Model Poetry Using Maya Angelou Poem “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” Teri Heumann Sablatura Middle School Sixth-Grade Language Arts

Experience (so far): I was originally a teacher of students with severe disabilities and taught those with autism for two years in Los Angeles Unified School District. My students were nonverbal, very severely cognitively delayed, and often abusive – both to themselves and others.   After a bit of soul-searching (and regular traumatic experiences), I determined I was not that “special” person it takes to teach students with autism. Although a very difficult decision to make, I moved from special education into the general education classroom in 1997. My experience in general education began in Simi Valley Unified School District with a third grade class. The following two years were spent in fourth and sixth grades. Sixth grade was my niche. My calling. My search was over. I belonged.   The next two years were spent at Big Springs Elementary in Simi, where I taught a straight sixth grade and then a fifth and sixth grade combination. Then I moved to Texas. The rest, as they say, is really boring, so I’ll move on and spare you the details.

Theoretically Speaking… “Children learn better when they can feel safe in their experimentation. They don’t want to try something that’s never been tried.” - Teri Heumann “Literature is the best stimulator for writing that I know. Make it a point to saturate your students with literature – all kinds – all the time. There are literally hundreds of ways to use the written word to inspire young writers to pick up pens and make their own literature…”   - Marjorie Frank in If You’re Trying To Teach Kids How To Write…You’ve Gotta Have This Book “Students can write poems that are modeled on poems composed by adult poets. According to this approach, students read a poem and then write their own poems using the same theme expressed in the modeled poem.” - Gail Tompkins in Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product

That’s my theory and I’m stickin’ to it. “Imitation has a long history in teaching both speech and writing. The classical schools of Greek and Roman rhetoric formalized imitation, incorporating it in a pedagogical triad of theory, imitation, and practice. Belief in the educational value of imitation was unchanging throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.” “Clearly, imitation expands rather than confines; it generates rather than reduces potential.” “…Imitation activities provide opportunities for exploration and invention with language; the efforts often amuse, intentionally or not.” “…teachers must maintain an attitude of playfulness. We must encourage adventures with coconuts!”   - Kathleen Dudden Andrasick in Opening Texts: Using Writing to Teach Literature (1990)

My mission statement:   The purpose of using a model poem when I begin a poetry unit is to establish confidence in my students. They need to know they can write poetry that is every bit as good as a “real” writer’s. Having them model their poems after Maya Angelou’s Life Doesn’t Frighten Me not only allows them to be successful in their first attempts at poetry, but it gives the reader a rare insight into the students’ lives. This poem is about fears that are very real to children, but seem almost mundane to grown-ups who have sometimes forgotten what it’s like to be 12. Children explore their own fears when they write their version of Angelou’s poem.

Grade Level: Sixth grade language arts   Objective(s): Students will be able to write a poem by: Reading and interpreting the Maya Angelou poem, Life Doesn’t Frighten Me. Identifying their own specific fears, including those they would like to overcome. Listing the ways in which the tone of Maya Angelou’s poem reveals the fears of the speaker in the poem. Identifying the voice the writer is using in the poem.    Time: Approximately 1 hour. Materials: -         Copy of Angelou’s poem, Life Doesn’t Frighten Me -         Paper (or student journals) and pencil/pen

Note: The following is adapted from “Infusing Equity By Gender Into the Classroom: A Handbook of Classroom Practices” online at www.ricw.state.ri.us/lessons/143.htm. The lesson plans were created by Anthony Loffredio (RIC Secondary Education Practicum Student assisted by Prof. David Cappella).   Procedures: Begin by having students list their fears, even if they are only fears they think they should have. Have the class read Angelou’s poem silently. Read the poem aloud to them. Use the questions following the poem to: Review comprehension and discuss concepts presented in the poem; Explore common childhood fears; and Have students compare Angelou’s fears to their own. Have students begin writing their own poem using the fears they listed. Assessments: Students will demonstrate their understandings of the concepts of fear in the following ways: Listing 5-10 fears they may have or had. Being able to compare or contrast their listed fears with those in the poem. Being able to write a poem of their own using Maya Angelou’s poem as a model.

