38 pages • 1 hour read
Maya AngelouA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.
Short Answer
What are the similarities and differences between a free bird and a caged bird?
Teaching Suggestion: Display the bird image linked below (or a similar resource) for students. Ask them to respond to the prompt using Venn diagrams, with one circle labeled “free” and the other “caged.” Students may work independently, in pairs, or in small groups. Invite volunteers to share entries from each section of the diagram.
Personal Connection Prompt
This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the poem.
What is something in your life that makes you feel caged, and why? It might be a relationship, someone’s expectations, a responsibility, or something else.
Teaching Suggestion: Suggest that students illustrate their figurative cages with their answers from the prompt, using techniques like collage or illustration. Due to the private nature of the prompt, this activity may work better with the expectation that students need not share.
By Maya Angelou
A Brave And Startling Truth
Maya Angelou
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
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A Song Flung Up to Heaven
Maya Angelou
Gather Together in My Name
Maya Angelou
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Letter to My Daughter
Maya Angelou
Mom & Me & Mom
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Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me
Maya Angelou
On the Pulse of Morning
Maya Angelou
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
Still I Rise
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The Heart of a Woman
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The Lesson
Maya Angelou