the repetition of “Nevermore” connect to the speaker’s grief?
15. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• The raven is saying that the speaker will not see Lenore again. This emphasizes the speaker’s grief over losing Lenore forever.
• The raven’s repetition of “Nevermore” keeps reminding the speaker that Lenore is gone. The raven won’t let the speaker forget his grief.
16. Direct students to the Talking Tool, located in the Learn book. Remind students that they can practice elaboration by using these sentence frames: This evidence illustrates . This evidence proves .
Language Supports
For students with beginning English proficiency, ask this question: How does the evidence show the speaker’s grief?
If possible, pair students who speak the same home language, and instruct them to complete the task.
17. Think aloud to model how to complete one of the sentence frames.
Sample Think Aloud
My evidence is the speaker’s repetition of the name “Lenore.” This is how I will complete one of the sentence frames: This evidence illustrates the speaker’s grief because he says Lenore’s name again and again to comfort himself.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to work with a partner to share an elaboration sentence that explains how a piece of evidence supports the emerging theme of grief in “The Raven.” Remind students to refer to the displayed list of text evidence.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students explain how the evidence and the emerging theme connect?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support explaining the significance of the evidence, review the example in the Launch section to model how to create an elaboration statement that connects a piece of evidence to the emerging theme of grief.
2. Invite a few students to share their responses.
Key Ideas
• “velvet lining”: This evidence illustrates the speaker’s grief because it reminds him that Lenore will never sit on the bench again.
• “Lenore”: This evidence proves the speaker’s grief because he cannot stop thinking about Lenore.
• “Lenore”: This evidence illustrates the speaker’s belief that Lenore is dead, and that causes his grief.
• “Nevermore”: This evidence illustrates that the speaker is grieving because he will never see Lenore again.
3. Summarize that elaborating on evidence shows how the evidence is an important connection to a topic.
Prologue to Lesson 33
Essential Question | What are the intersections between stories and poetry?
OVERVIEW
Preview
Students read aloud a fluency passage from The Crossover. As they discuss content, form, and fluency elements, students practice speaking at a volume and rate others can understand. This work prepares students to declaim a fluency passage in lesson 33.
Learning Goal
Rehearse a fluency passage from The Crossover.
LEARNING TASK: Read aloud a fluency passage with accuracy, phrasing, and expression at an effective rate and volume.
Language Progress
In this lesson, students work on this module speaking and listening goal: Speak at a volume and rate others can understand.
To support students with beginning English proficiency, provide as a model a recording of the teacher declaiming the poem. To support students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to stand while reading and to add facial expressions and gestures to their performance.
Materials
TEACHER
• The Crossover STUDENTS
• The Crossover
• Fluency Practice for The Crossover, passage 4 (Learn book, Fluency)
Preparation
• none
Vocabulary
none
LAUNCH 5
minutes
Discuss Prior Knowledge
1. Display Fluency Practice for The Crossover, passage 4, and direct students to the page in their Learn book.
2. Instruct students to listen for the differences in fluency as you read aloud. Read aloud lines 1–6 twice, the first time without fluency and the second time fluently, modeling a volume and rate others can understand.
Teacher Note
For the disfluent reading, prioritize elements that students can identify, such as mumbling, unclear pronunciation, and reading too quickly.
3. Facilitate a brief discussion of the differences between the readings.
Key Ideas
• first reading: looked down, read very quickly, used a soft volume, didn’t pronounce all words clearly
• second reading: made eye contact, read at an appropriate pace, spoke loudly enough to hear, pronounced words clearly
4. Tell students that they will examine the passage from The Crossover and practice reading it fluently.
Teacher Note
In lesson 33, students declaim a fluency passage in front of the class. Students choose which passage to present, but you may suggest that they use passage 4 after practicing with it in this lesson.
LEARN 20
minutes
Rehearse a Fluency Passage from The Crossover
1. Tell students that they will review their understanding of the poem to prepare for their fluent reading.
2. Direct students to page 194 of The Crossover and model fluency as you read aloud “At Noon, in the Gym, with Dad.”
3. Ask these questions:
Who is in the poem?
What happens in the poem?
4. Reinforce the correct responses:
• who—Josh, Dad
• what happens—They are playing basketball in the gym, and Dad collapses. Josh gives him CPR, but his dad does not respond.
5. Direct attention to Fluency Elements on the first page of Fluency Practice for The Crossover, passage 4. Read aloud the elements. Define terms as needed (e.g., decode and appropriate). Tell students that you are going to read aloud while they listen for these elements.
6. Read aloud lines 1–9 of the passage, modeling the elements of fluency, as students follow along. Instruct students to listen for when you pause and to underline words that you emphasize.
7. Ask this question:
What did you notice about my phrasing and expression?
8. Emphasize that you paused slightly at the end of each line to stress the action of each line. Explain that you used expression when you read the subject of each line (e.g., People, Players, Me, Dad) to show Josh’s excitement about playing against Dad. Tell students that when you use expression, you emphasize certain words to help show emotion or action. Emphasize that the short lines and lack of punctuation help convey the fast pace of the actions in the poem and create rhythm.
9. Echo Read lines 1–9. Remind students to listen for how you model the elements of fluency and to read in a similar way. Encourage students to use an appropriate rate and a volume similar to yours.
10. Instruct students to Think–Pair–Share to answer this question:
What did you notice about the rate and volume of that reading?
11. Use responses to emphasize that an appropriate rate is neither too slow nor too fast and that an appropriate volume is neither too soft nor too loud. Remind students that pausing at the end of each line helps the reader achieve an appropriate rate.
12. Instruct students to partner read lines 1–9 and discuss these questions:
What is one thing your partner did well?
What is one thing your partner can work on?
Encourage students to refer to Fluency Elements on the fluency practice page to support their thinking.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to add gestures related to the basketball game as they partner read.
13. Read aloud lines 10–31, modeling the elements of fluency, as students follow along. Instruct students to listen for where you change your volume or add expression by emphasizing certain words, and tell them to underline these words.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, chunk the text by modeling fewer lines of the poem and then instruct students to identify elements in that section.
14. Ask this question:
Which words did you underline?
15. Use responses to emphasize words and phrases that show emotions or actions, such as “You okay?” and “Watch this.” Explain that changing your voice to read “You okay?” shows the concern that Josh feels about Dad. Explain that changing your voice and raising your volume to read “Watch this” suggests that Dad is now the speaker and that he is excited about playing against Josh.
16. Instruct students to partner read lines 10–31 and discuss these questions:
What is one thing your partner did well?
What is one thing your partner can work on?
Remind students to refer to Fluency Elements on the fluency practice page.
Language Support
For students with beginning English proficiency, instruct them to draw a box around words that were difficult to read. Provide support, as needed, to help students pronounce and comprehend these words so they can read aloud with accuracy.
17. Tell students that they will practice reading aloud the entire passage with the same partner.
LAND 5 minutes
Demonstrate Learning
1. Introduce the learning task. Instruct students to take turns reading aloud Fluency Practice for The Crossover, passage 4, with their partner. Instruct them to read with accuracy, phrasing, and expression at an effective rate and volume.
Instruct students to identify a fluency element area in which they improved or in which they still want to improve.
Language Expansion
For students with intermediate English proficiency, invite them to choose and practice the fluency passage they will declaim in lesson 33 and apply strategies from this lesson to support their choice.
Analyze Student Progress
Monitor: Do students read the passage fluently?
Offer Immediate Support: If students need additional support reading fluently, help them mark areas of the passage for improvement as indicated by the peer feedback.
2. Invite a few students to share areas of strength and room for improvement in their own performances.
3. Summarize that reading aloud with accuracy, expression, and phrasing at an effective volume and rate helps the speaker understand what is happening in the text and how the characters feel.
