We have been sinking into poetry the last few weeks, discovering found word poetry and trying to decide what poetry really is. We have read and listened to poetry. We have created black out poetry, book spine poetry, traffic sign poetry, song lyric poetry, terrible love poetry and now we sink into inauguration poetry.
We will sit in the beautiful words of Amanda Gorman from the poem she recied today “The Hill We Climb” and we will use it to start analyzing poetry in discussion groups, seeing what impacts us, what brings the words power, what makes them more than just a gathered collection of thoughts.
I know many others are also looking for ideas for how to bring this historical moment into their classrooms so I share my lesson slides for tomorrow in order for others to maybe use and make their own. There are two versions here, one focused on Amanda Gorman (note: at the time of this share her poem’s text has not been released so I am working off a transcript), one focused on Richard Blanco that I made before today.
Pernille Ripp 
Thank you for always sharing so freely!
This is awesome and I’m so grateful! We (my 5th graders) watched her recite her beautiful and powerful words today. What an honor!
Thanks for sharing your lesson slides. I taught One Today last week and my students and I wrote “nestlings” or found poems from it. Here’s my Poetry Friday post about it: https://reflectionsontheteche.com/2021/01/14/poetry-friday-finding-more-nestlings/
I can’t wait to dig into Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem. She’s a true inspiration.
THIS is the epitome of great teaching-amazing teachers sharing with others for free because we have the best interests of our students in mind. I am so appreciative of all you do and share in order to make us all better teachers.
Amanda Gorman’s reading was so incredibly powerful! I hope it inspires lots of young people. I know it inspired me! 🙂
I was in awe and completely riveted. Amanda Gorman’s words were brilliant, powerful and hopeful and inspiring. I immediately knew I needed to share them in our Canadian classroom. Thank you for sharing and making that a little easier.
This is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing. At the risk of being annoying, I want to point out that slide 7 labels her as Poet Laureate. I think you meant Inaugural Poet, which is the label on slide 6. Joy Harjo is the current Poet Laureate.
Again, thank you for sharing this resource.
Yes, thank you, I had clearly fixed it on one and not the other.
Thanks, Pernille. This is a great resource!
Pernille,
Thank you so much. This is outstanding, and I plan to share it with my tenth graders tomorrow!
Peace, Katrina Morrison (she/her/hers)
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Thanks for sharing!!!!
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/535052-read-transcript-of-amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem
The Hill We Climb
Amanda Gorman became the youngest person to deliver a poem at a U.S. presidential inauguration, with the 22-year-old reciting her poem “The Hill We Climb” after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president.
Gorman spoke for nearly six minutes.
Amanda Gorman says she referenced ‘Hamilton’ in inauguration poem
Amanda Gorman wore ring gifted by Oprah, honoring Maya Angelou at…
Read a transcript of her remarks below:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
Thank you so much, Pernille – this is fantastic!!!
Shannon Hancock Superior Central High School Michigan’s Beautiful Upper Peninsula
Pernille, thank you so much for sharing this amazing work! It is such a privilege to know you and to be able to piggyback off of the great ideas you and other teachers share. I can’t wait to dig into this with students.
I hope you caught Anderson Cooper’s interview with Amanda Gorman. Students need to see this. So powerful.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/style/2021/01/21/amanda-gorman-poet-laureate-interview-inauguration-vpx.cnn
Pernille you never cease to amaze me with your creativity and generosity! I copied the poem today with intentions of planning my lesson this weekend. You saved me so much time. Thank you for sharing and inspiring your followers.
Amanda was/is Brilliant, Beautiful, and did Incredible yesterday. She’s an Amazing young lady and very Inspirational. Such an honor to have been able to hear her and see her speak through her words of passion yesterday. I am a poet myself and I hope to inspire others one day with my work to find their Courage and Strength in their journey in life. Thank You Amanda for speaking your passion. Peace and Love Deanna Culver Appleton, Wisconsin