Writing Lesson: Climate Literacy Argumentative Essay
Lesson Plan
1 hour 30 minutesGrades9, 10, 11, 12English Language Arts
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Written by Yen-Yen Chiu
About this lesson
In this lesson, students investigate how climate literacy shapes decision-making by analyzing New York case studies through an Ignorance Cost-Benefit Analysis framework. Students use evidence from multiple sources and a current New York City infrastructure challenge to write an argumentative essay on whether climate literacy should be required in high school.
Inquire: Students define “climate literacy” and consider how environmental data influences decisions and accountability within a community or city.
Investigate: Students analyze the Love Canal environmental disaster and Hurricane Sandy, using multiple sources to evaluate the economic, cost-of-living, social justice, and health impacts.
Inspire: Students apply their knowledge to a current New York City transportation challenge, then write an evidence-based argumentative essay on climate literacy and its professional application.
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Suggestions
- This lesson is aligned to New York State Standards and Regents exam requirements.
- This lesson can be extended into several class periods, depending on whether students read and write in class or as homework. Additionally, teachers can assign all the reading in the Investigate section as homework to allow more class time for annotations, group work, and discussions.
- Teachers can assign a Regents-style prompt for a short answer assignment: To what extent do the consequences of ignoring environmental data support the need for climate literacy education?
- For 9th and 10th grade or college prep classes, the following pacing is suggested:
- Teachers read a case study as a class to model close reading and annotation skills, then discuss guiding questions in small groups.
- In groups of 2-3, students read the second case study and annotate it as guided practice. Students share discussion questions as a class.
- Students read and annotate the NYC subway example as independent practice, either for homework or during another class period.
- For AP Language classes:
- Students can read both case studies and write an argumentative essay synthesizing information from all three examples.
- Students can analyze how each source uses rhetorical choices such as tone, diction, evidence selection, and framing to shape interpretation.
- This lesson highlights social justice issues in environmental decision-making historically and in the present day.
- This lesson can be taught during a unit on argumentative writing, environmental justice, or civic literacy, and is easily adaptable to various levels of writing or to the practice of specific writing skills within argumentative writing.
- This lesson works well as a summative writing assessment in a non-fiction lesson or unit, or as a class anchor lesson in a research-based writing unit.
- Teachers can use a pre-established note-taking or annotation system that students are already familiar with, or use a digital note-taking and annotation tool.
- Teachers can bring in local professionals in urban planning, transportation, and data interpretation to discuss how they address climate-related issues and impacts in their fields.
Prerequisites
- Students should have a basic understanding of the structure of an argumentative essay, including the claim, evidence, reasoning, counterargument, and rebuttal.
- Students should have some prior experience with close reading and text annotation. Alternatively, teachers can break up this lesson to teach close reading and annotation skills.
- Teachers can use other resources for the Love Canal and Hurricane Sandy case studies and should make them available to students prior to the lesson.
- Teachers should review essay-writing requirements and make any necessary adjustments prior to the lesson.
- Teachers can use the New York State Regents Examination in English Language Arts Writing Rubric to assess student writing.
Differentiation
- Students wanting to explore or needing more support in understanding counterarguments related to climate education and literacy can use the following resources:
- Global Warming’s Six Americas from Yale Climate Communication
- Climate Education in the U.S.: Where It Stands, and Why It Matters from Columbia Climate School
- If Climate Change Education Matters, Why Don’t All Teachers Teach It? from Education Week
- Students can read and take notes on both case studies, then consider all the evidence in their argumentative essay.
- For an extension activity, students can imagine being the key decision-makers in the case study they read, who are climate- and environmentally literate. Students write a one-page “What If” answering: What decision would they have made differently, and what harm might have been avoided?
- Students can research and interview a professional in any of the discussed careers to learn about climate and environmental literacy in their fields.
- Students can research more into current solutions and plans for the NYC subway. Resources include
From the scientist review
This lesson uses case studies to frame students’ argumentative essays about whether climate literacy education should be required for high school students. The documents presented are well-curated and sourced from New York government, universities, and news outlets. Students are tasked with performing a cost-benefit analysis, a crucial tool for engineers’ and planners’ decision-making for climate mitigation projects. This lesson is strongly grounded in climate change mitigation and is recommended for teaching.
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About the teacher writer
Yen-Yen Chiu
Director of Education
Yen-Yen Chiu, Ed.D., is SubjectToClimate's Director of Education. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of San Diego, and taught public school for 22 years specializing in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Music for grades 6–12, including Advanced Placement. She is credentialed in English, Mathematics, and Introductory Music, with extensive experience designing interdisciplinary curricula that foster student choice, meaningful assessment, and authentic learning.
