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A Resource Guide For Middle School Teachers: Dr. Maya Angelou
A Resource Guide For Middle School Teachers: Dr. Maya Angelou
Dream in Color
Imagine a world where diversity is celebrated. A world where
people of all complexions and cultures express themselves freely.
If you imagine it, then you Dream In Color.
Target, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation, Furious Flower
Poetry Center at James Madison University and Dr. Maya Angelou,
invites you to celebrate Black History Month through the rich
legacy of African-American poetry. Discover the work of poets
past and present, whose voices move us all to continue to dream.
As part of our 2007 Black History Month celebration, Target
is proud to provide a toolkit to inspire children of all ages to
Dream In Color. Students will discover the works of important
African-American poets, classroom activities designed to
encourage them to develop their own poetic voices,
discussion guides, bibliographies and links to engaging
online poetry resources.
Dream In Color is just one of the ways that Target supports
diversity and makes a real difference in the lives of children
through the arts and education.
To the Teacher:
The exercises in each unit are meant to serve as guidelines to
excite students about poetry. The exercises are not sequenced,
so you may use as many or as few as you like, and in any order.
You may want to do one exercise per class period, or you may
want to stretch an exercise over a few days. The exercises should
be fun for both you and the students, so just jump in and enjoy
the results.
Background
Family is one of the most often-recurring themes in all
genres of African-American literature. The trauma of
enslavement, followed by the routine separation of the
members of slave families, created a focus on
displacement and replacement that shouts and murmurs
through black poetry and prose. The family is also often
depicted as a space of discovery, nurture and support.
Writing about family explores personal history, develops a
sense of community, and establishes identity. In Brooks
My Grandmother is Waiting for Me to Come Home, the
most important yet understated idea is that the
grandmother is home, she is there, and she lingers.
Even though the kitchenette is small and lacking in fancy
material possessions, the grandmother is substantial and
warmly welcoming.
1. Imagery
Read the poem aloud to the class, but do not hand
out copies yet. Read the poem again. Ask the class
to respond to these questions either verbally or in
a drawing:
Can you describe the room where the grandmother
is waiting?
What does the grandmother look like?
Where is the grandmother sitting?
What do the grandmother and the grandchild eat?
Where does the grandmother live?
Hand out copies of the poem.
Gwendolyn Brooks
From In Montgomery and Other Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks.
Third World Press, Chicago. Copyright 1967 by Gwendolyn
Brooks. Reprinted by consent of Brooks Permissions.
Activities
1. Hand out the Margaret Walker poem Lineage, and
have the students highlight the images in the poem.
Lineage
My grandmothers were strong.
What images did you see? Write those images down. Can
you add details?
How does the house smell?
What can you hear when you are in the house?
Is it warm? Cold? Humid?
How does being in the house make you feel?
Ask the students to write 10 sentences that begin with:
My [special adult] is
___________________________.
Have them take their favorite details from their lists and
compile them into a free-verse poem.
Optional Activity
As a homework assignment, ask the class to read Fifth
Grade Autobiography by Rita Dove or Poem [2] by
Langston Hughes.
Ask each class member to write a poem about someone
close to him or her who is no longer here. The person
does not have to be deceased it might be a parent in
the military or an older sibling in college.
The poem can be simple and short, or detailed and full of
imagery. Suggest that the students use consonance,
assonance or alliteration in the poem.
Poem [2]
(to F.S.)
I loved my friend.
Soft as it began,
I loved my friend.
Langston Hughes
in a folding chair,
Puzzlement
I, partly Nigerian.
luminous paws.
behind my grandfather.
Gwendolyn Brooks
From In Montgomery and Other Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks.
Third World Press, Chicago. Copyright 1967 by Gwendolyn
Brooks. Reprinted by consent of Brooks Permissions.
2. Sports
Slam, Dunk, & Hook
Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercurys
Insignia on our sneakers,
We outmaneuvered to footwork
Of bad angels. Nothing but a hot
Swish of strings like silk
Ten feet out. In the roundhouse
Labyrinth our bodies
Created, we could almost
Last forever, poised in midair
Like storybook sea monsters.
A high note hung there
A long second. Off
The rim. Wed corkscrew
Up & dunk balls that exploded
The skullcap of hope & good
Intention. Lanky, all hands
& feet . . . sprung rhythm.
We were metaphysical when girls
Cheered on the sidelines.
Tangled up in a falling,
Muscles were a bright motor
Double-flashing to the metal hoop
Nailed to our oak.
When Sonny Boys mama died
He played nonstop all day, so hard
Our backboard splintered.
Glistening with sweat,
Background
In 1924, Howard Universitys newspaper included an
editorial that stated: Athletics is the universal language.
