Kara Hisatake

Teacher

Kara Hisatake was born and raised on O'ahu, and received her BA in English from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and her PhD in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Invigorated by media analyses, composting, and plants, she currently teaches high school English Language Arts in Honolulu.

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan

Poetry Lesson: Figurative Language in Songs
In this lesson, students explore the Hawaiian term aloha ‘āina and learn how it relates to sustainability and use the concept of aloha ‘āina to write their own song or poem.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students brainstorm a definition and personal understanding of aloha ‘āina and its relationship to sustainability.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students review figurative language, identify figurative language in Hawaiian and English song lyrics, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students identify personal action that helps the ecosystem and use figurative language to write a song or poem that captures what aloha ‘āina means to them.
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan

Public Art Lesson: Analysis and Impact

In this lesson, students learn about Hawai‘i specific climate change through visual analysis of public art and create a walking tour in their local community.


Step 1 - Inquire: Students learn about the impact of climate change in Hawai‘i and explore artwork about climate change.


Step 2 - Investigate: Students visit and analyze local public art that tells the story of environmental impacts in Hawai‘i.


Step 3 - Inspire: Students design a local walking tour that includes public art, climate change impacts, and solutions.

Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts,Visual and Performing Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan

Media Literacy Lesson: Logical Fallacies

In this lesson, students learn how to analyze greenwashing and logical fallacies, debunk false advertising, and design an infographic to raise awareness.


Step 1 - Inquire: Students identify inaccurate narratives about products used at the beach and learn how misleading marketing can damage the climate.


Step 2 - Investigate: Students identify and analyze logical fallacies, especially greenwashing, and determine how they affect audiences.


Step 3 - Inspire: Students design an infographic to debunk a logical fallacy about reef-safe sunscreen and offer alternative, locally-made products.

Grade 9-12 | ap-college
Subject English Language Arts,Health
Resource Type Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan

ELA Lesson: Rhetorical Appeals and Tourism
In this lesson, students use tourism ads to learn about rhetorical appeals and explore how tourism contributes to a larger carbon footprint.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students discuss perspective and persuasion using images of Hawai‘i.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students analyze rhetorical appeals through oil company advertisements and activist artwork on the carbon footprint of travel.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students design a postcard from the future that uses rhetorical appeals to sway audiences about how climate change will impact Hawai‘i if tourism remains the same.
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan

ELA Lesson: Biodiversity in the Kumulipo

In this lesson, students analyze the biodiversity represented in the Kumulipo creation chant and create a children’s book about protecting species.


Step 1 - Inquire: Students discuss origin stories and why stories are important to understanding a place.


Step 2 - Investigate: Students read the Kumulipo, the creation chant of the Hawaiian people, and learn how biodiversity within the chant is threatened by climate change.


Step 3 - Inspire: Students collaborate to create a children’s book about plants and animals from the Kumulipo, including how to protect these species from climate change.

Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
indigenous-storytelling-an-opinion-writing-lesson
Lesson Plan

Indigenous Storytelling: An Opinion Writing Lesson
Students discuss Kame‘eleihiwa’s view of past and present, reflecting on food choices and climate change.


Inquire: Students calculate the carbon footprint of their food and diet to reflect on how personal food choices affect climate change.

Investigate: Students read ‘ulu mo’olelo alongside articles and podcasts, and analyze how perspective affects storytelling.

Inspire: Students write an opinion article about ‘ulu as a climate change resilient food. 
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
Varied Content Thumbnails (7)
Worksheets

Art Analysis Activity
In this activity, students analyze and reflect on representations of the climate crisis as interpreted by a range of visual artists working in a variety of art styles. The Art Works for Change gallery used in this activity includes artists’ statements with suggested climate actions. 
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts,Visual and Performing Arts
Resource Type Worksheets
9-12 Thumbnails (8)
Lesson Plan

Letter Writing Lesson: Diet and Identity
Students discuss the food they eat, and how it relates to climate change, and write a letter to a food company. 

Inquire: Students chart foods they have eaten recently and wonder how food is meaningful.
Investigate: Students compare and contrast foods that contribute to and mitigate climate change, and explore how food is part of their identity.
Inspire: Students write a persuasive letter to a company about how their products can help diets be more climate-friendly.
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts,Health
Resource Type Lesson Plan
9-12 Thumbnails (18)
Lesson Plan

ELA Lesson: Gen AI's Energy Use
Students are introduced to the energy impact of the internet and imagine what the world will be like in the future. After reading and analyzing articles about the impact of generative artificial intelligence on climate change and the environment, students share their conclusions and then re-imagine the world of the future with generative AI. Finally, students decide their personal approach to using GAI.

Inquire: Students watch a video on energy use and draw an image of what they believe the world will look like in 100 years. 
Investigate: Students read articles about the pros and cons of the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the environment and climate change.
Inspire: Students come to conclusions based on their readings, then redraw their image of the future, incorporating key takeaways from this lesson.
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
9-12 Thumbnails (19)
Lesson Plan

ELA Lesson: Responsible Use of Gen AI
Students discuss the pros and cons of using generative artificial intelligence as a learning aid, taking into account the hazards they learned about previously in this unit, including hallucination, bias, and environmental impact. Students analyze acceptable use policies from different schools to discern how effectively the policies address the hazards, as well as the potential for generative AI to help or hinder learning. As a class, students create an acceptable use policy for generative AI.

Inquire: Students discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using generative artificial intelligence in the classroom. 
Investigate: Students read and analyze the acceptable use policies for generative artificial intelligence from different schools. 
Inspire: Students create examples of acceptable and unacceptable use of generative artificial intelligence for their school. 
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
9-12 Thumbnails (17)
Lesson Plan

ELA Lesson: Gen AI Pros and Cons
Students define generative artificial intelligence, discuss the potential pros and cons of GAI’s impact on learning, and then practice using GAI as a class. Students identify ways to address the problem of bias in GAI’s results and independently test GAI by using prompts of their choosing.

Inquire: Students brainstorm what generative artificial intelligence is, and how they feel about it. 
Investigate: Students experiment with different generative artificial intelligence prompts.
Inspire: Students test the efficiency and bias of generative artificial intelligence. 
Grade 9-12
Subject English Language Arts
Resource Type Lesson Plan
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