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou Shadows on the wall Noises down the hail Life doesn’t frighten me at all Bad dogs barking loud Big ghosts in a cloud Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Mean old Mother Goose Lions on the loose They don’t frighten me at all Dragons breathing flame On my counterpane That doesn’t frighten me at all. I go boo Make them shoo I make fun Way they run I won’t cry So they fly I just smile They go wild Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Tough guys in a fight All alone at night Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Panthers in the park Strangers in the dark No, they don’t frighten me at all. That new classroom where Boys pull all my hair (Kissy little girls With their hair in curls) They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me frogs and snakes And listen for my scream, If I’m afraid at all It’s only in my dreams. I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve, I can walk the ocean floor And never have to breathe. Life doesn’t frighten me at all Not at all Not at all Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Questions for Discussion: What kind of stance does the speaker take against her fears in life? How does she deal with them? Do you see her conquering her fears or denying that she actually has them? If she is not afraid, why do you think this is so? Should she be afraid of the things listed in this poem? Why does she strongly refuse to be afraid of these things? Do you find it interesting or even surprising that these things do not frighten the speaker? Why or why not? What is the speaker saying about girls and boys her age in the fifth stanza? Should they frighten her? Do you think she fits in with them? Besides her saying so repeatedly, what else can you point out as evidence of her fearlessness in the poem? Would anything in this poem frighten you? Be honest! Did Angelou’s apparent fearlessness towards things in the poem contradict what you think children are generally frightened of? Look at what you wrote down. Can you say exactly why she refuses to fear these things? Why must she let us know?  

Student Sample (0f Poem) without which this lesson would not be complete People in the dark Noises in the park Life doesn’t frighten me at all Mice on the floor Screeching of the door Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Mean bank robbers here Strangers over there They don’t frighten me at all Hurricane in the night Fire in the light That doesn’t frighten me at all. I go boo Make them shoo… I make fun Way they run I won’t cry So they fly I just smile They go wild Knocking on the glass Shadows going past Life doesn’t frighten me at all Man-eating sharks Men with tattoo marks No, they don’t frighten me at all. Stared at in the eyes Screams that make you cry Never ending stairs Paths that lead nowhere They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me snakes and spiders And listen for my screams I will not be afraid I will stand straight and stay I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve I can stand so still You can’t hear me breathe.

Student Sample #2 Obsession taunting me Unable to be free Life doesn’t frighten me at all Losing my dearest bud Being thought of as a dud Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Something killing all my pets Being swallowed up by death Losing my gift of sight Causing everything to be white I go boo… My idols being fake Making a terrible mistake Having a fatal disease Being drowned in the seas Being tortured by spiky things And cruel unusual stretching things In a cage up in a tower As the pain’s increasing in its power They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me angry dogs And listen for my screams If I’m afraid at all It’s only in my dreams. I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve I can stand up for myself And never have to leave. Life doesn’t frighten me at all Not at all Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

And Student Sample #3 Buzzing bumbling bugs Auntie’s giant hugs Life doesn’t frighten me at all People in a fight Squeaks and groans at night Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Thunder and lightening Booming and flashing They don’t frighten me at all Beggars on the street Sitting at my feet That doesn’t frighten me at all. I go boo… Big gray ocean sharks Getting conduct marks Things under my bed Ghost without its head No, they don’t frighten me at all. Those high cliffs up there I look down and stare It is much too high Too close to the sky They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me teeth and claws And listen for my scream If I’m afraid at all It’s only in my dreams. I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve I can walk on red hot coals And never want to scream. Life doesn’t frighten me at all Not at all Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

And Student Sample #3 Buzzing bumbling bugs Auntie’s giant hugs Life doesn’t frighten me at all People in a fight Squeaks and groans at night Life doesn’t frighten me at all. Thunder and lightening Booming and flashing They don’t frighten me at all Beggars on the street Sitting at my feet That doesn’t frighten me at all. I go boo… Big gray ocean sharks Getting conduct marks Things under my bed Ghost without its head No, they don’t frighten me at all. Those high cliffs up there I look down and stare It is much too high Too close to the sky They don’t frighten me at all. Don’t show me teeth and claws And listen for my scream If I’m afraid at all It’s only in my dreams. I’ve got a magic charm That I keep up my sleeve I can walk on red hot coals And never want to scream. Life doesn’t frighten me at all Not at all Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Now YOU try it! Using the poem by Maya Angelou, rewrite the lines that are highlighted Copy the lines that are repetitive You do not have to write the same number of verses as are in the poem The lines do not have to rhyme Simply think of things that frighten you, but that you would rather didn’t

Bibliography:   Andrasick, K.D. Opening Texts: Using Writing to Teach Literature. (1990). Heinemann: Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Frank, M. If You’re Trying to Teach Kids How to Write…You’ve Gotta Have This Book!. (1995). Incentive Publications, Inc.: Nashville, Tennessee. Tompkins, G.E. Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product. (1994). Macmillan College Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, New York. Loffredio, A. assisted by Prof. David Cappella. “Infusing Equity by Gender Into the Classroom: A Handbook of Classroom Practices”. (2004). Internet source. Angelou, M. “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All”. (1986). Random House: New York, New York.