Read Smith's essay "The Lifelong Learning of Lifelong Inmates" and watch the video "Beyond this Place." Discuss the value of prison education.
Listen to a song by Maze and Frankie Beverly. Then read Smith's poem "When Maze and Frankie Beverly Come on in My House." How does listening to the music bring meaning to the poem? Here are links to some of their songs:
Pair this excerpt entitled "Learning to Read" from Malcom X's autobiography with Smith's poem "How Malcolm Learned to Read." This is an obvious pairing and a valuable introduction to Malcom X's autobiography.
Read the poem "Counterfactual" and then watch the video "How to Raise a Black Son in America." The video is a very close transcript of the poem.