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Year 8

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'On Aging'

I can explore Maya Angelou's 'On Aging', with a focus on how she creates a complex voice through her poetic structures.

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Year 8

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'On Aging'

I can explore Maya Angelou's 'On Aging', with a focus on how she creates a complex voice through her poetic structures.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. 'On Aging' was first published in Maya Angelou's 1978 collection of poems, 'And Still I Rise'.
  2. In 'On Aging', the speaker admits that she has many of the stereotypical signs of aging in a self-deprecating way.
  3. Although the speaker admits to getting older, she rejects sympathy and help.
  4. Angelou's use of commands and her sentence structures help create a defiant voice.
  5. Arguably, the poem has a wider message about not judging others by their age or appearance.

Keywords

  • Stereotype - a simple, general view of a particular category of people

  • Defiant - boldly disobedient

  • Self-deprecating - critical of yourself, often using humour

Common misconception

The speaker in 'On Aging' doesn't think aging affects you.

The speaker lists some of the things that happen to you physically when you get older - she faces the reality. However, what she does want to change are people's reactions and perceptions of what these changes mean.


To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Exploring Maya Angelou's 'On Aging', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Consider how you will read the poem in Learning Cycle 1 so that pupils can enjoy and engage with it. Who will read, when and how? Are there further questions you want to ask, or words you will need to define?
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Teacher tip
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Equipment

You need access to a copy of 'On Aging' by Maya Angelou first published by Penguin Random House in 1978.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match each method to its definition ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').
Correct Answer:commands ,orders
tick

orders

Correct Answer:repetition,the purposeful recurrence of a word or phrase
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the purposeful recurrence of a word or phrase

Correct Answer:stanza,a group of lines in a poem
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a group of lines in a poem

Correct Answer:sentence structure,the order of all the parts of a sentence
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the order of all the parts of a sentence

Q2.
Why might someone use an exclamation mark in their poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
to show they are asking a rhetorical question
Correct answer: to express anger, passion or surprise
Correct answer: to express excitement
to show the poem is finished
to intrigue the reader
Q3.
Which sentences are commands? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
Please let me sit down.
I don't want to stand up.
Correct answer: Pass me that walking stick.
Correct answer: Don't make assumptions about me.
I want to sit quietly.
Q4.
Which of these sentences are similes? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
I really like sitting quietly as I am introverted.
Correct answer: My legs creaked like a squeaky door hinge.
Correct answer: My stomach rumbled like a gently bubbling volcano.
My feelings boiled inside me, a bubbling kettle of emotions.
Q5.
Maya Angelou's third collection of poetry was called 'And Still I ' ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou').
Correct Answer: Rise
Q6.
Which of these sentences use the word defiant (or its forms) accurately? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
Correct answer: My teacher told me to sit down, but I defied her and went outside.
I defiant, so I often don't do what I'm told.
Many of Angelou's poems have a defiantly voice.
I did what I was told because I love being defiant.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Maya Angelou wrote a poem called 'On '. ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
Correct Answer: Aging
Q2.
How old was Angelou when 'On Aging' was first published? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
28
Correct answer: 50
78
83
Q3.
Which word means critical, often in a humorous way? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
depreciating
self-departing
self-deplorable
Correct answer: self-deprecating
deposing
Q4.
In 'On Aging', how does the speaker describe herself at the start of the poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
as "phenomenal"
Correct answer: as a "sack"
as "lonely"
as "self-deprecating"
as "chattering"
Q5.
In 'On Aging', how does the speaker describe herself at the end of the poem? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
as "sympathetic"
as a "chattering"
as "lonely"
Correct answer: as "lucky"
as "lazy"
Q6.
'On Aging' was published in 1978 in Maya Angelou's collection called 'And Still I Rise'. What other poems were published in this collection? ('Single poet study: Maya Angelou')
Correct answer: 'Woman Work'
'Equality'
Correct answer: 'Phenomenal Woman'
'Caged Bird'
Correct answer: 'Still I Rise'