Prologue Vocabulary
climax (n.)
the point in a story at which characters either face or solve their most important problem
to lesson 7 | lesson 21
crossover (n.)
a simple basketball move in which a player dribbles the ball quickly from one hand to the other
to lessons 25 and 26 | lesson 8
exposition (n.)
the beginning of a story, in which background information about characters or setting is presented to lessons 7 and 29 | lesson 9
falling action
events that occur after a story’s climax and before the conclusion to lesson 7 | lesson 24
internal conflict
a conflict a character faces within their mind to lesson 29 | lesson 10
emerging theme
a broad umbrella theme from which more detailed and complex themes develop across a text to lessons 13 and 31 | lesson 5
exile (n.)
the state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons
to lesson 3 | lesson 3
figurative language language that expresses meaning in a nonliteral way to create an image or effect to lesson 10 | lesson 4
narrative arc the shape a story takes from exposition to resolution to lesson 7 | lesson 3
point of view
the narrative perspective from which a story is told to lesson 19 | lesson 14
precise (adj.) very accurate and exact to lesson 24
form (n.)
the shape or structure used in a story or poem to express knowledge or meaning to lesson 22 | lesson 12
resolution (n.)
the point in a story at which the main conflict is solved or ended to lesson 7 | lesson 24
rising action
the events that follow and complicate the exposition and eventually lead to the story’s climax to lesson 7 | lesson 11
sensory details
words or phrases that relate to the five senses to lesson 17 | lesson 17
theme (n.)
a universal idea or message conveyed by a text to lessons 5 and 13 | lesson 5
trait (n.)
a quality that makes one person or thing different from another to lesson 9
uproot (v.)
1. to pull a plant and its root completely out of the ground
2. to make someone leave home and move to a different place to lesson 5
Prologue Reference Charts
Narrative Organizer
The knight’s story follows a traditional narrative arc from beginning to end.
Climax
During the climax, the knight defeats the dragon in battle.
Rising Action
During the rising action, the knight meets a dragon.
Falling Action
During the falling action, the knight tells the king about the victory.
Exposition
The exposition of the fairy tale introduces a knight seeking glory.
Resolution
During the resolution, the knight celebrates his victory.
Point of View
First person
• uses the pronoun I or we (my, our, me)
• shares personal thoughts and feelings
• narrator is usually main character
•
Example: “Now I’m laughing too, / but only / on the outside.” (102)
Point of View
Second person
• uses the pronoun you (your)
• narrator usually addresses reader directly
• Example: “When / you stop / playing / your game / you’ve already / lost.” (93)
Point of View
Third person
• uses the pronoun he, she, or they (his, her, their)
• narrator usually limits internal thoughts and feelings of characters
• Example: “The Red Rockets / defending county champions, / are in the house tonight. / They brought their whole school.” (67)
Prologue Student Resources
A four-column chart with headings labeled Excerpts from Exile, What is happening, How does the evidence connect to uprooting, and What can others learn about uprooting.
Uprooting
L5 | Messages About
“Exile” | In each box, write your responses to the prompts.
Excerpts from “Exile” What is happening? How does the evidence connect to uprooting? What can others learn about uprooting?
Lines 34–36 t he speaker imagines her future life in New York as one of loss and danger. Her imagination prepares her for what it will be like to be forced from home and live in a strange place.
Lines 43–44
Lines 45–46
resolution (n.): the point in a story at which the main conflict is solved or ended
falling action: events that occur after a story’s climax and before the conclusion
Looking at herself in the Macy’s window, the speaker reflects on her new future.
Weeks later, the speaker wanders New York with her father.
climax (n.): the point in a story at which characters either face or solve their most important problem t he family drives to the airport instead of the beach, where a plane takes them away.
rising action: the events that follow and complicate the exposition and eventually lead to the story’s climax
During the night, Papi and Mami hurry everyone out of the house to go to the beach.
exposition (n.): the beginning of a story, in which background information about characters or setting is presented t he speaker’s family lives in Ciudad t rujillo in 1960 when t rujillo is the dictator.
Cut out the cards and find the match.
| Sensory Language
L17
The Crossover | Complete the stanza below by choosing sensory details that show Josh’s experience.
Sit down , Mom (mumbles/commands) . s he (taps/lays) her fingernails against the countertop, right next to some (firm/slimy) -looking hummus. Our family has a history of heart problems , she says. We need to eat better
Okay , I (whine/yell) I will try the hummus My tongue pushes around the (juicy/bland) hummus. How can it be so (slimy/creamy) ! All I want are (crispy/lumpy) fried chicken and (bitter/gooey) mac and cheese for my victory dinner. And for my dad to win his battle.
