Maya Angelou Poems Let America Be America Again Lesson Plan

Objectives

At the finish of the lesson, students will be able to:

• examine how imagery can be used to stand for ideas, themes, and periods of history.
• notice cultural relevance and text-to-self connections to the verse form, "Still I Rise."
• reflect on resiliency in their lives, schoolhouse, and community
• decide the origins of their "vox" and consider how they would like to utilise it

Essential Questions

• What factors influence the kind of person that an individual becomes?
• Why practice poets and authors use figurative language (such every bit metaphors and similes) in their writing?

Enduring Understandings

• People are formed by their experiences and environment.
• Experiences—including struggles and obstacles a person has had to face—help determine the kind of private he or she becomes.
• Surroundings (such as family unit, friends, cultural identity, and gender) also plays an important role in a person's development.
• Writers employ figurative linguistic communication and imagery to make surprising connections, add depth to a literary piece, and to create a deeper, more than meaningful experience for the reader.

Materials

• "Still I Ascension" by Maya Angelou (Note: Either print it out or accept students read online.)
• Highlighters
• Images from "Still I Ascension" (PDF)
• Examples of Figurative Language

Vocabulary

adversity [advertising-vur-sih-tee] (noun)  a state of continued difficulties

figurative [fig-yer-uh-tiv] (adjective) not literal; represented past a effigy of voice communication

imagery [im-ij-ree] (noun)  words that create images in people's minds

literal [lit-er-uhl] (adjective)  the bodily meaning of a word

Suggested Procedure

i. Tell students that authors frequently use imagery to create comparisons between literal and figurative elements, add together depth and understanding to a literary piece, and evoke a more meaningful experience for the reader. Give the class a cursory introduction to Maya Angelou (see Lesson Overview, above), then explicate that examining her masterful utilise of imagery throughout the poem "Nevertheless I Rise" can help them understand and interpret the poem's theme and message. Before reading the verse form, define or review definitions for the following elements of imagery: personification, metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia and hyperbole. Definitions tin can exist institute here.

2. Have students read "Notwithstanding I Rise" in its entirety. (Note: Either print the poem out or give the form admission online.) Students working with the printed text can apply a highlighter to identify examples of imagery in the verse form.

3. Split the class into small groups. Have each group select one of the poem's stanzas to analyze. Using the Images of "Still I Rise" activeness canvas, ask students to list each case of imagery in the stanza, the type of imagery used, and what they believe the element of imagery represents in the verse form'due south theme. For case, the sun—an element of nature that continues to ascension despite any other circumstances—in stanza 3 might correspond African Americans' resilience in the face up of racism and discrimination or Maya Angelou's resiliency despite a difficult childhood. Tell students that when they are finished, they volition nowadays their group'south estimation of their stanza to the rest of the class. Encourage other groups to add to the interpretation. Once all groups have presented, inquire students to combine with some other grouping and draw conclusions about how the imagery in the poem contributes to the poem's overall message.

4. Explain to students that although we know the author of "All the same I Rise" is Maya Angelou, the speaker, audience and topic of the poem are less clear. Tell them, "Readers are complimentary to develop their own interpretations. Your estimation may be dependent on your own cultural identity, experiences and knowledge, and it may exist different than the interpretation of your classmates." Explain that poems are often all-time interpreted past beginning reading them aloud. Ask students to pair up with a partner and take turns reading the poem aloud while a partner listens. Have them discuss the following questions: "What emotions do you hear in your partner's interpretation? Did you lot read the poem in a similar manner or differently?"

