a person who advocates for social and political equality for those who have been denied equal treatment

suggesting someone has done something wrong

to treat someone, or a group of people, unfairly

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'Equality'

English

An introduction to Maya Angelou's distinctive voice: ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’

Writing a poem inspired by Maya Angelou's 'Life Doesn't Frighten Me'

Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘Phenomenal Woman’

Exploring Maya Angelou's figurative language in ‘Phenomenal Woman’

Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’

Performing Maya Angelou's ‘Still I Rise’

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'Caged Bird'

Performing Maya Angelou's ‘Caged Bird’

Exploring Maya Angelou’s use of figurative language

Maya Angelou’s influences: exploring ‘Sympathy’ by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'Woman Work'

Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'On Aging'

Maya Angelou's poetic voice

Analytical paragraphs: Maya Angelou’s poetic voice

Finding my own voice: planning a poem inspired by Maya Angelou

Finding my own voice: writing a poem inspired by Maya Angelou

Refining poems: harmony and dissonance

Finding my own voice: performing a poem

In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', pupils study a body of work by a single poet, in order to explore what makes her style and voice unique, giving Angelou her identity as a writer. In the second  Power and Conflict Poetry unit, pupils study the identity cluster of poems, including works by Agard, Dharker and Rumens, all of which use poetic voice to explore questions about personal identity.

In 'Poetry about Place and Home', pupils use spoken word poetry to explore their relationship to the city that they live in. In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', pupils explore how spoken word poetry can be used to express personal and political views. 

In this unit, pupils read and discover the work of Maya Angelou. They explore some of Angelou's most famous poems, such as 'Caged Bird' and 'Still I Rise', and practise writing and performing poems inspired by her work. As the unit develops, pupils find their own distinctive poetic voice.

Single poet study: Maya Angelou

Discriminatory behaviour or images, whether on the grounds of race, gender, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation, or otherwise.

Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour

Historic or outdated representations of people that may portray inequality or injustice.

Depiction or discussion of violence or fighting, including threats of violence or the aftermath of violence.

Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Depiction or discussion of sex or sexual body parts, including sex education.

Depiction or discussion of sexual content

What word does Maya Angelou's poem 'Equality' start with? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

What is the final word of Maya Angelou's 'Equality'? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

rely on one long quotation so you have a lot to say about it

don't quote directly – just say where it comes in the text

identify the method or technique in the quotation and then move on

When using quotations to explore an idea, what could you do to make your use of quotations powerful? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

Starting with the first, put these Maya Angelou poems in the order they were published. ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

She accusatory me of taking her sweets when she wasn't looking.

I like being accused of things; it shows I'm trustworthy.

I accused him of eating the cake when I saw the crumbs around his mouth.

Can you accuse him to pick me up? I don't have time to ask.

Which of the sentences below use the word accusatory (or its forms) correctly? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

In Maya Angelou's 'Equality', the speaker says that despite the inequality she has faced, she marches "{{ }}" (Stanza five). ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

the repetition of the same letter at the start of successive words

when a poet compares one thing to another using 'like' or 'as'

a repeated line or set of lines in a poem

when the title is the same as one of the lines in the poem

What is a refrain? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

Which of these are examples of commands? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

Match each word to its definition ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

When was Maya Angelou born? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

a speaker telling us where her confidence and beauty come from: her

a speaker explaining how the oppression they have faced can't diminish

a poem that uses an extended metaphor to explore inequality

a speaker lists all the things they aren't frightened of and why

Match each of these Maya Angelou poems to their focus. ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

Maya Angelou was a poet and a civil {{ }} activist ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'Equality'

Lesson outcome

Content guidance