By and through it we hope to foster a better and more
fraternal spirit between the races in America and so to
destroy prejudices; to learn and to be taught; to facilitate
a universal brotherhood. Many of the advances made in
the progress toward racial integration in the United States
occurred in the sports arena. In the early 1900s, George
Poage, John Baxter Doc Taylor, and DeHart Hubbard
became famous for winning gold medals in the Olympic
games. In 1908, Jack Johnson was the first AfricanAmerican to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion. The
color barrier in Major League Baseball broke when Jackie
Dream in Color Middle School 6
Activities:
1. Performance
Have the class stand in a circle. You can hold onto the
poem and assign a phrase or sentence to each
student, going around the circle. The first student will
be Fast breaks. The person to her left will be Lay
ups, then the next two to the left can be With
Mercurys insignia on our sneakers, and We
outmaneuvered to footwork. (You can determine the
length of their phrases based on what you think they
can handle.)
As you assign a phrase or sentence to each student,
make him come up with a motion to go with it. Have
the entire class repeat the phrase with the motion
each time a new one is assigned. Then, with each
additional phrase and motion, begin again with the
Lay ups and, as a class, repeat the phrase and
motion of each student thereafter.
By the end of the poem, the entire class should be
able to say the poem together with the motions. If your
class is particularly ambitious, break the circle up and
try to act out the poem as though it is a basketball
game without losing track of whose line comes next!
2. Enjambment and Poetic Sentence Structure
After completing this activity, have the students return
to their desks and look at the written poem.
Ask if they notice anything about how their individual
phrases are written in the poem.
They raged?
He spiked?
Maya Angelou
Refuses
Michael S. Harper
Yusef Komunyakaa
Zuri at Bat
Dear Danitra,
dissolve be stopped?
No more card tricks
3. Dreams
Dream Boogie
Harlem
Listen closely:
Youll hear their feet
Beating out and beating out a
You think
Its a happy beat?
Listen to it closely:
Aint you heard
something underneath
like a
Hey, pop!
Re-bop!
Mop!
Y-e-a-h!
Langston Hughes
From Collected Poems. Copyright 1994 by The Estate
of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Harold Ober
Associates Incorporated
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston Hughes
From Collected Poems. Copyright 1994 by The Estate
of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Harold Ober
Associates Incorporated.
Background
From the very beginning, African-American poets have
been creators and critics of social values as they
envisioned a world of justice and equality. As they
reflected their values in the context of the American
Dream, they created a body of poetry that grew out of
their folk roots. Langston Hughes Dream Boogie shows
the importance of music, improvisation, and inventive
style. With it he creates a poem which is inspired by
boogie-woogie rhythms that accompanied the popular
dance crazes of the period. The music encouraged
African-Americans to dance and dream of brighter days
even when their realities were the blues.
Discussion Questions
1. Introduce Langston Hughes to the class using the
information provided in the biography section.
Give the students Langston Hughes Harlem to read
for homework the night before the class discussion.
Have them answer the following questions for
homework:
1. What dream do you think Langston Hughes is
referring to in his poem?
2. What does it mean to defer something?
3. What do you think Langston Hughes is talking about
when he refers to a dream deferred?
4. Hughes uses very descriptive language to ask
questions about what might happen to a dream
deferred. First is an example of Hughes
language. Underneath, tell what you think he
is saying:
Or does it explode?
__________________________________
In the next class period, spend 10 or 15 minutes
talking about Harlem by Langston Hughes. Ask the
students:
2. Rap
Borrow any books of Langston Hughes poetry that
are available in your schools library. We recommend
Montage of a Dream Deferred or Selected Poems of
Langston Hughes. Youll find a gold mine of musical
poems in these books.
Hand out copies of Easy Boogie (page 17). Talk about
the elements in the rap that come from both poems,
and how Litwin fits them together in one musical
piece. Flip through the Hughes books that you have
on hand. Which other poems could fit into the rap?
Optional Activity
Alternately, you could provide the students with one
stanza from Motto and ask them to write a rap that
uses this stanza as the refrain.
Motto
I play it cool
And dig all jive.
Thats the reason
I stay alive.
My motto,
As I live and learn,
is:
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white
Langston Hughes
Boogie: 1 a.m.
I, Too
Of a dream deferred
But I laugh,
Of cat-gut lace.
Langston Hughes
From Collected Poems. Copyright 1994 by The Estate
of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Harold Ober
Associates Incorporated.
Tomorrow,
Ill be at the table
When company comes.
Easy Boogie
Down in the bass
That steady beat
Walking walking walking
Nobodyll dare
Say to me,
Eat in the kitchen,
Then.
I, too, am America.
Langston Hughes
listen children
listen children
keep this in the place
you have for keeping
always
keep it all ways
we have never hated black
listen
we have been ashamed
hopeless
tired
mad
but always
all ways
we loved us
we have always loved each other
children
all ways
pass it on
Lucille Clifton
From Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 by Lucille
Clifton. BOA Editions, Ltd. Copyright 1987 by Lucille Clifton.
Used by permission of the author.