Enquire students to comment the verse form with their partner using the following questions:

• Who do you call up the speaker/narrator of the poem is? Is it a person? A cultural group? Highlight or underline words or phrases that assist you identify the speaker/narrator.
• How does the speaker/narrator seem to feel about herself? Describe a face that represents that emotion (east.chiliad., a smiley face, deplorable face or aroused confront) next to a word phrase that exhibits it. Take you ever felt that way most yourself? If so, share with your partner what makes you feel that style.
• To whom do you lot retrieve the poem is directed? Highlight or underline words and phrases that support your answers and share them with your partner.
• What bulletin is the writer trying to give to the person or group to which she is writing? Have you ever had to give a similar bulletin to someone? If so, when?
• What do you lot believe the poem'due south overall theme is? Examples include hopelessness, forcefulness, resiliency, spirit and acrimony. Write the theme you lot take identified at the top of the verse form. And so draw an arrow to a word or phrase from the poem that supports that theme.
• Do you see this poem in a historical context? If so, explain that context to your partner.
• Finally, consider and share with your partner how your own knowledge, experiences and cultural identity influence the way you interpret the verse form. Have you interpreted it differently than your partner?

5. After students have annotated the text, deport a class word. Carve up into two groups. Prepare the room with two concentric circles of chairs—one large circle of chairs and a second, larger circle of chairs outside of information technology. I group volition sit in the inner circle and ane grouping will sit in the outer circle. Accept each student bring a copy of the verse form. Ask a question of those students in the inner circle only. Those in the outer circle will discover the discussion and exist prepared to summarize what they take heard. Tell students to take a few minutes to think nearly their answer and that they may refer to notes from the previous activity. Get around the circle or utilize a talking slice, letting each person answer the question. After anybody has had a chance to answer, tell students that they can reply to what has been said. If a student disagrees with someone's answer, this is his or her chance to explain. Advise that students might want to connect to something in their own feel or raise a related question.

Have the inner circumvolve group reply the first two questions then ask the outer circumvolve group to summarize what they heard. And so inquire groups to switch and the outer circle grouping should become the inner circle group and reply the third and quaternary questions. Follow this procedure for these four questions:

• In what style(s) do you personally connect with this verse form?
• To what "gifts that my ancestors gave" is the author referring? What gifts were y'all given from ancestors or people in your cultural grouping who came earlier you?
• Which groups, either in society or at your school, are "shot with words," "cutting with eyes" or "killed with hatefulness?" How is this received? What can be done to change it?
• You are part of many unlike groups, such as your family, your cultural grouping, your religious grouping and your gender group. Share an example of how yous have faced adversity every bit part of ane of these groups and if/how yous take risen upwardly confronting it.

Extension Activity

Invite students to learn more about Angelou's difficult early life and her subsequent accomplishments. Yous can share this data: "Maya Angelou is one of the most influential voices of our time. All the same, she had a turbulent babyhood. Afterward her parents' divorce, she was sent to live with her grandmother in racially divided Stamps, Arkansas, where she experienced the brutality of racial discrimination. She also captivated the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family unit, customs and culture. Afterwards being sent back to live with her mother, she was raped at the age of 8 past her female parent's friend. She confided the abuse to her brother, leading to the rapist's arrest. Upon getting out of jail, the rapist was killed, many believe by Maya'south uncles. She believed her voice killed him since she told her brother of the offense. Subsequently she went mute for nearly six years. She was then sent back to live with her grandmother where a instructor helped her regain her vocalism, her conviction, and her pride. She went on to get an author, extra, journalist, civil rights worker, and teacher, using her vocalism for positive alter."

Ask students to call up nearly the following questions: "From where does your voice come: your family, your culture, your beliefs, your friends, your experiences? For what would you like to utilise your vocalisation, at present and in the future?" Then invite students to write a letter, poem, blog, song or journal entry that answers those questions.

Do Something

Work with your school counselor and other stakeholders to champion and create a "Still I Rise" society or group at your schoolhouse dedicated to helping students find their voices and overcome adversity. The club could simply be a identify for students to notice resources or information technology could exist a more complex, peer-to-peer support network. (Note: Some schools may only authorize clubs that are connected to a national organisation, e.yard., Immunity International.)

Alignment to Common Cadre State Standards/ College and Career Readiness Ballast Standards CCSS R.ii, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, W.4, SL.i, SL.two, SL.3, SL.4, L.iv, L.5, Fifty.6

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Source: https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons/maya-angelou

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