Professional Reading Response: How can ELA Educators Engage Students in the Fight Against Climate Change?

Hello! 

I am continuing today to engage in professional development and study new and interesting ideas being put forth by prominent English educators in America. Today, I am responding to Allen Webb's 2019 article "Opening the Conversation about Climate Refugees with The Grapes of Wrath". In this article, Webb details how he used John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to engage his students in critical thinking and reflecting on the current climate crisis and the ever-climbing number of climate refugees being forced to leave their homes. Webb also details how he was able to use this novel and the conversations that came out of it with his students to make connections to current events and inspire activism and advocacy for climate justice among his students. 


Major Takeaways and Connections

Webb argues throughout this article that the lives of high school students are already being affected and will continue to be affected by climate change and that because of this, students should be encouraged to explore climate justice and advocate for climate refugees in their ELA classrooms (Webb, 2019, p. 74). I think Webb is completely correct and that the issue of climate change should be prominent in ELA classrooms and at school in general. This is an issue that is directly affecting the lives of our students and that poses very likely inevitable dangers for them in the future if action is not taken. We should be encouraging our students to take an active role in combatting policies and practices that further contribute to climate change and harm our "shared home" (Webb, 2019, p. 74). 

In addition to being a relevant topic that affects all students, climate change discussions in the ELA classroom are important many of our students can likely relate to climate refugees. For example, in my current placement, many of my students are immigrants. While many of their families came to America voluntarily, some of them had no choice but to leave their homes and bring their families to a brand new place that certainly is not always open and inviting toward them, similar to how Webb describes the Joads being treated in The Grapes of Wrath (Webb, 2019, p. 73). These students are able to relate to climate refugees and know firsthand the horror of being forcibly removed from one's home due to circumstances beyond one's control. Discussing these topics allows students to understand their own experiences as well as understand the very real threat of climate catastrophe in their lifetime and the need to act now. 

Our students have seen and continue to see events in the news that relate to climate change and involve climate refugees. Discussions of these current events, personal connections, and literary portrayals of the hardships and dangers associated with climate change and having to be a climate refugee are abundantly relevant and are important for students to explore and have a voice in. By allowing our students to engage with difficult and frightening topics such as climate change through literature, we allow them to make connections to the real world and to their own experiences while presenting them with an issue that they can stand up for and involve themselves in right away to create change. 

I think Webb and his overall argument are completely correct and very important to consider in the ELA classroom. Climate justice, just like social justice, is incredibly important and urgently relevant and all of our students should be given chances and encouraged to involve themselves in the fight for justice and positive change. 


Future Application

Because climate change is an ever-evolving and ever-increasing issue, and because the number of climate refugees is certain to rise exponentially in the coming years, I am certain that Webb's argument that students need a voice in the fight against climate change will remain true. In my future classroom, I would love to do a novel study focusing on climate change similar to what Webb did with The Grapes of Wrath. I am also incredibly interested in reading recent "cli-fi" works and considering them in the context of climate change today (Webb, 2019, p. 70). I am very interested in the idea of having students engage in a cli-fi unit during which they will read several cli-fi works and possibly engage in cross-curricular learning opportunities, such as a research project studying the science of the events portrayed in the cli-fi works or an assignment where they work with their government classes and use the cli-fi works to draft a piece of legislation they believe should be passed to curb climate change. Overall, I think there are a variety of great ways to intentionally and meaningfully incorporate productive conversations about climate change in the secondary ELA classroom and I look forward to following Webb's lead and encouraging my students to let their voices be heard in the fight against climate change. 


References

Webb, Allen. "Opening the Conversation about Climate Change with The Grapes of Wrath," National Council of Teachers of English, 2019.

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