Hello, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson, and I'm delighted that you've decided to join me today for a lesson about Maya Angelou.

It's a really exciting lesson because you are going to be not just reading and thinking about poetry, you are going to be performing poetry.

Maya Angelou was noted for the performances of her poetry, so it'd be wonderful to be inspired by her to give some really good performances of poetry reading.

So when you are ready, we'll make a start.

By the end of today's lesson, you will have performed one stanza of Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise," with a focus on conveying the speaker's power.

There are three keywords that I want you to look out for today that will really help unlock your learning.

The first one is resilient, and it means being able to cope, withstand, and recover from difficult physical or mental challenges.

To oppress someone, it means to treat someone or a group of people unfairly.

And to project, that means to speak loudly and clearly.

And it's really important that you do that when you are reciting and performing the stanza from the Maya Angelou poem.

So let's look at the lesson outline.

There are two learning cycles.

The first one, we are going to be exploring the speaker's power in "Still I Rise." And then we are gonna move on and you are going to perform a stanza.

Now three of our Oak pupils; Jacob, Aisha, and Alex, they reread "Still I Rise," and then they discussed what they thought it was about.

And I would like to share their ideas with you.

Jacob thought the poem was about resilience, that quality of being able to resist and withstand adversity and challenges.

And Aisha said that, "She thought the poem condemns those who have oppressed others." To condemn them means to strongly criticise.

And Alex thought that, "The poem was about the beauty and strength of the black community." Now, what I would like you to do is to reread "Still I Rise" yourself, and then to return to these three ideas and have a discussion around this question, which idea do you agree with most and why? Now, you're going to need to pause the video while you have the the discussion and while you read the poem.

If you are working by yourself, just pause the video and make some notes.

So off you go.

Now that you've had a discussion about ideas, I would like you to see how you might go about developing ideas, and we're going to take Jacob's ideas.

He says that, "The oppressors are presented as powerful, but nowhere near as powerful as the speaker." Now, I'd like you to discuss, what might have led Jacob to this argument? And in that discussion, you need to refer to specific examples from "Still I rise." Pause the video while you have that discussion or pause the video while you make some notes.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

What a fantastic discussion that was.

Now, what I would like to share with you is the bullet points that Jacob made in order to develop his ideas.

They're all ideas from stanza one.

So the oppressors are presented as powerful but nowhere near as powerful as the speaker.

So he was really looking for evidence to support that point of view.

And this is his first idea that the speaker repeats you or your in the first three lines.

But the final verb is rise, and it is connected to the speaker.

So it is the speaker who is rising up and becoming powerful.

And the speaker calls those who oppress her as bitter.

Now to be bitter, it is a powerful emotion, but it's very, very negative, whereas the speaker is filled with positive power.

And oppressors tell lies which are twisted, which is a really good metaphor because it suggests that they are unnatural and distorted.

And she says that, "The oppressors are aggressive, they treat the speaker like dirt." And then the speaker does this amazing transformation, when the dirt becomes dust which rises.

So we are constantly returning to the idea of rising.

Let's have a check for understanding.

I want you to focus on stanza two from "Still I Rise," and I want you to discuss ideas from the stanza which prove Jacob's argument.

And the argument being that the oppressors are presented as powerful but nowhere near as powerful as the speaker.

You're gonna come up with a similar kind of list as I did for stanza one.

So pause the video, and have a think about what you would take from stanza two to support this idea.

Off you go.

Okay, so are you ready for me to reveal what you might have said? So you might have said that the speaker is described as sassy, which means confident and self-assured.

And the oppressors are described as gloomy.

They're not happy or positive unlike the speaker.

And the speaker knows her self-worth, the simile about her making money through oil, which is a natural substance, so that shows her natural value.

And oil is very valuable, so it also shows her high value.

And then there's this really interesting point, which is that the speaker is asking the questions, not the oppressors.

Throughout there is this interesting contrast, between the speaker and the oppressors.

Let's move on.

Now, it's over to you.

I'd like you to select a stanza from "Still I Rise." And I would like you to bullet point ideas from the stanza that prove Jacob's argument.

You should focus on how the speaker is presented, how those who oppress her are presented, and then look really closely at the contrast between the speaker and her oppressors.

Please pause the video while you do this, and off you go.

Welcome back, and well done for your excellent focus during that task.

Now, what I would like you to do is to self-assess your bullet points by discussing these questions.

I'd like you to answer, what stanza did you focus on? What words or phrases did you select that describes the speaker, and why did you select them? What was it about those words that made them seem like a really good choice? And what words or phrases did you select that described her oppressors? And why did you select them? Think about what those words or phrases is telling you about the oppressors.

And then finally, I'd like you to discuss what comparisons or contrasts you made between the speaker and her oppressors.

Pause the video while you have that discussion, or if you are working by yourself, pause a video and make a few notes and then return, and we will move on and start thinking about performing a stanza from "Still I Rise." Off you go.

We're making really good progress today.

We've looked in detail about the speaker's power in "Still I Rise," and now it's time to perform.

In this Learning Cycle, you will perform the stanza of "Still I Rise," that you chose to explore in Learning Cycle One.

