1. August 18, 2011 Do Now: Enter the classroom quietly
Write in your agenda
Take out your ISN
Pick up a literature textbook

2. “Still I Rise” Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise.

3. Did you want to see me broken. Bowed head and lowered eyes
Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.

4. Does my sexiness upset you
Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

5. What do YOU have to say about this poem?
Can you relate to it? What does it remind you of? The only response that is unacceptable is not responding.
(And anything that is not school appropriate)

6. In your ISN…(page 7)
Read the four statements below. Rate them on a scale from 0-4
Disagree Agree
1. Young people need older role models
2. Friends should be the same age
3. Adults can’t understand how young people feel
4. Everyone deserves to feel special

7. Discuss with an elbow buddy
Explain your position or describe a related experience

8. ISN: Literature Term Imagery
Writing that uses descriptive language to appeal to the senses. Most images are visual and create pictures in the readers mind. Images can also appeal to the senses of hearing, touch, taste, and smell, or even to several senses at once
Imagery

9. ISN: Literature Term Main Idea
The message, opinion or insight that is the focus or key concept in a piece of writing. It’s the most important idea that the writer wants you to remember.
Main Idea

10. Turn to page 20 in your literature book
Read along as I read aloud

11. “Mrs. Flowers” pg. 20 Add to ISN in complete sentences
What images are associated with Mrs. Flowers?
What do they suggest?
Why is Mrs. Flowers so important to the narrator?
What are the “unasked and unanswerable questions”?

12. “Mrs. Flowers” pg. 22
What is the main idea in this passage? How does it relate to Marguerite?
Why is Marguerite surprised to learn that Mrs. F has a kitchen and an outhouse like other people?
What images bring Marguerites experiences to life?

13. “Mrs. Flowers pg. 23 What is the first “lesson in life”?
Why is this kind of wisdom called mother wit?
How does Angelou use imagery to describe how she feels about literature?
How does Mrs. Flowers help Marguerite?

14. What do YOU have to say about “Mrs. Flowers”?
Who is “the measure of what a human being can be” for you? Why?

15. Power Paragraph
Who is “the measure of what a human being can be” for you? Why?
Compare this person to Mrs. Flowers in one paragraph. A paragraph is at least 8 sentences. Describe this person and how they inspired you using imagery, like Maya Angelou.
Use the topic sentence:
In Maya Angelou’s story “Mrs. Flowers,” the character Mrs. Flowers is similar to…