the attitude of emotion of your voice - written or verbal

Finding my own voice: performing a poem

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 'Equality'

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

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

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 is good advice for someone who is preparing to perform a poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

to sometimes speak fast, and sometimes slow

What does it mean to vary your pace when performing a poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

to alter the attitudes and emotions in your voice

What does it mean to vary your tone when performing a poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

What happened after Maya Angelou performed 'On the Pulse of the Morning' at President Clinton's inauguration? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

I get up at dawn each day because I am idle.

I'm always idle in the holidays. I need a break!

Which of these sentences use the word 'idle' correctly? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

They won the battle, but they used ignoble tactics.

The most inspiring heroes are always ignoble and strong.

It was an ignoble Sunday morning: wet and rainy.

She is an ignoble villain in the story, and I love her story arc!

Which of these sentences use the word ignoble correctly? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

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

Only her poems with refrains are meant to be read aloud.

She read her work aloud as part of her editing process.

What is true of Maya Angelou? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

Which poem did Maya Angelou write and perform for Bill Clinton? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

gestures/ position of your body showing how you feel

looking at your audience: individuals or as a group

the speed you speak at different moments in the poem

how loudly you speak at different moments in the poem

the attitude and emotion of your voice at different moments in the poe

Match each element of performance to its explanation ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

When you come across a piece of punctuation like a comma or a full stop when reading a poem aloud, what is the punctuation telling you to do? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')

A {{ }} is a repeated line or set of lines in a poem ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').

Finding my own voice: performing a poem

Lesson outcome

Content guidance