Definition Poem provides a definition and examples of word used in context
Title of Poem (page number)
How Form Impacts the Poem’s Meaning “cross·o·ver” (page 29)
Description of Form
The Crossover | Add responses to the headings for each row. Provide specific examples from the text to support your responses.
A five-column chart across two pages. Three columns on the left page have headings labeled Poetic Form, Poem and Page Number, and What is unique about this form. Two columns on the right page have headings labeled What type of content does this form add to the poem, and How does this form enhance the narrative.
Notes
How does this form enhance the narrative?
What type of content does this form add to the poem?
• use of a term in context adds multiple details and varied information on specific topics
• depth of ideas on a single topic
• multiple examples of a term
Word Bank specific or vivid words metaphors and similes adjectives stared glared guard like a bull star talented aggressive
Use the word bank below to make this sentence precise: He looked at the player.
Two three-column charts. The top chart, titled Precise Language Strategies, has headings labeled Strategy, Imprecise Language, and Precise Language. The bottom chart, titled Word Bank, had headings labeled specific or vivid words, metaphors and similes, and adjectives.
Precise Language Strategies Strategy Imprecise Language Precise Language
The Crossover | For each column, add responses in the rows under each heading. Provide specific examples from the text to support your responses.
Discussions
Which is more important to Josh, the literal or the figurative meaning of crossover ?
Conversation 1
s tudent A: t he literal meaning of crossover is more important to Josh.
s tudent B: I agree. s tudent C: I agree, too.
Conversation 2
s tudent A: t he literal meaning of crossover is more important to Josh.
s tudent B: I agree.
s tudent C: What do you mean?
s tudent B: Josh’s favorite basketball move is dribbling the ball quickly from one hand to the other.
s tudent C: What evidence supports your idea?
s tudent A: In the text, Josh says, “When done right, / a crossover can break / an opponent’s ankles” (page 29).
s tudent B: Can you elaborate?
s tudent A: Josh thinks the crossover is the best basketball move. His crossover makes him a star. t he literal meaning of crossover shows how important basketball is to Josh.
s tudent C: I agree, and I will add that his crossover connects Josh to his family.
s tudent B: What evidence supports your idea?
s tudent C: For example, in “cross·o·ver,” Josh says that his dad taught him the crossover.
s tudent A: How does your idea relate to the literal meaning of crossover being most important to Josh?
s tudent C: Chuck Bell was known for his crossover, and now Josh is known for the same move. Josh loves the crossover because it connects him to his dad.
Works Cited
Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. 2014. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
Alvarez, Julia. “Exile.” The Other Side/El Otro Lado. Plume/Penguin, 1996.
National Center for Education Statistics. “English Learners in Public Schools.” Condition of Education, US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2022, nces.ed.gov/programs/coe /indicator/cgf.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” The Raven and Other Poems New York City, 1845.
WIDA. WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework 2020 Edition: Kindergarten–Grade 12. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/WIDA -ELD-Standards-Framework-2020.pdf.
Credits
Great Minds® has made every effort to obtain permission for the reprinting of all copyrighted material. If any owner of copyrighted material is not acknowledged herein, please contact Great Minds for proper acknowledgment in all future editions and reprints of this module.
