Amanda Gorman is speaking at the inauguration on Wednesday, January 20th, and marking the return to sanity and to seeing a president actually TRY to be a positive influence for good in the world. Gorman is just this person to kick off a new era. I discovered Gorman this year with my 9th grade students and have been so happy that this thoughtful, bright, sparkly intellect is among us and can serve as a North star for some of our kids.
I am attaching a link here to my Nearpod mini lesson, which might be good for this week if you want to teach a brief lesson. I think it would go over pretty well with 9th-12th graders. In the video I included, Gorman makes an astute connection between the poet Phyllis Wheatley and her own writing. The lesson includes a video connection and has stop and respond points throughout the videos. I will also. include PDF's of a couple of her poems as well, including her July 4th, 2020 poem, "Believers's Hymn for the Republic" and "At the Age of 18-Ode to Girls of Color".
At the Age of 18-Ode to Girls of Color
Believer's Hymn for The Republic
