This blog post was written by 起点传媒members Richard Beach and Allen Webb. It鈥檚 part of 庐,聽an 起点传媒initiative focused exclusively on helping teachers build their book knowledge and their classroom libraries.听Build Your Stack聽provides a forum for contributors to share books from their classroom experience; inclusion in a blog post does not imply endorsement or promotion of specific books by 起点传媒.
Forest fires, terrible storms, floods, rising sea levels鈥攖he evidence of climate crisis is before us. Our students will live their lives impacted by the climate emergency.
What we do or fail to do in the next few years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will make an enormous difference. And in our country and across the world young people are leading the way, encouraging leaders to act before it is too late.
As we explained in the article , in the American Federation of Teachers magazine American Educator, through literature our students can draw on the power of the imagination to see how society may be impacted, and through writing students can speak out, educate others, and join in the global youth movement.
Our stack includes books for classroom libraries, for whole group reading, and to support English teachers embarking on instruction that they may not be familiar with.
by bestselling children and young adult author Neal Shusterman and his son Jarrod sweeps middle or high school students from the life they know into a climate changed emergency. Drought is perhaps the greatest threat posed by global warming, and the American Southwest is ground zero. The teen characters in Los Angeles quickly realize the importance of water when the taps run dry.
is a 鈥渃li-fi鈥� short story and poetry collection of stories that students respond well to. 鈥溾�� describes a scary but realistic near future and makes references to often-taught works like Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, and The Tempest. 鈥溾�� focuses on a middle-class family trying to cut back on their carbon footprint, with different reactions from the teens and the parents.
An international collection of 鈥渃li-fi鈥� short stories, free online, is . Allen especially likes 鈥淚nto the Storm,鈥� 鈥淭he Grandchild Paradox,鈥� 鈥淎cqua Alta,鈥� 鈥淟OSD and Fount,鈥� 鈥淪tanding Still,鈥� 鈥淥n Darwin Tides,鈥� and 鈥淢asks.鈥� ().
Students will wonder how they can make a difference. Acquaint them with , the movement, and the book by Mary Robinson鈥攁 collection of easy-to-read, compelling stories about everyday people from all parts of the world who have taken action to address climate change in their own communities.
Climate change and environmental degradation raise questions about fairness. Who causes the problem? Who suffers first and most? How do we find just solutions?聽 published by the progressive teacher group Rethinking Schools is jam-packed with classroom ready readings and activities: ideas for urban classrooms, role-plays to bring in diverse perspectives, and many short readings addressing issues of environmental justice.
How do we help students address different audiences?聽 (free download) provides examples of teachers working in diverse political and cultural contexts to help students communicate effectively using different framing, metaphors, and messages. A further resource is this on the underlying issues of the language we use to think about and take action on the environment.
How younger children can become 鈥渁gents of change鈥� is explored in 鈥攁 collection of essays edited by Ken Winograd. Chapters describe specific classroom activities that focus on place-based learning, community activism, environmental ethics, adopting global perspectives, addressing children鈥檚 emotions related to resilience, and teachers鈥� professional development to teach about climate change.
For an appealing visual narrative for elementary students:
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Richard Beach (professor emeritus of English education, University of Minnesota) and Allen Webb (professor of English education at Western Michigan University) are coauthors of (NCTE/Routledge). They also created a and the (ETCCC) blog.
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