Christina Torres Cawdery is a middle-grade English educator at Punahou School in Honolulu, HI. In addition to teaching, Christina is a writer whose work has appeared in places like ASCD, Edutopia, Learning for Justice, NCTE's Council Chronicle, and Education Week. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in English at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
In this lesson, students analyze how art and poetry can be used to talk about climate justice and write their own climate change poem with a message of hope.
Inquire: Students read the poem “Dear Matafele Peinem” by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner and reflect on what they noticed, wondered, and felt about the poem.
Investigate: Students analyze a poem and investigate how climate change is affecting communities and people around the world.
Inspire: Students use the information they collected to create a piece of poetry about a climate change issue.
In this lesson, students analyze a speech by a youth climate activist before researching, writing, and presenting their own speech.
Step 1 - Inquire: Students reflect on the impact of climate change on communities, explore the importance of public speaking and discuss the qualities of a compelling public speaker.
Step 2 - Investigate: Students watch and annotate a speech by a youth climate activist, and collaborate on a list of best practices for writing and performing speeches.
Step 3 - Inspire: Students research, write, and present a speech about a climate change topic.
In this lesson, students learn about food miles, analyze an article about eating locally, and work in groups to write their own informational article about how to manage food miles.
Step 1 - Inquire: Students play a guessing game related to food miles.
Step 2 - Investigate: Students analyze a text about eating locally, looking for headings, subheadings, and pull quotes.
Step 3 - Inspire: Students work in small groups to write an article addressing the importance of food miles and what action the community can take to manage them.
In this activity, students will learn about and practice identifying sources as "primary sources" and "secondary sources." Students use a primary and a secondary source to explore climate-change-driven human migration. By exploring both data and first-hand accounts, students learn the value of using the two kinds of sources to better understand a problem.
This activity leads students to develop an appreciation for their natural surroundings, which can inspire climate action to protect nature. Students reflect on poetry as a means of climate action and write their own nature poems.
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