February is Black History Month - a time for us all to pause and reflect on our contribution to justice and our role in addressing systemic racism.
As a teacher, I am in a position of influence and will commit to having ongoing discussions in my role during February every month and the days after. I endeavour to have the courage to speak up and respond.
After analyzing and discussing some of Amanda Gorman's work last week, I set out to find other texts with which students could connect deeply.
This poem by Maya Angelou provides an amazing example. We examined the author's writing style and literary devices (use of similes and rhyme, tone) and followed up by listening to Ben Harper's version. This provided a context to discuss how different types of media can influence our thinking and feelings. However, it led to an even deeper discussion about the ethics of remixing an artist's work.
We started with the quote, "Still, I'll Rise,"Â and analyzed that single word:
STILL. Still what?