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Maya Angelou’s Work Will Live On

May 29, 2014 8:30 pm

by Joyce Grant

The current president of the

United States named his daughter
after her.

Her friends included civil-rights

leader Martin Luther King Jr., famous
choreographer Alvin Ailey, singer
Billie Holiday, talk show host Oprah
Winfrey and former U.S. president
Bill Clinton and she influenced
millions around the world.

Not bad for a humble poet, eh?

Maya Angelou. Image: Adria Richards

But Maya Angelou was so much more

than a poet. She died this week at the age of 86, but her words will live on forever.

In addition to her poetry, Angelou was perhaps most famous for her
autobiography (the story of her life which she wrote) called “I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings.”

She rose from relatively humble beginnings, the daughter of a doorman and a
nurse, to become a leader in a mind-boggling number of fields.

In addition to writing many books, plays, movies and TV shows, she was an
actress, a journalist and an activist for human rights, including working to end
racism against blacks in South Africa. She was a singer in nightclubs, a restaurant
cook, and the first female African-American streetcar conductor in San
Francisco. She formed a dance troupe with Alvin Ailey, toured Europe in an opera
called Porgy and Bess, was an administrator of the University of Ghana in Africa,
and spoke six languages.

She was a journalist, a market researcher and a famously wonderful cook, who
also wrote two cookbooks. She created greeting cards for card company
Hallmark, and she published seven autobiographies and 30 books.

Angelou composed songs for movies, and she was nominated for a Tony Award (a
top award given to actors in stage plays), and a Pulitzer Prize for writing.

After all of her success in so many different areas, she referred to herself as,
simply, “a teacher who writes,” according to the website Wikipedia.

Although she never earned a university degree, Angelou taught philosophy,

ethics, theology, science, theatre and writing in universities. She received 30
honourary degrees from universities.

Her influence was felt, and will continue to be felt by millions of people around
the world.

“Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear

the voice of God.”
–Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou passed away at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the
U.S. on Wednesday. She was 86 years old.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
Maya Angelou was many things in her lifetime. But what is more impressive is
that she did so many things well. Some people say that if you do too many
different things you will never be able to achieve success in any endeavour, yet
Maya Angelou’s life suggests that the opposite is true. Is she the exception to the
rule or is it possible to be great at many different things? Why do you think so?
Use examples to support your position.

Reading Prompt:
Maya Angelou shared many great words of wisdom in her lifetime. From the list
below, choose one to be your “words to live by.”

1. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues

because without courage, you can’t practice any other
virtue consistently.”

2. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did, but people will never
forget how you made them feel.”

3. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t

change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.”

4. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the

more you have.”

5. “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.”

6. “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but

has not solved one yet.”

Primary
Extend understanding of texts by con- necting the ideas in them to their own
knowledge and experience, to other familiar texts, and to the world around
them (OME, Reading: 1.6).

Junior
Extend understanding of texts by con- necting the ideas in them to their own
knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world
around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).

Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts,
by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and
insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading:
1.6).

Language Feature: Compound Adjectives

A compound word is a word that is created by bringing together two unique
words. In some cases, compound words are joined together to make one new
word (e.g. “daycare”), sometimes a hyphen is placed between them (e.g. “mind-
boggling”), and sometimes a space is maintained (e.g. “school year”).

An adjective is a word that describes a noun. A noun is a word that tells of a

person, place, or thing.

Rewrite the words below by either joining them together, using a hyphen ( – ), or
placing a space between.

1. waiting-room ___________________________
2. warmup _______________________________
3. father in law ____________________________
4. life-span _______________________________
5. redhot _________________________________

What strategies did you use to help solve the form of each compound adjective?

Tags: celebrities, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, grade 6, grade 7, grade 8, maya

angelou, poetry, United States

Author: Joyce Grant

Joyce Grant is TKN's co-founder and News Director. She is a
freelance journalist, editor and author of the "Gabby" series
of picture books as well as middle-grade novels "Tagged Out"
and "Sliding Home." She blogs about children's literacy at
Getting Kids Reading (www.gkreading.com). Follow her on
social media @JGCanada.

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