SCHOOL RESOURCES .

SCHOOL RESOURCES .

Excerpts and Activities

Safety

Excerpt p.1 ‘A question for you’

Context: This is the opening of Crossing the Line.

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  • Here are the same words, written in prose:

    ‘A question for you: do you feel safe? Safe. Like opening your front door & just walking out, like not sniffing the air for danger, checking left-right left-right, left-right left-right, cautious as a little kid crossing the road. Safe. Like the map of your city isn’t riddled with holes of black scorched no-go postcodes where your life’s worth less than paper. Safe. Like waving Mum goodbye & not thinking the next time she sees you, you might be on a slab. You know. That kind of safe.’

    Which version do you think is most effective at conveying the speaker’s emotion, and why?

  • Use your imagination to think of a place where you feel really safe. Picture yourself there and write a paragraph about where are and how you are feeling.

  • Make a list of the kinds of jobs which would require you to be a ‘risk-taker’.

    Is being a ‘risk-taker’ always a good or a bad thing?

Bullying

Excerpt p.14 ‘I’m called’

Context: When Erik starts at secondary school, he is immediately picked on. He realises at this school it’s ‘not OK’ to have red hair.

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  • Do you think it’s fair?

    What other physical characteristics do people make fun of?

    How do you think it feels to be mocked for something you can’t change?

  • Have you every stuck up for a friend?

    What might stop you from trying to help?

  • Why do you think she’s so unaware?

    Do you tell the people at home everything that goes on at school?

Excerpt p.15 ‘At the back’

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  • Now read it. Were you right?

  • What impact do you think being bullied has on its victims?

    Is all bullying physical?

  • How effective do you think they are?

  • How did reading it make you feel?

    Do you think this poem has a greater or lesser impact than a photograph? Why?

Bereavement

Excerpts p.19 ‘This is the year’ and ‘So you think’

Context: Erik’s father died during the pandemic when Erik was 12.

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Excerpt p.21 ‘Mum cries for months’

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  • Working with a partner, improvise a constructive conversation between Erik and his mother, telling each other how they feel.

Exhaustion

Context: Erik’s mum gets a new boyfriend, but he leaves her when he finds out she’s pregnant with twins. Erik’s only in Year Nine, but he has to take on a lot of new chores.

Excerpt p.47 ‘What is it now?’

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  • Do you have to help look after siblings?

    Do you think it’s fair to be asked to help around the house when you have schoolwork to do?

  • How could it be applied to this situation?

Friendship

Excerpt p.83 ‘If the brain’

Context: Ravi has been Erik’s best friend since primary school. Erik says about Ravi ‘He’s a bit different too, but in a different way.’

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  • a) Can you think of some adjectives to describe him?

    b) Do you get an idea of what he might look like? Can you draw a sketch of him?

    c) Imagine more about Ravi. For example: What are his favourite films? What music does he like? What does his bedroom look like? What is he most proud of? What is his favourite word? etc.

  • Are they still your friends now?

  • Do you always understand your friends’ points of view?

  • Here are some ideas: use them to build your own list.

    Loyalty – they stand up for you

    They make you laugh

    They share the same interests

    They live near you

    You’re all in the same group of friends

    They’re talented / clever . . .

    Now rank them in order of importance.

    Compare your list with your friends’ lists – are they similar?

Excerpt p.167 ‘Why can’t Ravi just’

Context: Later in the story, Ravi and Erik argue about Erik’s involvement in the drugs gang.

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  • What do you think makes Erik talk like this about his friend?

  • Did you make up afterwards?

    Do you think you should ever apologise to a friend after an argument, if you don’t think you were in the wrong?

  • Do you always understand your friends’ points of view?

  • What effect does it have?

Being broke

Excerpt p.57 ‘Being skint sucks’

Erik’s dad died and Erik’s mum was subsequently made pregnant and abandoned. She’s struggling to raise Erik and his twin baby sisters alone. Money is really tight.

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  • a. He wants to go on the school trip really badly.

    b. He feels humiliated.

    c. He wants new uniform.

  • From what you’ve learned so far about his situation, in what other ways do you think he is vulnerable?

    Discuss ways that gangs might use children’s vulnerabilities to groom and exploit them.

  • How has Marcus Rashford tried to help?

    What does your school do? For example . . . Does your school collect food for foodbanks? Offer a breakfast club? Like Erik’s school, does it have a ‘hardship fund’? Does it collect textbooks that students don’t need any more to give away or sell cheaply? Does it have second-hand uniform sales?

    Extension: Form groups to discuss practical ways your school could help disadvantaged students at your school. Present these ideas back to the class.

Decisions and consequences

Excerpt p.9 ‘Seems like bad decisions’

Erik compares the way his life has fallen apart to a domino run toppling.

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  • Would the poem work as well if the layout was conventionally left-aligned?

  • How could you have stopped your ‘dominoes’ from tumbling?

  • Write down the pros and cons in two columns.

    What are the possible consequences of choosing one way or the other?

    Do you think this is a good way to make a decision?

Excerpt p.118,119 ‘I know’

Erik is in the rec talking to the gang leader, K1 and is on the point of agreeing to sell drugs for the gang. Here, Erik ‘steps out of the action’ to directly address his audience.

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  • Can you ever justify bad decisions because of the situation you’re in when you make them?

    Should we always be held responsible for our actions?

  • If you knew then what you know now, could you have made a different decision?

    If you had, how do you think your life would be different now?

    Second chances are important. Have you been able to correct this wrong decision in any way?

  • If you worked on the ‘Safety’ section, think back to your discussions about different types of risk-takers.

  • What might stop Erik reaching out for help?

Weapons

Excerpt p.295 ‘Don’t fall asleep again, champ!’

Before reading: From its shape what do you think this poem will be about?

Context: At this point in the story, Erik has been asked to carry a mysterious package for the drugs gang. He and Ravi have discovered it is a gun. Erik doesn’t want to carry the package, especially now he knows it’s a gun, but he’s being forced to.

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  • Would you have guessed it was a gun if the poem wasn’t in that shape?

  • What do you think of young people carrying knives?

    Would you ever carry a knife in any circumstances?

    What could be the consequence of carrying a weapon?

  • Do you think Ravi should tell anyone? Discuss why or why not.

Concrete poetry

Many of the poems in this book have been shaped.

Before you read each these poems, look at the shape first. What do you think they will be about? Now read them. Were you right?

Excerpt p.55 ‘The list of things’

Excerpt p.136 ‘One by One’

Excerpt p.154-155 ‘Although they threaten to split open’

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  • How does the shape of the poem add to your reading of it?

  • You can choose a scene from a story you’ve already written, or the paragraph you wrote about your ‘safe place’ from the ‘Safety’ section in these resources.

    Think about the essence of what you want to convey.

    There are lots of ways you can make a concrete poem – have a look at these examples here: https://becomeawritertoday.com/concrete-poem-examples

  • https://poetry4kids.com/lessons/how-to-write-a-concrete-poem

  • Can you find an example of a calligram in the excerpts from Crossing the Line in these resources?

    Draw or type a calligram from any of these words: fear, enormous, crumbling, angled.