Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’
I can explore Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’, including understanding why and how it was written.
Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’
I can explore Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’, including understanding why and how it was written.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- In 1993, President Bill Clinton asked Angelou to write, and perform, a poem at his inauguration.
- Perhaps President Clinton asked Angelou because of her importance as an American poet and civil rights activist.
- Angelou wrote on 'On the Pulse of the Morning', a poem focusing on America's past, and its future.
- 'On the Pulse of the Morning' emphasises the idea that Americans should see each other as equals, and practice kindness.
- Angelou followed a strict writing routine: rising early and working with minimal distractions for a full morning.
Keywords
Inauguration - in politics, when a new leader and government is sworn in
Civil rights activist - a person who advocates for social and political equality for those who have been denied equal treatment
Renew - to make new again, to restore
Jim Crow laws - laws enforced by American states which separated people based on the colour of their skin (late 19th century to 1965)
Common misconception
Every American president has a poem read at their inauguration.
Presidents have choice over some elements of their inauguration. President Clinton was only the second president to have a poem read at his ceremony, and he specifically asked for Angelou to write and perform it.
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Exploring Maya Angelou’s ‘On the Pulse of the Morning’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 english lessons from the Single poet study: Maya Angelou unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
You will need access to a copy of the final four stanzas of 'On the Pulse of the Morning' by Maya Angelou published in 1993 by Penguin Random House.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
the beat you feel as your blood is pumped through your veins
a group of animals or plants
events that will happen to a person or thing in the future
the state of not knowing something