+
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise: The Power of Words

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the power of words in this media gallery from American Masters. Using video, discussion questions, and teaching tips, students assess the persuasiveness of Maya Angelou's argument that words have power. Students also perform a...
+
Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
Poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar, Maya Angelou is a world-famous author. She is best known for her unique and pioneering autobiographical writing style.
+
Primary
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: The Poetry of Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection uses primary sources to explore the poetry of Maya Angelou.
+
Website
BBC

Bbc Four Audio Interviews: Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
Contains four audio clips from interviews with writer Maya Angelou. They discuss all art being autobiography and confession, the predicament of black Americans at the end of the 20th Century, the relationship of black Americans with...
+
Website
University at Buffalo

University at Buffalo: Maya Angelou Faq

For Students 9th - 10th
A website from the University at Buffalo on the life and accomplishments of writer Maya Angelou, "Maya Angelou FAQ" is organized into the following sections: "a mini-biography," "a mini-bibliography," and "Maya Angelou Links."
+
eBook
University of Manitoba

Um: "Living Well. Living Good." by Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
This site offers the text of "LIVING WELL:LIVING GOOD" from Maya Angelou's book, WOULDN'T TAKE NOTHING FOR MY JOURNEY NOW, 1993.
+
Lesson Plan
Yale University

Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Autobiography: Maya Angelou

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Unit plan that focuses on autobiography and the writings of Maya Angelou, especially her novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." It is from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, and is intended for grades 10-12. Also includes...
+
Primary
Other

Wired for Books: Audio Interview With Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
Maya Angelou shares her early experiences with poetry and how she selects what to include in her writing, during this interview with Don Swaim.
+
Activity
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Maya Angelou Classroom Activity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A brief activity for students in commemoration of the birthday of Maya Angelou. Provides a short lesson on the poem "On the Pulse of Morning," other lesson plans, web links, and an annotated bibliography. From April 4, 2007.
+
Website
National Women's Hall of Fame

National Women's Hall of Fame: Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
Read a biography of African-American writer Maya Angelou, a woman whose career has inspired and affected millions of people.
+
Website
Academy of American Poets

Poets.org: North Carolina Poets

For Students 9th - 10th
Poets.org provides an overview of the poets from a particular state. The overview for North Carolina includes information on the featured poets (Maya Angelou and Tony Hoagland) and poems specifically about North Carolina.
+
Website
Academy of American Poets

Poets.org: Missouri Poets

For Students 9th - 10th
Poets.org provides an overview of the poets from a particular state. The overview for Missouri includes information on featured poets (T. S. Eliot and Maya Angelou) and poems specifically about Missouri.
+
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Famous African Americans Oprah Winfrey

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage contains biographical informationa about the multi-talented Ophrah Winfrey. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and...
+
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Famous African Americans Maya Angelou

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage contains biographical information about the famous author and civil rights leader and activist named Maya Angelou. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential...
+
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Poetry: Varying Views of America

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Lesson allows young scholars to examine the various views of American perspective through studying three poems by diverse poets: "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman, "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes, and "On the Pulse of...
+
Lesson Plan
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Understanding Poetry of Maya Angelou Through Rap Lyric

For Teachers 9th - 10th
By examining the lives and lyrics of popular, positive black female rappers such as Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill, students can trace a direct line back to the inspirational writer and poet, Maya Angelou. Rap lyrics will help explicate...
+
Website
Academy of American Poets

Poets.org: Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
Poets.org provides a brief biographical overview of Maya Angelou including information on her life and links to selected poems. A column of links to additional reading information on Angelou is also provided.
+
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Day 3 Comparing and Contrasting

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Students will analyze and compare and contrast the messages shared by two highly influential women in regard to women's rights and what it is to be a woman, particularly one of color, in America. The texts that will be compared are "Aint...
+
Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief encyclopedia selection recounts the interesting life of Maya Angelou, black poet and novelist. There are links to websites for more information.
+
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
Maya Angelou recounts her coming of age story as a mature but apprehensive girl in the American South and California during the Jim Crow era. Selected (8) reading passages (grades 7-10) to pair with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by...
+
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: The Poetry of Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
This primary source set includes photographs, illustrations, correspondence, interviews, and a sound recording that provides context for thematic elements in the poetry of Maya Angelou as well as her life.
+
Website
University at Buffalo

Maya Angelou Biography, Bibliography, Photo

For Students 9th - 10th
This site offers a biography and a bibliography on Maya Angelou. Pictures are also on the site.
+
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Maya Angelou

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia article from Wikipedia on Maya Angelou discusses her careers in literature, activism, and screen, and lists her many accomplishments in these areas. Links are also provided for additional information.
+
Handout
Other

Challenges Facing Diaspora Africans Who Return to Africa

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an examination of African-Americans who return to Africa and how they are accepted and accept African people and African life as well as how they cope with the challenges of adopting their ancestral homeland as foreign outsiders.