Curriculum / ELA / 8th Grade / Unit 5: Facing Calamity: Climate Change Facts and Fictions / Lesson 13
ELA
Unit 5
8th Grade
Lesson 13 of 23
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Draft a short climate fiction scene.
Short Story: “World After Water” by Abby Geni
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Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved.
You have read a number of nonfiction texts about the current and potential impacts of climate change on our planet. You have also read several examples of poetry and short stories that discuss the climate crisis and imagine what the future might hold. Remember that the ultimate purpose of climate fiction is to raise awareness and motivate readers to take meaningful action so that fictional events don't become a reality.
Your task is to write your own cli-fi short scene that provides an answer to the following question: What might life in your area (your town, state, or region of the country) look like in 100 years if we do not address the climate crisis? In this scene, you will describe the morning routine of a fictional main character who is living in your area of the country 100 years in the future.
Your scene must:
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Complete any work not finished in class.
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W.8.3 — Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
W.8.3.a — Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit
L.8.1 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L.8.2 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.8.3 — Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
L.8.6 — Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
RL.8.2 — Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.8.10 — By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6—8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
SL.8.1 — Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
SL.8.6 — Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
W.8.3.b — Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
W.8.3.c — Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events.
W.8.3.d — Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
W.8.4 — Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.8.5 — With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
W.8.6 — Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
W.8.9 — Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.8.10 — Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Next
Identify a writer's claims in a text and explain how they support those claims, as well as how they respond to conflicting viewpoints.
Standards
RI.8.6RI.8.8
Identify the central claim of Greta Thunberg's argument about climate change and evaluate how she uses relevant evidence to support her claim.
RI.8.1RI.8.8
Identify a writer's claims in a text, explain how they support those claims, and evaluate whether the evidence provided is relevant and sufficient.
Explain how the author uses figurative language to establish tone and develop meaning in a short story.
RL.8.4RL.8.9
Explain how authors' specific words and phrases develop tone and meaning across genres.
RI.8.1RI.8.4RL.8.1RL.8.4
Analyze the central claims of informational articles and evaluate the evidence given to support them to determine the role that corporations play in contributing to climate change.
Identify claims made in an informational article and assess the relevance and sufficiency of evidence provided to support those claims.
RI.8.4RL.8.4
Analyze the central claims of informational articles and evaluate the evidence given to support them to determine the role that Indigenous peoples play in the fight against climate change.
Explain how the author uses figurative language to develop meaning in a short story.
RL.8.2RL.8.4RL.8.9
Research the possible impacts of climate change and begin to brainstorm aspects of setting for climate fiction narratives.
W.8.3W.8.8W.8.9
Draft two paragraphs vividly describing the setting of your climate fiction narrative.
W.8.3W.8.3.aW.8.3.bW.8.3.d
W.8.3W.8.3.a
L.8.2L.8.2.aW.8.3W.8.5
Compare and contrast the central arguments of two articles about climate change, and explain how the authors acknowledge and respond to viewpoints that differ from their own.
RI.8.6RI.8.9
Analyze the central claims of an informational article and evaluate the evidence given to support them to determine the role that young activists play in the fight against climate change.
RI.8.1RI.8.2RI.8.8
Delineate arguments made about climate change and assess whether the evidence provided is relevant and sufficient.
RI.8.2RI.8.8
Engage in a Socratic Seminar with peers, responding directly to others by rephrasing and delineating arguments, determining the strength of evidence, and posing clarifying questions.
SL.8.1SL.8.1.dSL.8.3SL.8.4
Research the potential local impacts of climate change in preparation for writing a letter to a congressperson.
W.8.1W.8.7W.8.8W.8.9
Outline a letter urging a congressperson to take action to stop climate change.
W.8.1W.8.1.aW.8.1.bW.8.5
Draft a letter urging a congressperson to take action to stop climate change.
W.8.1W.8.1.aW.8.1.bW.8.1.cW.8.1.e
L.8.3L.8.3.aW.8.1W.8.1.d
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