Still I Rise 1st Read

Poetry

Still I Rise

Learners can:

• integrate ideas from a selection with prior knowledge
• identify a poem's speaker and audience
• use textual evidence to support conclusions

Vocabulary: speaker

Objectives

NOTES

Maya Angelou is one of the most influential voices of our time. However, she had a turbulent childhood: .

• Her parents' divorced
• She was sent to live with her grandmother in racially divided Stamps, Arkansas,
• She experienced the brutality of racial discrimination.
• As a result, she went mute for nearly six years, refusing to speak.

When Maya was 13, she moved to San Francisco to live with her mother, where a teacher helped her regain her voice, her confidence, and her pride. She went on to become an author, an actress, a journalist, a civil rights worker, and a teacher, using her voice for positive change.

Quickwrite

Where does your voice come from: your family, your culture, your beliefs, your friends, and/or your experiences? What would you like to use your voice for, now or in the future?

VIDEO

The poem we will read was written by Maya Angelou during the Civil Rights movement

Discussion

The video shows a brief history of the Civil Rights Movement. It ends in 2009, with the election of President Obama. Share your thoughts! How do you think people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, or Maya Angelou have influenced the world we live in now?

Still I Rise

Directions:

• Download a copy of "Still I Rise" below. Save it, and keep it with your notes.
• Read and listen to "Still I Rise" several times until you understand the basic meaning.

Speaker

The voice you "hear" when you read a poem is the voice of the poem's speaker. The speaker's point of view is not necessarily the same as the poet's.

Using the stanzas provided in the image below, cite at least 2 lines that help you identify the speaker.

Which of the following adjectives best describes the speaker in "Still I Rise"?

A. shy and timidB. determined and confrontational C. positive and enthusiastic D. frustrated and scared

Audience

The audience of a work is the listeners and intended readers of a writing.

Using the lines in the stanzas shown below, cite 2 lines that help you determine the audience (who the speaker is talking to).

Who is the intended audience of "Still I Rise"?

A. shy and timidB. those who have mocked and belittled the speaker C. the speaker's family D. rich people

Explain the relationship between the speaker and the audience. (Use the multiple-choice question you just answered to help you.) Answer in 1 to 2 complete sentences.

Connect with the Text:

You are part of many different groups, such as your family, your cultural group, your religious group, and your gender group. In your journal, using the lines in the stanzas we have looked at, write a poem that tells how you have faced adversity as part of one of these groups and whether or how you have risen up against it. Answer in 1 to 2 complete sentences.