Model Poetry Using
Maya Angelou Poem
“Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”
Teri Heumann
Sablatura Middle School
Sixth-Grade Language Arts
Experience (so far):
I was originally a teacher of students with severe disabilities and taught those
with autism for two years in Los Angeles Unified School District. My
students were nonverbal, very severely cognitively delayed, and often abusive –
both to themselves and others.
After a bit of soul-searching (and regular traumatic experiences), I determined I
was not that “special” person it takes to teach students with autism. Although a
very difficult decision to make, I moved from special education into the general
education classroom in 1997.
My experience in general education began in Simi Valley Unified School
District with a third grade class. The following two years were spent in fourth
and sixth grades. Sixth grade was my niche. My calling. My search was over. I
belonged.
The next two years were spent at Big Springs Elementary in Simi, where I
taught a straight sixth grade and then a fifth and sixth grade combination. Then
I moved to Texas. The rest, as they say, is really boring, so I’ll move on and
spare you the details.
Theoretically Speaking…
 “Children learn better when they can feel safe in their experimentation.
They don’t want to try something that’s never been tried.” - Teri
Heumann
 “Literature is the best stimulator for writing that I know. Make it a point
to saturate your students with literature – all kinds – all the time. There
are literally hundreds of ways to use the written word to inspire young
writers to pick up pens and make their own literature…”
- Marjorie Frank in If You’re Trying To Teach Kids How To Write…You’ve
Gotta Have This Book
 “Students can write poems that are modeled on poems composed by
adult poets. According to this approach, students read a poem and
then write their own poems using the same theme expressed in the
modeled poem.”
- Gail Tompkins in Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product
That’s my theory and I’m stickin’ to it.
 “Imitation has a long history in teaching both speech and writing. The classical
schools of Greek and Roman rhetoric formalized imitation, incorporating it in a
pedagogical triad of theory, imitation, and practice. Belief in the educational
value of imitation was unchanging throughout the Middle Ages and into the
Renaissance.”
 “Clearly, imitation expands rather than confines; it generates rather than
reduces potential.”
 “…Imitation activities provide opportunities for exploration and invention with
language; the efforts often amuse, intentionally or not.”
 “…teachers must maintain an attitude of playfulness. We must encourage
adventures with coconuts!”
- Kathleen Dudden Andrasick in Opening Texts: Using Writing to Teach
Literature (1990)
My mission statement:
The purpose of using a model poem when I begin a poetry
unit is to establish confidence in my students. They need
to know they can write poetry that is every bit as good as
a “real” writer’s. Having them model their poems after
Maya Angelou’s Life Doesn’t Frighten Me not only allows
them to be successful in their first attempts at poetry,
but it gives the reader a rare insight into the students’
lives. This poem is about fears that are very real to
children, but seem almost mundane to grown-ups who
have sometimes forgotten what it’s like to be 12.
Children explore their own fears when they write their
version of Angelou’s poem.
Grade Level: Sixth grade language arts
Objective(s): Students will be able to write a poem by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Reading and interpreting the Maya Angelou poem, Life Doesn’t
Frighten Me.
Identifying their own specific fears, including those they
would like to overcome.
Listing the ways in which the tone of Maya Angelou’s poem
reveals the fears of the speaker in the poem.
Identifying the voice the writer is using in the poem.
Time: Approximately 1 hour.
Materials:
Copy of Angelou’s poem, Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Paper (or student journals) and pencil/pen
Note: The following is adapted from “Infusing Equity By Gender Into the Classroom:
A Handbook of Classroom Practices” online at
www.ricw.state.ri.us/lessons/143.htm. The lesson plans were created by
Anthony Loffredio (RIC Secondary Education Practicum Student assisted by
Prof. David Cappella).
Procedures:
1.
Begin by having students list their fears, even if they are only fears they think
they should have.
2.
Have the class read Angelou’s poem silently.
3.
Read the poem aloud to them.
4.
Use the questions following the poem to:
1.
Review comprehension and discuss concepts presented in the poem;
2.
Explore common childhood fears; and
3.
Have students compare Angelou’s fears to their own.
5.
Have students begin writing their own poem using the fears they listed.
Assessments: Students will demonstrate their understandings of the concepts of
fear in the following ways:
1.
2.
3.
Listing 5-10 fears they may have or had.
Being able to compare or contrast their listed fears with those in the poem.
Being able to write a poem of their own using Maya Angelou’s poem as a model.
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
by Maya Angelou
LIFE DOESN’T FRIGHTEN ME
By Maya Angelou
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hail
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Tough guys in a fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys pull all my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
What kind of stance does the speaker take against her fears in life?
How does she deal with them?
Do you see her conquering her fears or denying that she actually has them?
If she is not afraid, why do you think this is so?
Should she be afraid of the things listed in this poem?
Why does she strongly refuse to be afraid of these things?
Do you find it interesting or even surprising that these things do not frighten
the speaker? Why or why not?
What is the speaker saying about girls and boys her age in the fifth stanza?
Should they frighten her? Do you think she fits in with them?
Besides her saying so repeatedly, what else can you point out as evidence of her
fearlessness in the poem?
Would anything in this poem frighten you? Be honest!
Did Angelou’s apparent fearlessness towards things in the poem contradict what
you think children are generally frightened of? Look at what you wrote down.
Can you say exactly why she refuses to fear these things? Why must she let us
know?
Student Sample (0f Poem) without which this
lesson would not be complete
People in the dark
Noises in the park
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Mice on the floor
Screeching of the door
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Mean bank robbers here
Strangers over there
They don’t frighten me at all
Hurricane in the night
Fire in the light
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo…
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Knocking on the glass
Shadows going past
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Man-eating sharks
Men with tattoo marks
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
Stared at in the eyes
Screams that make you cry
Never ending stairs
Paths that lead nowhere
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me snakes and spiders
And listen for my screams
I will not be afraid
I will stand straight and stay
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can stand so still
You can’t hear me breathe.
Student Sample #2
Obsession taunting me
Unable to be free
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Losing my dearest bud
Being thought of as a dud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Something killing all my pets
Being swallowed up by death
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Losing my gift of sight
Causing everything to be white
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo…
My idols being fake
Making a terrible mistake
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Having a fatal disease
Being drowned in the seas
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Being tortured by spiky things
And cruel unusual stretching things
In a cage up in a tower
As the pain’s increasing in its power
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me angry dogs
And listen for my screams
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can stand up for myself
And never have to leave.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
And Student Sample #3
Buzzing bumbling bugs
Auntie’s giant hugs
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
People in a fight
Squeaks and groans at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Thunder and lightening
Booming and flashing
They don’t frighten me at all
Beggars on the street
Sitting at my feet
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo…
Big gray ocean sharks
Getting conduct marks
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Things under my bed
Ghost without its head
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
Those high cliffs up there
I look down and stare
It is much too high
Too close to the sky
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me teeth and claws
And listen for my scream
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk on red hot coals
And never want to scream.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
And Student Sample #3
Buzzing bumbling bugs
Auntie’s giant hugs
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
People in a fight
Squeaks and groans at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Thunder and lightening
Booming and flashing
They don’t frighten me at all
Beggars on the street
Sitting at my feet
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo…
Big gray ocean sharks
Getting conduct marks
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Things under my bed
Ghost without its head
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
Those high cliffs up there
I look down and stare
It is much too high
Too close to the sky
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me teeth and claws
And listen for my scream
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk on red hot coals
And never want to scream.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Now YOU try it!
Using the poem by Maya Angelou, rewrite
the lines that are highlighted
Copy the lines that are repetitive
You do not have to write the same number
of verses as are in the poem
The lines do not have to rhyme
Simply think of things that frighten
you, but that you would rather didn’t
Bibliography:
Andrasick, K.D. Opening Texts: Using Writing to Teach Literature.
(1990). Heinemann: Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Frank, M. If You’re Trying to Teach Kids How to Write…You’ve
Gotta Have This Book!. (1995). Incentive Publications, Inc.:
Nashville, Tennessee.
Tompkins, G.E. Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product.
(1994). Macmillan College Publishing Company, Inc.: New York,
New York.
Loffredio, A. assisted by Prof. David Cappella. “Infusing Equity by
Gender Into the Classroom: A Handbook of Classroom
Practices”. (2004). Internet source.
Angelou, M. “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All”. (1986). Random
House: New York, New York.