Climate Fiction Lesson: Writing the Future
Lesson Plan
2 hoursGrades9, 10, 11, 12English Language Arts
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Will Cogswell
About this lesson
In this lesson, students analyze climate fiction stories and plan their own place-based cli-fi narrative.
Inquire: Students imagine what our world will look like in the future and reflect on the hopes and fears that informed their thinking.
Investigate: Students learn about the genre of climate fiction (cli-fi) then compare and contrast the themes two young Maine authors develop in their cli-fi short stories.
Inspire: Students plan their own cli-fi story that illustrates their vision of what it might take to survive and thrive in the face of present and future climate change.
Preview the lesson plan
Better on a bigger screen? Open it in its own tab.View Lesson Plan
Everything you need to teach it
How to edit these materials (video)Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught during a unit on narrative elements and/or short stories and used to help students arrive at a more complex understanding of what constitutes a theme in narrative literature.
- This lesson pairs well with a science or social studies lesson or unit on climate science. Students can use climate data from those classes to inform the impacts they cite in their Title Page, or include themes of climate justice.
- The Investigate and Inspire section could be completed on separate days, giving students more time to reflect on their stories before drafting. Alternatively, elements of the 4C reflection or story planning can be assigned for homework.
- Students can write a short “author’s note” explaining the real-world climate science or policy that inspired their story and include it with their Title Page display.
- Consider bringing in a local author as a guest speaker to share about world-building or speculative fiction.
- By featuring stories written by local Maine youth in the MCAN! Climate Stories collection, this lesson provides several ways for students to connect with the lesson themes.
Prerequisites
- Students should have a basic understanding of climate change, including some of its causes and effects.
- The lesson presumes students have a basic understanding of narrative structure and elements, particularly setting, character, and conflict.
- Students will need access to computers and the internet in order to read the short stories linked in the lesson.
- Teachers should pre-read all four short stories in the MCAN! Climate Stories collection to guide discussions and support students in each reading group.
- Teachers should have a sense of how to frame speculative fiction and cli-fi for students who may not have encountered these genres.
Differentiation
- Students can extend their work in this lesson by writing and sharing the stories that they plan.
- Students can use available digital programs like Canva to create their Title Pages.
- Teachers can scaffold students’ analysis of the cli-fi stories by reading the first story out loud and modeling or gathering class input on the note-taking process for that story.
- Teachers can scaffold students’ story brainstorming by showing students the one-sentence blurbs about the stories in the 2021 Imagine contest collections, which can serve as examples of story ideas.
- Teachers can scaffold students’ story planning by providing students with stems or suggested structures.
- Students can research and cite specific climate data or scientific studies to deepen the realism of their story’s setting and conflict.
- Students in 11th and 12th grade or in honors-level classes can read stories from the 2021 Imagine contest collection, which are longer and more complex in both their content and themes. If teachers use this resource, they should be sure to read any stories they assign ahead of time, as some deal with sensitive topics and use mature language. “Broken from the Colony,” “The Cloud Weaver’s Song,” and “The Secrets of the Last Greenland Shark” are excellent stories to start with.
From the scientist review
The lesson includes comprehensive examples of climate fiction stories to inspire students to learn about the impact of climate change on the environment, and how to address it, and also advocating for humans to live in peace with nature. After reviewing the lesson, we concluded that it is appropriate for instruction.
Want this to fit your class?
Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.
About the teacher writer
Will Cogswell
Will Cogswell teaches high school English Language Arts in Midcoast Maine. He has taught high school ELA for ten years in Maine and Salt Lake City, UT; worked with pre-service teachers in Nashville, TN; and taught English to non-native speakers in Bogotá, Colombia. Regardless of the setting, Will aspires to cultivate collaborative, critical thinking and active, engaged citizenship. When Will is not teaching, you can find him reading books with his kids or romping through Maine’s woods, waters, mountains, and snow.