Cover, The Block, 1971, Romare Bearden, (1911–1988), Cut and pasted printed, colored and metallic papers, photostats, graphite, in marker, gouache, watercolor, and ink on Masonite, 121.9 × 548.6 cm, © 2023 Romare Bearden Foundation/ Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; page 2, cover from The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Cover photograph © 2014 by iStockphoto. com/Ostill. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Associated Press,
Acknowledgments
Karen Aleo, Trevor Barnes, Anthony Bautista Ramil, Allie Beman, Madison Bonsignore, Kelsey Bordelon, Sarah Brenner, Beth Brown, Catherine Cafferty, Victoria Capeheart, Melissa Chung, Ashley Cook, Julia Dantchev, Camille Daum, Laurie Delgatto-Whitten, Enaka Enyong, Jen Forbus, Pamela Frasier, Nina Goffi, Caroline Goyette, Lorraine Griffith, Tamara Griffith, Shelley Hampe, Elizabeth Haydel, Robin Hegner, Sarah Henchey, Liz Henkel-Lorenz, Patricia Huerster, Holli Jessee, Stephanie Kane-Mainier, Lior Klirs, Liana Krissoff, Karen Latchana Kenney, Karen Leavitt, Farren Liben, Brittany Lowe, Whitney Lyle, Liz Manolis, Maya Marquez, Meredith McAndrew, Cathy McGath, Emily McKean, Maia Merin, Patricia Mickelberry, Julie Mickler, Andrea Minich, Lynne Munson, Katie Muson, Gabrielle Nebeker, Amy Ng, Evann Normandin, Vivian Nourse, Carol Paiva, Catherine Paladino, Marya Parr, Sierra Penrod, Katie Pierson, Eden Plantz, Natalie Rebentisch, Rachel Rood, Rachel Rooney, Miguel Salcedo, Lori Sappington, Amy Schoon, Carolyn Scott, Danae Smith, Rachel Stack, Susan Stark, Sarah Turnage-Deklewa, Kati Valle, Kara Waite, Keenan Walsh, Michelle Warner, Katie Waters, Dr. Heather Waymouth, Sarah Webb, Erika Wentworth, Nicole Williams, Margaret Wilson, Eleanor Wolf
Poe, Edgar Allan, Gustave Doré, Edmund Clarence Stedman, and Elihu Vedder. The Raven. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1884; page 3, painting by Eugène Delacroix, The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei, (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202, Mtsaride/Shutterstock. com, DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, via Wikimedia Commons, Tiger Images/Shutterstock. com, grop/Shutterstock.com, Edgar Allan Poe. ca. 1904. Photograph, Andriy Popov/ Alamy Stock Photo, David Veloz/Shutterstock.com; pages 95, 102, XonkArts/Getty Images.
All other images are the property of Great Minds.
Ana Alvarez, Lynne Askin-Roush, Stephanie Bandrowsky, Mariel Bard, Rebeca Barroso, Brianna Bemel, David Blair, Charles Blake, Lynn Brennan, Adam Cardais, Dawn Cavalieri, Tatyana Chapin, Christina Cooper, Gary Crespo, Lisa Crowe, David Cummings, Cherry dela Victoria, Sandy Engelman, Tamara Estrada Del Campo, Ubaldo Feliciano-Hernandez, Soudea Forbes, Diana Ghazzawi, Laurie Gonsoulin, Kristen Hayes, Marcela Hernandez, Sary Hernandez, Abbi Hoerst, Ashley Kelley, Lisa King, Sarah Kopec, Drew Krepp, Jennifer Loomis, Christina Martire, Siena Mazero, Alicia McCarthy, Thomas McNeely, Cindy Medici, Ivonne Mercado, Brian Methe, Sara Miller, Christine Myaskovsky, Mary-Lise Nazaire, Tara O’Hare, Tamara Otto, Christine Palmtag, Katie Prince, Jeff Robinson, Gilbert Rodriguez, Karen Rollhauser, Richesh Ruchir, Isabel Saraiva, Gina Schenck, Leigh Sterten, Mary Sudul, Deanna Thomann, Tracy Vigliotti, Bruce Vogel, Charmaine Whitman, Glenda Wisenburn-Burke, Samantha Wofford, Howard Yaffe
MORE MEANINGFUL ENGLISH FOR ALL
Prologue lessons support students’ vocabulary acquisition, and oral language development. Through this research-based instructional approach, students—including multilingual learners and those with language-based disabilities—gain confidence and are better prepared to build enduring knowledge. Prologue prepares every student to succeed.
ON THE COVER
The Block, 1971 Romare Bearden (1911–1988)
Cut and pasted printed, colored and metallic papers, photostats, graphite, ink marker, gouache, watercolor, and ink on Masonite, 121.9 × 548.6 cm
GRADE 8 MODULES
Module 1 | The Power of Poetry
Module 2 | Montgomery
Module 3 | Exploring Antarctica
Module 4 | Shakespeare’s Theater
ISBN 979-8-88811-274-8
© 2023 Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York