And I would like you to think about what makes a good performance.

The Oak pupils discussed what makes a good performance, and I'd like you to have a think about what they might have said.

Pause the video while you have a discussion, and then come back and we will share some ideas.

Pause the video, off you go.

Okay, I'm gonna reveal to you what the Oak pupil said.

Laura said that, "You need to project your voice." Projecting your voice is really important so your audience can hear.

And Jacob said, "It's important to speak a bit more slowly than normal." And he's quite right.

Sometimes performance can feel quite unnaturally slow, and that usually means you're getting it at the right speed.

And Andeep said that, "It's really important to know your material off by heart so you can engage with the audience." That's a really good point.

If you know what you are going to say, if you know the stands are off by heart, you can concentrate on making a relationship with the audience as you deliver your performance.

And Izzy says, "It's important to change the pace and volume of your voice for effect." Absolutely, there'll be parts of the stanza that you want to emphasise and parts where you wanna slow down.

So let's move on.

Now, Jacob used the bullet points from Learning Cycle One to inform the way he will perform his stanza.

So for example, do you remember he wrote, "Speaker repeats you or your in the first three lines, but the final verb is rise, and it's connected to the speaker." And Jacob said that, "What he's going to do when he's saying that stanza is he's going to pause and engage the audience and project his voice when he says you to show that he's not scared." That is a really good plan.

And the speaker calls those who oppress her as bitter, and that's very negative, but she's filled with positive power.

And Jacob said, "He thought he would emphasise all the T sounds in the stanza to really stress the hostility of the oppressors." Yes, a word like bitter.

If you really stress that T, it sounds almost like you are spitting, and it makes the oppressor sound, really unpleasant and hostile.

Jacob's done some really good thinking about how he is going to perform his stanza.

Now, it's over to you to think about how will you perform your stanza.

I'd like you to pause the video and have a discussion, and these are some things to think about.

You could consider when your voice will be louder or more quiet, where you want to slow or increase the pace, any gestures you want to include, and how you might engage with your audience.

And are there any particular sounds or words that you want to project? And your notes from the practise task of Learning Cycle One, could really support your decisions in how to perform your stanza.

You need to pause the video and have that discussion, or pause the video and just make a few notes.

Off you go.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Is it true or false to say that you should learn the stanza that you will perform from "Still I Rise" off by heart? It's true, but why is it true? Have a think about that.

Well, you might say that you must learn your stanza off by heart so that you can engage with your audience.

Well done, let's move on.

Now, what I would like you to do is practise performing your chosen stanza of "Still I Rise." And in that practise, what I'd like you to do is to consider trying out a number of different ways of saying and performing your stanza, and then considering which is the most powerful.

Now, you do need to know the stanza off by heart.

And if you are not used to learning things off by heart, I'm gonna suggest three really good strategies that might support you to do that; reading it aloud multiple times, learning it line by line, or writing it out by hand.

All these strategies are just really, really good ways of making a stanza become part of you so that when you practise the performance, you can concentrate on engaging with your audience and how you can convey the speaker's power.

So you need to do that now.

You need to start learning the stanza, and then you need to start practising it, how are you going to say it so that it is the most powerful delivery? Pause the video now, and off you go.

And now this is the moment we've been building up to, time for you to perform your stanza from "Still I Rise." Now you may be performing it in front of the whole class or you may be performing in a small group, or maybe just to one other person, but the principle is the same.

You need to take your time to feel comfortable, get ready, prepare yourself, and before you start speaking, make sure you wait for silence.

You've worked hard at this, and your performance deserves to be listened to.

And as you perform, again, take your time.

It's very easy, particularly if you are a little bit nervous to rush it.

It's as if you want to say it, say it as quickly as possible so you can sit down again.

But don't, try and relax into it and take your time.

And don't worry if you make a mistake, everybody makes a mistake.

Just pause and start again, not right from the very beginning, but from the previous sentence.

And remember to look at your audience.

They want to hear you delivering the performance.

So make eye contact and connect with your audience.

So pause the video, off you go, happy performing and happy listening.

So welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed performing your stanza and listening to other people's stanzas.

There's just one thing I would like you to do now, and that's to assess your performance.

Do you remember this advice that we got from the Oak pupils, projecting your voice so your audience can hear, speaking a bit more slowly than normal, knowing your material off by heart, so that you can engage with your audience, and changing the pace and volume of your voice for effect? I'd like you to discuss which of these pieces of advice you managed to follow, and which one would you like to work on next time.

Pause the video while you have that discussion, and then return for the end of the lesson.

Off you go.

So now, we are at the end of the lesson, and before we say goodbye, I would like to summarise what you have been learning today.

So you have been learning that there is a contrast between the way the speaker and those who have oppressed her are presented in "Still I Rise," and you've learned when performing a poem, you should consider how you want to engage with your audience, and also when performing a poem, you need to make informed decisions about the pace, volume, and tone of your voice.

And you should always aim to know your material off by heart so that you can look at the audience most of the time.

I have so enjoyed teaching you today.

I love this poem, and I love performances of poetry.

I wish you a really good rest of the day, and I look forward to seeing you again in another lesson.

Bye for now.