Learning for Justice
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...
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Resilient Poetry
Students read The Seven Resiliencies, a Maya Angelou poem, and complete writing activities to analyze the concept of resiliency. For this poetry lesson, students group in a circle to read the resiliency handout and discuss the text....
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Greetings from Maya Angelou
Students investigate the life and works of Maya Angelou. They complete a Webquest, read poems, listen to a reading by Maya Angelou, answer discussion questions, and write a poem, short story, or essay based on a newspaper article.
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Still I Rise: Maya Angelou
Students read the poem, Still I rise, by Maya Angelou. They examine how language, poetic devices, and format contribute to the poet's message. They identify poetic devices used in the poem.
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Autobiography: Maya Angelou
Learners study the concepts of autobiography, biography, and fiction as literary genres. They read, study, and analyze Maya Angelou's autobiographical writings in terms of what she intended to accomplish by her writings. They develop and...
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Making Connections: I Know Why Caged Birds Sing
Students discuss equality and fairness by reading a Maya Angelo poem. For this U.S. history lesson, students read the poem I Know Why Caged Birds Sing, and discuss how the era it was written in affected the words. Students identify the...
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The Effects of Slavery
The emotional and spiritual oppression of slavery in the African-American experience is the focus of this instructional activity. Middle schoolers analyze various texts by Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou related to freedom and...
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“And Still I Rise” Proud Black Women
Students examine the experiences of African American women. In this poetry instructional activity, students use their literary analysis skills to compare the poetry of Maya Angelou to rap music performed by Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill.
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Mood
Young scholars learn how to distinguish between the mood of a piece of writing (how the work makes the reader feel) and the tone (the writer's attitude toward the material) in the sixth instructional activity in a poetry unit. After...
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Lesson 2 Introduction Part 2
Ninth graders explore I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this introductory lesson, 9th graders read Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise." Students write a journal telling what they believe is the message contained in the poem and discuss...
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Pupils complete activities for the autobiography of Maya Angelou. In this autobiography lesson, students write a journal entry about their life and discuss the morphology of the word autobiography. Pupils use active reading strategies to...
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Students read and analyze the novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. They discuss the poetry and prose of the book, the importance of role models, complete a worksheet, and write a narrative using figurative language.
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The Poetry Archive
Students investigate the power of title and poetry in a Langston Hughes' poem. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students discuss the poem 'I, Too' for its title and content. Students use the variation in English Words and...
Education Foundation of Sarasota County
Self-Calming Strategies to Manage Emotions
Tweens and teens learn coping skills to help manage strong emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness with a instructional activity that asks them to generate a list of self-calming strategies they use and to consider the suggestions in a...
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Chapters 20, 21, 22, 23
Students complete chapter analysis activities for the Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this novel analysis lesson, students read and discuss chapters 20, 21, and 22 from the novel. Students then read and listen to the...
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Interpreting Meaning in Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
Launch a study of Maya Angelou's "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings" with the Youtube video of Alicia Keys singing her "Caged Bird." Groups then read Angelou's poem and discuss the symbols employed. Although the text of the poem is not...
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Using Prominent Personalities With Identifiable Social Causes to Stimulate Writing
Students write a friendly letter to a Maya Angelou, describing their response to her poetry and short stories.
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Words Have Meaning
Learners interpret and analyze art for meaning and a Maya Angelou poem for meaning. In this art and literature analysis lesson, students analyze Alison Saar's "Lost and Found" and Maya Angelou's poem "Alone." Learners write creative...
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Classify By Topic
Students explore and evaluate poetry. In small groups, they read and summarize poems, complete a handout, create and perform a dramatization of a poem, and write a journal entry in response to their performance.
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Figurative Language
Learners interpret figurative language. In this language instructional activity, students are read the poem "I Love the Look of Words" by Maya Angelou and are to find examples of hyperbole and personification in the poem. Learners then...
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Reading Lesson Plan
Tenth graders read the poem "Still I Rise" and discuss the different ways it can be told and read and brought to life. In this poetry lesson plan, 10th graders read aloud and silently, and compare different works of poetry.
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LIFE DOESN’T FRIGHTEN ME
Learners examine gender bias and stereotypes. In this discrimination lesson students participate in class discussions and poetry reading in order to examine the gender stereotypes of fears and develop the understanding that both genders...
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Life Doesn't Frighten Me
Students work with younger students to collaborate to create a painting. In this lesson, students read Life Doesn't Frighten Me. High School students write and discuss fears with Kindergarten children, and then create an artwork showing...
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Discovering Ourselves in Literature and Life
Students read literature and view other media to discover how print and non-print texts answer the thematic question: Who am I? students compare the ways ideas are presented, and create their own portfolios or personal Web pages...