Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference

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Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference

This book is a co-publication of Routledge and the National Council of Teachers of English from 2017. It incorporate the topic of climate change in English Languge Arts classes.  One example is the use of critical questioning to frame learning.  Students used guiding questions about climate change to present their findings to the class.  I also really liked the idea of addressing students' hopes, emotions and action after reading the first chapter of  McKibben's Eaarth.  The book provides ideas on teaching indigenous and postcolonial perspectives as well as addressing capitalism and consumerism.  The chapter on Climate Change Fiction (Cli-Fi) literature had great ideas on how to bring in the topic of climate change in books already found in many high schools such as the Grapes of Wrath and Animal Farm.  There are also ideas for young adult cli-fi literature.  Picture books and poetry about climate change are also included.  Place-based writing, creative writing and persuasive writing are all topics in the chapter focused on writing.  Another chapter addresses critical media and digital analysis of climate change.  Drama and gaming used to address climate change include many different games such as: Reus, Imagine Earth, Climate Quest, Climate Health, Precipice, Keep Cool and BBC Climate Challenge, to name just a few!  The interdisciplinary chapter includes ideas for psychology, sociology, biology, botany, and history.  The book ends on ideas for students to take action, which includes the unique idea of culture jamming, where students can use humor and irony to expose false claims and mistruths found in commercials.  I found this book full of great ideas to use with a college class on climate change, not focused on teaching English Language Arts.