This lesson connects three texts: Robert Hayden’s poem “Frederick Douglass,” an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom, and the New York Times article “Malala Yousafzai, Girl Shot by Taliban, Makes Appeal at U.N.” It also makes learning relevant for your students through real-world connections, while meeting ELA standards by employing nonfiction texts.Use this lesson to give your students practice with close reading and the synthesis of ideas. Activity handouts focus on b