Aint I a Woman 5 Easy To Teach Activities

Mar 2, 2022

Sojourner Truth’s speech “Aint I a Woman” epitomizes the fight for equal rights for all, no matter the race or gender of a person! Isabella Baumfree, the original name of Sojourner Truth, was born into slavery but escaped in 1827. She became a voice for the oppressed before, during, and after the Civil War. This speech from 1851 was delivered to a Women’s Rights Convention in Ohio and is a timeless text for literally any classroom. When teaching this speech to your middle or high school students, there are several ways they can read and experience Truth’s words.

Keep reading for EASY TO IMPLEMENT Aint I a Woman Teaching Ideas that can be used for ANY middle and high school classrooms!

Need help with Test Prep? Check out this FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities to help students achieve success on standardized tests!

aint i a woman sojourner truth

Table of Contents

Aint I a Woman 5 Easy To Teach Activities

1. Create One Sentence Summaries

Writing summaries can be difficult for students. You would think it is not that hard to read a paragraph and summarize what is going on, but really, understanding and summarizing can be a challenge. Sometimes, students’ summaries might be too broad, and therefore vague. Or students might include every little detail they can possibly remember. I think we have all read a summary that is longer than the passage itself!

I like to keep it SIMPLE, especially for speeches like Aint I a Woman!

Summary = Topic + Major Event(s)+ Details

You could also focus on what the author is trying to get across, like what am I meant to know, learn, or do by the end of reading this paragraph, chunk, or text in general.

TEACHING ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARIES

Directions: Read “Aint I a Woman,” a speech by Sojourner Truth. For each chunk, underline 2 important details that contribute to the central idea and write a 1-Sentence Summary.

You can divide the speech into whatever chunks you want, but I prefer focusing on 5-6 chunks. We want our students to summarize and cite evidence for their summaries, but we don’t want to overwhelm our students. Feel free to differentiate by assigning students all of the paragraphs, a few of the paragraphs, or only 1 paragraph.

EXAMPLE ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY: Truth discusses how all women should be valued in this country.

Evidence: #1 And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! #2 I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!

Click on the image for the student and teacher worksheets to make teaching this speech a piece of cake!

2. Introduce Rhetorical Analysis

There are so many rhetorical devices in the speech “Ain’t I a Woman” by Sojourner Truth! You could focus on imagery, repetition, rhetorical questions, allusions, parallelism, point of view, tone, etc. Her language is diverse, poignant, and purposeful!

You could pick 1 to focus on or several; it is totally up to you.

Steps for Introducing Rhetorical Analysis:

Define the devices. It is so tough for students when they don’t really understand what they are looking for.
Read the speech with your students. Or you could check out the Kerry Washington Reading, which is fantastic!
Model how to locate good quotes, identify the device, and provide analysis by annotating with your students.
Give an example students can use for each analysis.
Include textual evidence and 2-3 sentences of analysis for each entry.

DEVICE

TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

ANALYSIS

Repetition: repeating words, phrases, or ideas within a text

Ex. “Look at me!”

Ex. Truth repeats the phrase “Look at me!” in order to call attention to her physical body. Through this command, she highlights her physical strength compared with that of men.

Do you want made-for-you worksheets to help your students as you teach Rhetorical Analysis in Aint I a Woman?

Want more help with teaching Rhetorical Analysis? Click to read “How to Do Rhetorical Analysis in 5 Simple Steps!”

3. Teach Students to Write Short Responses for Aint I a Woman

Students don’t have to write an entire essay in order to show you they understand this speech. Instead, maybe they could use what they wrote for their rhetorical analysis entries for a short response. We know we need to help students with pre-writing, organizing their ideas, drafting, and publishing, so why don’t we keep everything centered on Truth’s speech in a 1 paragraph response?

Short Response: How does the Sojourner Truth use rhetorical devices to achieve her purpose in “Ain’t I a Woman?” Use evidence to support your ideas.

By using a writing outline, you can help your students effectively write about this iconic speech! Click below for a ready-to-teach activity!

4. Provide Reading Comprehension Questions

In order to really know that students understand this speech Aint I a Woman, they need to think about the text as they read. By providing some basic comprehension questions, we can help students understand different elements of a complex passage.

What is the effect of using the phrase “Well, children” at the beginning of the speech?
This question has 2 parts. Part A: What is the tone of the speaker throughout the poem? Part B: What 2 phrases support your answer to Part A?
What is the effect of the repetitive question “ain’t I a woman” in the speech?
This question has 2 parts. Part A: What is the central idea of the speech? Part B: What evidence supports your central idea?

You can cover so many different standards with these comprehension questions! Check out this lesson bundle filled with reading and quiz questions to help your students as they read Ain’t I a Woman!

Need a quick quiz to give your students that help them meet the standards? Click HERE!

5. Ask Critical Thinking Questions

To challenge students, we want more than reading comprehension activities; we want them to think beyond the text. They could even participate in a Socratic Seminar after they read the “Aint I a Woman!” They might even come up with their own questions to challenge each other.

SAMPLE CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS FOR AINT I A WOMAN: